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

Raising capital is tougher than ever, but analysts voice optimism for scientist-business people with viable products In mid-1989, George Rathmann decided to leave his post as chairman of Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, Calif., a biotechnology company he cofounded in 1980, to embark on another biotech venture. He joined Bob Nowinski (founder of Genetic Systems Corp. in Seattle) and Chris Henney (founder of Immunex Corp. also of Seattle) to form ICOS Corp., which was incorporated in late 1989. The

They acknowledge a laxness in following and monitoring research safety guidelines, which could pose a serious risk to some investigators Last spring, when eight students at the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school went to the school's rural New Bolton Center to castrate some lambs, they considered it to be business as usual. Likewise for the parents and teachers of a nearby preschool class that visited and petted the sheep. What neither group knew was that just a month before, Jorge

Top scientists from eight companies discuss what it takes to maintain a creative and productive laboratory environment Back in 1983, scientists at Calgene Inc. in Davis, Calif., began to tinker with genetically engineered corn. Their goal at the time - to improve the vegetable's carbohydrate storage as well as its resistance to pests - seemed to make pretty good sense from both the scientific and the business points of view. Just five years later, however - after spending $5 million - Calgene

With several pharmaceutical products about to emerge from the pipeline, the firm sets its sights on becoming a `Merck of the year 2000' MALVERN, PA. -- When chemist Vincent Zurawski left Massachusetts General Hospital in 1979 to help found a new biotech company, Centocor Inc., he was like perhaps hundreds of other bright young scientists of his generation. He had an urge to scratch an entrepreneurial itch. "There was no doubt in my mind," recalls Zurawski, "that we were going to create a bill

Chemical physicist Katy Wolf is taking a hard look at 14 of the major industries in California that use chlorinated solvents. Her mission? To estimate how much their use can be cut, thus reducing their chance to pollute. The $830,000 for Wolf's project comes from government sponsors plus private donors such as the Switzer Foundation in Ohio. It's one of the growing number of waste reduction and waste management projects attracting money from nongovernment grant-making organizations such as EDF.

U.S. industry produces nearly 300 million tons of hazardous waste annually, and spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year trying to treat it, carry it away, bury it, or otherwise get rid of it. And as the amont of waste--and the cost of dealing with it--rises, corporate America is beginning to search for a better approach. Increasingly, industry is shifting its attention from treating and storing what comes out of the "pipe," to reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place.

SAN DIEGO—It is a rare scientist at Mycogen Corp. who makes it through the day without checking a small, hand-scribbled sign posted in the main hallway of the startup’s laboratory. The unassuming notice lists the bid, ask, and closing prices of Mycogen’s over-the-counter stock—and everyone in the company owns stock. “There are a lot of people who have a lot of money riding on what those numbers do every day” says Kathryn Nette, director of fermentation for th

WILMINGTON, DEL.—When Du Pont executives first tried to recruit Mark Pearson back in 1982, he didn't take them seriously. After all, he reasoned, with no corporate history of ground-breaking work in molecular biology, what would the company do with a director of one of the National Cancer Institute's molecular biology laboratories? "Besides," he adds, "they were a chemical company." Not any longer. Within the past five years Du Pont has embarked upon new ventures in electronics, imaging, a