January 1995

The researchers who found BRCA1, and the 'also-rans,' have many remaining avenues for ground-breaking studies When the public was informed that a team of scientists led by University of Utah geneticist Mark Skolnick had found a breast cancer susceptibility gene, it indeed appeared to be what Science called in a news report "a fitting finale to one of the most riveting of the fierce and grueling gene hunts that have come to epitomize life in the fast lane of genetics research" (R. Nowak, 265:1

Clinton's ban on funds for most studies using fertilized human eggs short-circuits NIH'spolicy-making process Many scientists studying human reproduction and embryology are angry and disappointed over a recent White House move to preclude federal funding for most research involving human embryos--new support that had been recommended by an expert panel. They see the move as an attempt to appease the new conservative ma-jority in Congress, which has threatened legislation against such studies

With plenty of hazardous sites still to be cleaned up,analysts call biological disposal of wastes afield with a bright future Amid the doom and gloom of the job outlook for United States researchers, employment analysts are pointing to the environmental services market as one bright spot for candidates with scientific training. A recent U.S. News & World Report employment guide lists "environmental manager" as one of the top-20 "hot job tracks." According to the magazine, government and indus

The name of Stephen Hawking is widely recognized both within and outside the scientific community as a premier scientist and best-selling author. But he is probably as famous for having overcome great physical odds as he is for his contributions to theoretical astrophysics and cosmology: Nearly all of his major work came after he was stricken in his early 20s with the debilitating neurological condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While Hawking is certainly one of the most celebrated

The unexpected death last month of Cyril Ponnamperuma, founder and director of the newly established North-South Center for Sustainable Development (NSCSD) at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), has left the fledgling organization in a state of flux, according to center officials. These administrators note that Ponnamperuma's sudden passing has them scrambling to find a new director and keep the center afloat. Cyril Ponnamperuma, a professor of chemistry at the University of Mary

DAVID KRITCHEVSKY, Institute professor, Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, and Emeritus professor of biochemistry in surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia "THE SCIENTIST is as basic a resource to me as the Wall Street Journal is to the banker. The rest of the journals keep me informed about my specialty areas. THE SCIENTIST tells me about my world." David Kritchevsky has conducted pioneering research on the role of fat and calories in the development of cancer. Ha

Editor's Note: Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, director emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory who is also a professor of science at the Illinois Institute of Technology, is perturbed about what he believes is a lack of zeal in the way top-level administrators at United States research universities are confronting a general decline in the fortunes of their institutions. Federal policies in the support of research and increasing administrative pressures are putting them at risk, Le

Human blood and other body fluids have been used to teach undergraduate students about basic physiological principles for many years. These fluids were easy to obtain, they were always fresh, and they provided incentives for the students to learn because they were learning about themselves. The use of human body fluids in undergraduate laboratories is now being questioned. Some scientists in academia no longer condone the use of human blood in laboratories because of the risk of transmitting d

Regarding the article published in the Sept. 5, 1994, issue of The Scientist, entitled "Experimentation On Animals Retards Progress Of Science," by Kenneth P. Stoller [page 12]: Despite the title, the article debated moral issues regarding our right to inflict pain on experimental animals, but did not provide one solid piece of evidence or hard data to back up the statement that animal experiments are invalid to obtain insight regarding human physiology. Concerning the relevance of animal expe

Your coverage of Robert Gallo's annual lab meeting (F. Hoke, The Scientist, Nov. 14, 1994, page 1) revealed unmistakably that research based on the HIV theory of AIDS is at a standstill. Ten years after the discovery of what the newspapers call "HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," it is clear that scientists haven't a clue as to what HIV is supposed to be doing to the cells of the immune system. Gallo's own summary said that there are "conflicting views on the question of whether HIV kills T cell

Traveling to the ends of the earth in pursuit of biological quarry is not part of the job description for the average molecular biologist. But for anthropologist Don Melnick, going to work means trekking through the jungles of Southeast Asia for blood samples from the Javan silvery gibbon and other endangered animals. And the jobs of geneticist John Avise and biologist Brian Bowen entail long nights on tropical beaches waiting for nesting sea turtles. The following are the top ecology journal

W.J. Strittmatter, A.M. Saunders, D. Schmechel, M. Pericak- Vance, J. Enghild, G.S. Salvesen, A.D. Roses, "Apolipoprotein E: high-avidity binding to a-amyloid and increased frequency of type 4 allele in late-onset familial Alzheimer's disease," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 90:1977-81, 1993. (Cited in 164 publications through December 1994) A.M. Saunders, W.J. Strittmatter, D. Schmechel, P.H. St. George-Hyslop, M. Pericak-Vance, S.H. Joo, B.L. Rosi, J.F. Gusella, D.R. Crappe

S.V. Evans, "SETOR: hardware-lighted three dimensional solid model representations of macro- molecules," Journal of Molecular Graphics, 11:134-8, 1993. (Cited in 32 publications through December 1994) Comments by Stephen V. Evans An X-ray crystallographer by training, Stephen V. Evans, an assistant professor of biochemistry in the faculty of medicine at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, designed the computer program described in this paper to render three- dimensional images of compl

J.H. Brown, T.S. Jardetzky, J.C. Gorga, L.J. Stern, R.G. Urban, J.L. Strominger, D.C. Wiley, "Three-dimensional structure of the human class II histocompatibility antigen HLA-DR1," Nature, 364:33-9, 1993. (Cited in 235 publications through December 1994) Comments by Jerry H. Brown This paper is the first description of the three-dimensional structure of a class II human leukocyte antigen (HLA). Also known as histocompatibility antigens, the HLA molecules are present on various cell surfaces t

Times have certainly changed since the first automated peptide synthesizer hit the market in the mid-1980s. Early machines were capable of processing one peptide at a time, a major improvement over manually adding reagents, washing between reactions, and moving on to the next step. You just set up the synthesizer, and in the morning there was your peptide. Nowadays, the choices are growing, as more manufacturers offer instruments for large-scale preparation or for multiple, simultaneous prepara

The Columbus Toxicity Analyzer measures the impact of toxic substances on organic life by using bacteria cultures. It measures the rate of production of CO2 and O2 consumption, parameters that are directly related to the rate of growth of aerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria also can be monitored using methane and CO2 sensors. Up to 80 different culture samples can be tested at the same time, on a continuous basis, with periodic printouts and graphic presentation of gas exchanges vs. time in th

With no signs that the continuing scarcity of scientific jobs will ease any time soon, job hunters are being challenged to take more creative approaches to identifying open positions. The explosive growth of the Internet is providing a new, highly efficient medium for the dissemination of information on scientific employment. Electronic replies to job ads, too, can give a job seeker a quick-response advantage over his or her competition. There are dozens of different places to look for job ads

Date:January 23, 1995, pp.24 Arturo Gomez-Pompa, a professor of botany and plant sciences at the University of California, Riverside, and Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, have been honored as corecipients of the 1994 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. They divided a cash award of $150,000 and each received a gold medallion at ceremonies in Los Angeles on December 2. "Considering the list of distinguished recipients, it is a very great honor to ha

Table of Contents Appleaing Standards Farmer Dan Uncle Sam Wants You To Teach Alleged Vandal Free On Bond Hot Stuff Identity Crisis A federal appeals court's dismissal of a drug-liability lawsuit earlier this month may set a rigorous new standard for scientific evidence. In Daubert et al. v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., two children, Jason Daubert and Eric Schuller, and their parents charged that an anti-nausea drug called Bendectin, taken by the mothers while pregnant, caused the chil