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German proposal to create competitors to Oxford, Harvard again falls victim to politics

Top public servant in the Hungarian health ministry named to head up Europe's new CDC

New commissioner says scientists should be allowed to use surplus embryos for research

Updating 2004's biggest stories: Biolab fights continue; Butler appeal ongoing

Leading researcher says task force should be reconvened to settle relocation row

Updating 2004's biggest stories: Artist case becoming costly; Grad student unions push on

Commission's aim to create more synergy across Europe gets a mixed reception

Updating 2004's big stories: Uneasy quiet on the protest front; Biotech bomber awaits trial

he had his doubts about its validity.

In March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, meant to be the centerpiece of a new national system to prevent bioterrorists from seeing research they could transform into bioweapons (see http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20040305/04). But since then, the board has never met, its members have not been chosen, and its professional staff is not yet in place. As of earlier this month, the news page of its Web site had not

reported that several high-level scientists and officials at the National Institutes of Health had collectively received more than $2.5 million in consulting fees and stock options from drug and biotech companies, the NIH, Congress, and scientists are still at odds over the agency's conflict-of-interest rules.

Asia started this year braced for another SARS epidemic, but the real infectious disease story turned out to be avian influenza, which spread wildly among the region's poultry in January and February.