Articles by Susan L-J Dickinson

As more researchers flock to the popular field, observers fear a widening gap between supply and demand When scientists convene in New Orleans next week for the 33rd annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), nine symposia, 20 minisymposia, and countless informal gatherings are sure to focus on the recent achievements and continuing progress in this exciting and rapidly expanding scientific field. There is likely to be little excitement in the air, however, concerning the

Statistics compiled by the placement service at each of the past five Society for Neuroscience meetings reveal a depressing trend for those entering the job market (see charts on page 7): The number of candidates registering for interviews has increased sharply, while the number of position descriptions posted has leveled off, and the number of employers registering to interview candidates has decreased. The result is that, while the average number of interviews each employer conducts at the m

Slowdowns in corporate R&D are foreseen, which, experts reason, will cut employment potential for researchers in 1993 The 1993 employment outlook for scientists in industry is marginally optimistic, at best, according to various economic indicators and industry experts. With the exception of a few sectors that, as a result of sustained consumer demand, appear relatively recession-proof, such as the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, hiring will be tied to the sluggish recovery of th

Executives and analysts see industry perking up, thanks to increases in product flow and supportive legislation The past year was a tumultuous one for the biotechnology industry, according to corporate executives and industry analysts. During 1992, the unprecedented level of financing that had been available in 1990 and 1991 virtually disappeared. Public biotech companies saw their stock lose nearly half its value from highs in January to lows at midyear. Landmark legislative decisions in fa

Despite some concerns over the potential for harm to innovation at small firms and undue influence and increased bureaucracy at the agency, government and industry analysts are expressing enthusiasm for a statute requiring pharmaceutical companies to pay "user fees" to the United States Food and Drug Administration. The additional 600 reviewers the fees will finance, they say, will result in decreased review time that will reduce corporate cost, increase government efficiency, and, ultimately,

Two decades after the bold concept of these specialized high schools was hatched, they are demonstrating their worth By now, the gruesome statistics have made it clear that primary and secondary science and math education in the United States is in bad shape, with youngsters manifesting what many officials consider an ominous combination of ineptitude and disinterest: * The nation ranks 14th among developed countries in terms of students' ability to perform advanced algebra. * Korean school

Date: April 13, 1992 The orphan drug firm, Wall Street's darling in 1991, now faces fraud charges brought by some of its investors As 1991 came to a close, suburban Philadelphia-based U.S. Bioscience was riding high. In just 12 months the four-year- old biotechnology company had delivered its first anticancer product, Hexalen, to market. Corporate staff had doubled to 100 employees. The firm's much-publicized second product, Ethyol, was in accelerated review at the Food and Drug Administratio

In an era marked by the growing interdisciplinary nature of science, this new program will call on specialists from disparate fields such as physics, computer science, chemical engineering, and applied mathematics to tackle current problems in molecular biology. Their goal, in Hood's words, will be no less than to "develop the tools that are going to push us into the 21st century." Funded by a $12 million gift from William Gates III, founder and chairman of the Microsoft Corp. of nearby Redm

A Rocky Mountain biotech firm proves that success requires something more than strong management and top-notch research For 10-year-old biotech company Synergen, 1991 was a banner year indeed. The Boulder, Colo.-based firm raised $52.5 million in an R&D limited partnership and $95 million in a stock offering. Stock zoomed from $12 per share in January to $69 in November, and seven of its protein-based pharmaceuticals entered or advanced further in clinical testing. Moreover, the company broke g

Where academic research and commercial enterprise converge, this new breed of college official serves as science's gatekeeper When Katharine Ku took on the directorship of the Office of Technology Licensing at Stanford University earlier this fall, she inherited quite a legacy from her predecessor, Neils Rimers. Her professional endowment included royalties totaling $25.6 million last year; a portfolio of patents and licenses that includes one of the most lucrative and commercially successful

Today's trend toward industry consolidation yields a grim byproduct for some researchers: the loss of their jobs Chiron buys Cetus, while Genzyme merges with Integrated Genetics. Quidel acquires Monoclonal Antibodies, and American Home Products agrees to buy 60 percent of Genetics Institute. The headlines are coming fast and furious these days. But while the torrent of announcements concerning mergers and acquisitions among biotechnology firms are greeted warmly by many industry watchers as a

With tougher laws and renewed investor confidence, opportunity blossoms for many scientific disciplines Imagine a machine that enables you to dump waste in one end and get products out of the other. No sorting required. No noxious gases or hazardous byproducts produced. Sound like science fiction? Well, it is science, but thanks to a new technology being developed at Cambridge, Mass.-based Molten Metal Technology, such a scenario is no longer fiction. Molten Metal is one of a handful of young

As more researchers switch labs, concerns mount over the nature of relationships between leading scientists and their institutions Rein Saral and three of his colleagues in the bone marrow transplant program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are moving to Emory University in Atlanta. Surgical oncologist David Morton and about a half-dozen other investigators at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of California, Los Angeles, have switched to other institutions throu

Philadelphia's reputation for brotherly love suffers after Carlo Croce decides to remove himself and his staff from Fels Institute Cell lines have died. At least one grant deadline will be missed. Scientists speak with bitterness and resentment about their colleagues, and an entire university's commitment to science is being called into question. Things are far from business as usual at Temple University's Fels Institute in Philadelphia, where earlier this year institute director Carlo Croce an

As more companies prove themselves with products and profits, biotech stocks continue to surge Early last month, three-year-old Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. shook the business world by raising $99 million--nearly double what the company had originally planned to raise--in its initial public stock offering. The deal was remarkable for two reasons. The amount of money raised in this IPO was second in the biotech community only to that of Cetus Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., which raised $115 mi