Courtesy of Getty Images That discovery is fraught with unpredictability poses an enormous problem when evaluating research priorities and allocating funding. It also sends many scientists scrambling for cover when they are asked to prognosticate the future. The Scientist asked anyway. Research scientists, venture capitalists, patent attorneys, even a biomedical professor-turned-mystery author offered their opinions on what will be the hottest new technologies five years hence. Their response

Photos courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies Everyone knows that all labs are not created equally. What differentiates the Cold Spring Harbors and Max Plancks of the world from less-illustrious facilities? Certainly money plays a part, but so, too, does some intangible quality--call it critical mass, if you like--a fusion of the right people, resources, architecture, and vision that combine and cooperate to make a whole that is greater by far than th

Courtesy of Michael Kahn Synthetic Molecule Turns Off Asthma-Invoking Protein Asthma's trademark is a complex inflammatory response in the lungs that produces swelling and mucus, therefore making it difficult to breathe. One of the main components of this disease is an oxidant/antioxidant imbalance that can trigger production of activator protein-1 (AP-1). Researchers have designed a novel synthetic molecule with the power to target and turn-off this asthma-invoking protein (C. Nguyen et a

Courtesy of Astex Technology For years, the process of X-ray crystallography has moved at a tortoise's pace. "When I started in the field, it would typically take 20 person-years to produce a complete atomic model of one single protein. It was like a traffic jam in New York City. Every single part of the process was slow," says Stephen Burley, chief scientific officer and senior vice president of research at San Diego-based Structural GenomiX. The biggest holdup: obtaining a suitable crystal.

Last year, two Denver scientists theorized that a clinical instrument used to spot cancer mutations could speed up the normally tedious DNA identification process. Then the attacks of Sept. 11 occurred, and their work suddenly took on a sense of urgency. When the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) sent out a countrywide plea for information on new technologies that could assist in the investigation at Ground Zero, Phil Danielson, assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Den

They say timing is everything, and when it comes to cancer that's especially true. Human cells grow and divide every 24 hours. But in a fraction of a second, an error can occur in the copying of the human genome. Spotting precisely when that error happens is key to understanding, and possibly preventing, the development of cancer. Traditional cell cycle analysis involves staining samples taken at random intervals. But these snapshots don't tell the whole story. To see exactly what takes place ea

Detection of the DNA sequences responsible for genetically transmitted diseases can open doors to a potential cure, but the research can be expensive and tedious. Princeton, N.J. -based PharmaSeq's light-powered, reusable transponders could provide an inexpensive alternative for performing DNA assays. A nanotransponder measuring just 250 x 250 x 100 µm (less than 1/1000th the size of a grain of rice) is the newest DNA microchip in PharmaSeq's family of microtransponders. Competitive devic