For this article Karen Young Kreeger interviewed Bruce Beutler, professor of immunology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that this paper has been cited significantly more often than the average paper of the same type and age. A. Poltorak, X. He, I. Smirnova, M-Y. Liu, C. Van Huffel, X. Du, D. Birdwell, E. Alejos, M. Silva, C. Galanos, M. Freudenberg, P. Castagnoli, B. Layton, B. Beutler, "Defective LPS signaling in C3H/H

For this article Karen Young Kreeger interviewed Holger Wesche, scientist at Tularik Inc. in South San Francisco, Calif. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that this paper has been cited significantly more often than the average paper of the same type and age. C.J. Kirschning, H. Wesche, T.M. Ayres, M. Rothe, "Human toll-like receptor 2 confers responsiveness to bacterial lipopolysaccharide," Journal of Experimental Medicine, 188:2091-7, 1998. (Cited in 173 papers) For deca

Although the research featured in high-impact papers often resonates for years after the papers appear, these papers have actually remained at the center of debate, according to the authors and others in the field. The papers describe the toll-like receptor family of signaling proteins and their role in recognizing harmful bacterial cell wall components in mammals. Says Bruce Beutler, senior author on the first of these Hot Papers: "In the fullness of time, it has become obvious to all workers i

Almost a year after the "Decade of the Brain," neuroscience remains one of the fastest growing disciplines in all biology, researchwise and jobwise. The health of this job market relates to the overall expansion that continues in the neurosciences, says Richard Nakamura, acting deputy director at the National Institute of Mental Health. He notes that some especially promising areas include human genomes and genomics, and particularly, understanding the behavioral consequences and epidemiology of

Last year, The Scientist reported on annual and semiannual salary surveys of scientists in academia, government, and industry,1 based on published sources from professional societies, private firms, the federal government, and academic groups. This article is an update on the tried-and-true annual surveys and results from some new ones. "The greatest demand is still for people trained in fields such as information technology and engineering," says Eleanor Babco, executive director of the Washi

Nurturing a career in bioinformatics takes a certain kind of aptitude, despite its popularity. First off, you have to like being intimately involved with computers, agree those who already work in this burgeoning field. "For some, staring at a glowing, blue screen all day is like a ring of Dante's inferno," says Larry Hunter, past president of the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB) and director of the Center for Computational Pharmacology at the University of Colorado School o

Much of the administration of the scientific endeavor can be neatly placed into two groups: those who work at acquiring the money, and those who work at bestowing the money. Mostly at universities and colleges, the acquirers direct offices of sponsored research, large research departments, or can be vice presidents of research or graduate schools. The bestowers are primarily program officers at such government agencies as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and

They say it's a publish-or-perish world in science, but how can you stay alive if you don't have any support? With grant proposal return rates at all-time highs for many granting bodies, how can you make your proposals pass muster, let alone sing? "It's the very simple things that can cause an application to fail," says Jackie Roberts, manager of career resources at the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology. "Read the instructions. Read the instructions. Read the instructions.

As more universities negotiate licensing agreements with biotech firms and big Pharma, unprecedented numbers of life scientists move between the Ivory Tower and industrial labs. Are the worlds of academia and industry colliding or meshing? How does the bottom line govern what science gets done? Although answers will vary from company to company, say life science researchers based in private sector research, there are more similarities than some might think. Lee Rubin, senior vice presiden

For this article Karen Young Kreeger interviewed Michael Hutton, senior associate consultant, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla.; Gerard D. Schellenberg, associate director for research, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Seattle; and Maria Grazia Spillantini, the William Scholl lecturer in neurology, Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge University, United Kingdom. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 10

So you love to teach. Now that the school year is in full swing, are you wondering how you can contribute more to the next generation, keep your interest in teaching alive and well, or enhance the pedagogical portion of your resume? "Scientists need to share the wealth of their knowledge and their perspective of the way the world works," says Bassam Shakhashiri, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a member of the editorial advisory board of The Scientist.

Ever since the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which allows universities, federally funded research labs, and small businesses to own and patent inventions discovered in federally funded research programs, the profession of commercializing research has been growing and changing. Technology transfer managers help shepherd an idea conceived by scientists in academia or government research centers to commercialization in the private sector. They deal with evaluating discoveries for commercial potential, pat