More than 5,000 scientists with higher academic degrees work in public research in Europe's Upper Rhine valley, making this area one of the highest densities of life sciences-related research in the world. Now, the triangle region from Basel, Switzerland, in the south to Strasbourg, France, and Freiburg, Germany, in the north is striving to become the European heart of the biotechnology sector.The Dreiländereck or la Régio, as the region is called locally, has a lot going for it: excel

Courtesy of Malta Tourism AuthorityRichard Muscat rarely tunes in to the daily news, but while tending to his children last November, he overheard a TV newscast that stopped him. The prime minister had set aside €800,000 to launch a national research program. For the first time ever, the government allocated money to research. "Thank heavens," Muscat recalls thinking. "They have finally done it."Muscat, a neuroscientist at the University of Malta, and his colleagues had lobbied the Maltese

File PhotoThe European Commission (EC) is putting an ever increasing emphasis on excellence and mobility of researchers. Yet, according to Euroscience board member Christine Heller del Riego, the proportion of mobile scientists in Europe is low. What is holding scientists back?A long list of obstacles faces the migrant scientist, especially if children are involved. Moving from one country to another means not only finding a new place to live, but also coming to grips with different tax and heal

File PhotoA legal initiative is underway in Germany to give animal-rights organizations the standing to sue scientists and others who violate animal rights granted in a 2002 amendment to the German constitution. Animal-rights activists argue that the constitution offers no way of enforcing those rights. "Animal experiments have to be 'necessary' and 'ethically justified,' but those are vague legal terms," says Eisenhart von Loeper, an attorney and chairman of People for Animal Rights Germany. "T

With the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), the European Community has focused funding on projects designed to forge lasting research partnerships across Europe and to achieve highly ambitious goals, such as developing novel technologies for proteomics research, and decreasing the Europe-wide burden of allergy and asthma.The European Life Scientist Organization (ELSO) recently launched a petition to lobby for changes, but it's the scientists from the 10 countries that joined the European Union in

Scientists hope to develop life sciences computing tools of the future

File PhotoIn the past, science was a fringe issue for the public. More recently, however, debates over genetically modified food crops, cloning, and stem-cell therapy have stoked public fears. Politicians often add little to the debates because they don't understand the science; in turn, scientists' reticence adds to the public's bewilderment.With so much legislation now based on scientific research, scientists need to be involved in the decision-making. "I feel very strongly that scientists hav

Another new umbrella organization aims to give German life scientists more lobbying clout

File PhotoThe peer-review system of the German Research Foundation (DFG) is unique, as proposals are reviewed by experts nominated and elected by the scientific community. This will change in the spring, however, when the DFG will select the reviewers; the elected representatives will be responsible for quality control and for writing funding recommendations based on the initial reviews. The DFG claims that the reform strengthens the principle of academic self-government, but critics of the new

The British Parliament will this year pass a revised Human Tissue Act, prompted by a series of incidents in which hospitals retained children's organs without their parents' permission. According to the new law, scientists will have to obtain informed consent when using human organs or tissues for their research.The new regulations will bring legal certainty to British scientists, but across Europe, they only add to the crosshatch of conflicting rules regarding the use of human materials. A few

The clock is ticking for the implementation of a common set of rules that will regulate the conduct of clinical trials in EU member states. The European Commission (EC) passed the EU directive on clinical trials in May 2001 in an attempt to simplify the clinical testing of medicines in Europe and to ensure that trials meet the highest standards of quality. Member states must comply with the new rules by May 1, 2004. But, some scientists worry that the proposed regulations will damage noncommer

File Photo To make it easier for scientists from Nordic countries to apply for multinational European Union grants, the Nordic Medical Research Councils and the Nordic Councils of Ministers launched a program in October that aims to encourage more collaboration across Scandinavia. The initiative has a budget of about $1.25 million (US), which will be divided among two to three research networks--the virtual Nordic Centres of Excellence in Molecular Medicine. The money will be given to researc