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Courtesy of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals In the gene therapy system devised by Penn and ARIAD researchers, the adeno-associated virus is injected into the body to deliver the desired gene (top left), and a drug in pill form is given orally to activate gene expression (top right). Researchers demonstrated a strong correlation between the amount of drug administered and the resulting increase in the amount of protein produced (center). Scientists attempting to devise successful, efficient gene therapy

On Jan. 14, the day before Science published an article on a formalin-fixed fused immunogen that induced neutralizing antibodies to HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins,1 Jack Nunberg's telephone rang endlessly. Nunberg, head of the Montana Biotechnology Center at University of Montana, Missoula, is senior author of the paper, coauthored by his former graduate student Rachel LaCasse (now at University of Alabama, Birmingham), colleagues at University of Montana, and two scientists at New York Universit

After years of clinical studies in Germany, St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) is poised to undergo scientific scrutiny in the United States as a treatment for depression. Never clinically tested in this country, the yellow-blossomed, roadside weed, native to much of America's Northwest and to many other parts of the world, is now the focus of four such trials. Perhaps foremost among them is a $4.3 million study funded by the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) in the National Institutes

Editor's Note: In this essay, the authors--both scientists and writers--discuss recent news stories on evolution and express their opinions on how the stories were handled by the mainstream press. Evolution took center stage at the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) annual meeting in Reno, Nev., Nov. 3-8, 1998. If the teachers needed a theme, evolution was a logical choice--after all, it underlies and unifies contemporary biology. But NABT had other fish to fry. Despite a spate of c

BARKING UP THE SAME TREE Ralston Purina announced Jan. 12 an initiative to unite efforts to map the dog genome, consolidating data and planning for more. Most markers accumulated so far hail from the Baker Institute at Cornell University. The linkage map, currently consisting of about 400 markers, provides signposts along the 78 chromosomes to direct sequencing efforts. At the heart of the project are blood samples from 16 multigenerational canine families. The dog genome hardly reflects natu

Postdocs supported by National Institutes of Health training grants will soon see their funding increase by about 25 percent, but even NIH officials agree that the boost alone won't fix a program that has set stagnant stipends for years. In 1996, new postdocs received $20,292 under NIH's National Research Service Awards (NRSA), an amount that increased $708 for the 1998 fiscal year. The new entry-level salary of $26,256 for the 1999 fiscal year--and the new senior level of $41,268, up from $33

Phrases such as "bidding war," "invest now," and "panic over short supply" evoke images of brave new drugs. An apologetic "It's on back order" is a common refrain from L.L. Bean or Land's End. But these phrases are being applied to the fetal pig, a staple of the biology teaching laboratory as a model of vertebrate anatomy. The foot-long beasts, once considered mere slaughterhouse waste, now bring in more bacon than a nice pair of pork chops. Spiraling fetal pig prices have biology instructors s

When Katherine Osteryoung started her postdoctoral fellowship in Elizabeth Vierling's laboratory at the University of Arizona, Tucson, she wanted to work on heat shock proteins, which cells make in response to stress. Chloroplast division was the farthest thing from her mind. But science, which is no stranger to serendipity, had other plans. Plastids, including chloroplasts, are descendants of cyanobacterial endosymbionts. Like their ancestors, they divide by fission, ensuring continuity throu

If many epilepsy sufferers remain refractory to current therapies, it isn't for a lack of research and development effort. Presentations at the recent annual meeting of the professional American Epilepsy Society (AES) in San Diego described a spate of novel medications, advances in imaging technology, new surgery techniques, and the promising early results of a clinical trial using xenotransplantation. But the question remains: Will research finally dispel the stubborn mysteries of epilepsy tha

AIDS has commandeered media headlines, instigated public awareness, and garnered funding in more profound ways than any other disease in history. Bolstered by a tenacious activist community, HIV/AIDS research has blazed trails empirically, politically, and even philosophically. Since this disease took hold some 15 years ago, new insights and understanding in immunology, cytokine biology, antiviral research, vaccine development, and gene therapy have emerged from HIV/AIDS research laboratories a

Editor's Note: In this issue, The Scientist focuses on the status of cancer research in the United States. The articles below and on pages 6-9 present glimpses of the latest advances. The article beginning at right describes how cancer and AIDS research are related. The article on page 10 offers a look at thyroid cancer treatments from the perspectives of patient and scientist. Commentary (12) and Opinion (13) are by prominent cancer experts. Profession (14-15) assesses the outlook for cancer

The NCI Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource can provide researchers with access to more than 9,000 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer tissues, with associated pathology and clinical data. Tissue and data area available from patients treated in four diverse geographic areas of the United States. Tissue sections are prespared to meet the criteria of individual research protocols. All specimens are reviewed to verify the pathological diagnosis. Clinical data inc