Author: Stanley Hattman

As scientific progress and information has exploded in all areas of biomedical research, there has been a concomitant proliferation of journals. Keeping abreast of the published literature in all disciplines, as well as communication of other useful forms of information, has been made more difficult by this proliferation. To some measure, professional societies could be more active in promoting communication among their own members, as well as to the greater scientific community.

This is one important objective of the DNA Methylation Society, which was founded last year, with Melanie Ehrlich, a professor of biochemistry at Tulane University, as its first president.

It is almost a half-century since the discovery of modified bases in DNA in 1948 and "host-induced modification" in 1952. Initially, host-induced modification referred to a change in bacteriophage host range resulting from a single cycle of growth in a given strain of bacteria. Loss of...

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