Data derived from the Science Watch/Hot Papers database and the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. M. Lachner et al., "Methylation of histone H3 lysine 9 creates a binding site for HP1 proteins," Nature, 410:116-20, 2001. (Cited in 202 papers) A.J. Bannister et al., "Selective recognition of methylated lysine 9 on histone H3 by the HP1 chromo domain," Nature, 410:120-4, 2001. (Cited in 2

New questions after second X-SCID patient develops leukemia.

Claire Fraser heads The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland. She has researched microbial genomics since the early 1990s and previously studied G-protein coupled receptors. TS: What lessons have you taken from the discovery of DNA's structure? CF: I so vividly remember when I first read Jim Watson's book The Double Helix...in college. I was really starting to get involved in research, and I was actually wrestling with the decision to go on to a career in research or go on

Courtesy of National Library of Medicine Marshall W. Nirenberg, laboratory chief of biochemical genetics at the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, received a Nobel Prize in 1968 for helping to interpret the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis. Q: How did the discovery of the double-helix structure relate to the cracking of the genetic code? A: George Gamow, the physicist, told me he went down his driveway to pick up the mail one day and

Conference on modeling the neuron demonstrates multiple levels of difficulty.

Shark cartilage, coffee enemas, high-intensity light, and energy field manipulation: Complementary and alternative medicine has its curiosities and, of course, its doubters. Cancer biologist Saul Green, retired from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and now scientific editor of Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, says political pressure, not scientific merit, generates funding for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)--expected to exceed $113 milli

Photo: Courtesy of the World Health Organization, P. Virot THE REALITY OF ETHIOPIA: Trying to survive malaria in Ethiopia, on Africa's east coast. In 1998, Ethiopia's infant mortality rate was 116 per 1,000 live births (WHO) compared to 7.2 per 1000 in the US (CDC). Sequencing a 23-megabase genome hardly sounds like a triumph--that's just twice the size of an average yeast genome and one-hundredth of the human genome. Yet, there was cause for celebration after a high-profile team of coll

For nearly three years, a child with a deadly genetic disease, which left him without functioning B or T cells, has led a relatively normal life. Doctors in France virtually engineered a working immune system for him through gene therapy.1 Early this month, however, researchers revealed that the gene therapy technique used to treat this child's X-linked severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) probably led to a leukemia-like syndrome. The engineered T cells inevitably began proliferating out o

Possibility of leukemia-like side-effect halts trials

Photos: Courtesy of the Lasker Foundation LASKER AWARDEES: Clockwise from top left; Belding H. Scribner, James E.Darnell, James E. Rothman, Willem J. Kolff, Randy W. Shekman Few things are as rewarding as the academic lifestyle, says James E. Darnell Jr., a Rockefeller University researcher whose discoveries span an era of molecular biology. "The only thing I'd rather do is be first baseman for the Yankees, but seriously, I don't know any pursuit that gives you the joy that basic science

Illustration: Ned Shaw Volatile odorants spewing forth from every living thing reveal a hidden trove of factors like diet, health, and genetic composition. With astonishing acuteness, most animals can read these olfactory messages and model their behaviors accordingly. "Odors are their windows on the world," one researcher says of mice. Others have noted that some honeybees recognize illness in hives and avoid them.1 Dogs have alerted their owners to such maladies as melanoma2 and epileptic se

Data derived from the Science Watch/Hot Papers database and the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. M. Cavazzana-Calvo et al., "Gene therapy of human severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)-X1 disease," Science, 288:669-72, April 28, 2000. (Cited in 300 papers) Reaching positive milestones in gene therapy has been difficult since a highly publicized death in 1999,1 but some have succeede