Calif. animal scientists attacked

| 2 min read

A house and car belonging to two University of California, Santa Cruz researchers were firebombed in the wee hours of Saturday (Aug 2) morning. The attacks occurred after linkurl:anti-animal research;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/54494/ pamphlets listing the names and personal information of several UCSC researchers were linkurl:discovered;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54908/ in a Santa Cruz coffee shop last week. linkurl:David Feldheim,;http://biomedical.ucsc.edu/Feldheim.html who studies mammalian linkurl:brain development;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22128/ at UCSC, and his family were home Saturday morning when fire engulfed their front porch and door. Feldheim and his family - including two small children - escaped out a second story window using a fire ladder, Santa Cruz police told the linkurl:__Santa Cruz Sentinel__.;http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_10080054?source=email Feldheim studies the role of the Eph family of receptor linkurl:tyrosine kinases;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/54773/ and their ligands, the linkurl:ephrins,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/19418/ in the development of the mouse visual system. According to his lab linkurl:Web site,;http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/people/feldheim/ Feldheim uses "expression analysis, in vitro assays, viral introduction of genes into living mouse brains, and gene-knock out experiments," to elucidate how mouse brains linkurl:organize neural connections;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/19909/ associated with vision. Feldheim was one of the scientists listed on the pamphlets found last week. Police told the __Sentinel__ that the firebombing was being treated as an attempted homicide because Feldheim and his family were home at the time of the attack. Around the same time that Feldheim's house burned, another UCSC scientist's Volvo was lit afire in a driveway on the university's campus. Neither police nor UCSC officials revealed the researcher's field of study or name, but they did say that it was not listed on the pamphlet in which Feldheim's name and information appeared. According to the __Sentinel__, Santa Cruz police are considering the incidents acts of domestic terrorism and have turned the case over to federal investigators. "It's unconscionable that any reasonable person would consider this an acceptable tactic to get their point across," Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry said in a statement to the __Sentinel__. "We are working hard with the other agencies and committing all available resources to follow all possible leads. We urge anyone with information to come forward." A news linkurl:release;http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/messages/text.asp?pid=2348 from the university on Saturday condemning the attacks called them "acts of anti-science violence."

Calif. animal scientists attacked

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Meet the Author

Bob Grant

Related Research Resources

Bunsen Burners and Bad Hair Days

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Meet Honeybun and Breeze Through Viscometry in Formulation Development

Taking the Guesswork Out of Quality Control Standards

PFAS: The Forever Chemicals

Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

Products

Product News

Biotium Unveils New Assay Kit with Exceptional RNase Detection Sensitivity

Atelerix signs exclusive agreement with MineBio to establish distribution channel for non-cryogenic cell preservation solutions in China

Thermo Scientific™ Centrifuges with GreenCool Technology

Singleron Biotechnologies and Hamilton Bonaduz AG Announce the Launch of Tensor to Advance Single Cell Sequencing Automation