July 1997

A major academic research center and three private companies are touting their recently announced functional-genomics consortium as the first of its kind. Officials from the participating entities as well as industry analysts are unsure whether the partnership will inspire similar deals, and they differ on whether it will launch a trend whose net result is more jobs for scientists. DANGER? Dorin Schumacher of the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research warns of a "non- peer-review researc

Young academic scientists who want to do their bit for the cause of science by presenting its concepts to nonscientific audiences face a serious dilemma. If they turn out to be effective popularizers, they might find that their peers regard them as shallow scientists. Senior members of the scientific establishment are trying to persuade their juniors that they can popularize without jeopardizing their careers. But those efforts are only slowly bearing fruit. Doubts remain whether one can truly

'CLEAR AWARENESS': Keith Clark says epidemiologists have recongized the importance of geography in studying infectious diseases. Adventurers of the 18th and 19th centuries in search of gold and new trade routes were not the only ones to value a good map: Early epidemiologists inspected the lay of the land in attempts to discern the causes and spread of diseases. But as unexplored frontiers slowly disappeared, geography came to be taken for granted. In fact, the number of classic epidemiology p

Now that summer is in full swing, all but the most dedicated couch potatoes are playing on departmental softball teams, hitting the tennis courts, or laboring in the garden. For a growing number of scientists, however, exercise is more than a seasonal diversion-it's the focus of a thriving discipline that integrates molecular and cellular biology, physiology, nutrition, and behavioral sciences. One important trend, not only in exercise science but also in physiology, is the integration of mole

The Scientist Date: July 21, 1997 THE SCIENTIST® The Newspaper for the Life Sciences Professional (609)-786-7207 For Fast Service "THE SCIENTIST offers the kind of in-depth, well-researched articles on topical problems in science and science policy to which other journals often don't give enough time or space." Gerald Holton Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of History of Science Harvard University Physicist and science historian Gerald Holton has pioneered the historical

In the article "To Effectively Discuss Evolution, First Define 'Theory'" in the May 12 issue of The Scientist (R. Lewis, page 13), it was stated that the term "theory of evolution" should be replaced by "principle of evolution." Is this suggestion justified? A theory is a plausible hypothesis that is supported by a considerable amount of evidence, while a principle is a scientific law that has been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Is evolution law or theory? To determine this, one must define e

As one of the evolutionary biologists quoted in a recent article (R. Lewis, The Scientist, May 12, 1997, page 13), I must challenge Michael Behe's response (M. Behe, The Scientist, June 9, 1997, page 10) that scientists should confess to being "substantially in the dark" about the cause of evolution. Teaching evolution is already hard enough without feigning ignorance about a fundamental principle of life. Behe criticizes Lewis for "conflating different concepts under the single term of 'evolu

For the record: The National Science Foundation CAREER awardee quoted in your article [S. Benowitz, The Scientist, May 26, 1997, page 13] does not seem to be aware that researchers who hold CAREER awards may apply for a second NSF grant as long as it is not on the same topic. This is to avoid overlap in funding. Also, holding an NSF grant on another topic does not preclude application for a CAREER award. Of course, it's possible to be a CAREER awardee only once! Margaret A. Cavanaugh NSF CAREE

Transgenic mice have become the stock-in-trade of basic biomedical research since their creation in the early 1980s. The techniques used to insert human genes into non-human species that were refined in rodents are now being applied to a menagerie of other mammals. These chimeric goats, pigs, sheep, cows, and rabbits are essentially living bioreactors: When a gene inserted into their DNA is specifically activated in mammary gland cells, the desired human protein is secreted into the animal's mi

Edited by: Ricki Lewis IMPACT ON TREATMENT: John Mellors remarks that his papers "go a long way towards a more accurate assessment" of prognosis in people with AIDS. J.W. Mellors, L.A. Kingsley, C.R. Rinaldo, Jr., J.A. Todd, B.S. Hoo, R.P. Kokka, P. Gupta, "Quantitation of HIV-1 RNA in plasma predicts outcome after seroconversion," Annals of Internal Medicine, 122:573-9, 1995. (Cited in more than 150 publications through June 1997) J.W. Mellors, C.R. Rinaldo, Jr., P. Gupta, R.M. White, J.A. T

J. Kamens, M. Paskind, M. Hugunin, R.V. Talanian, H. Allen, D. Banach, N. Bump, M. Hackett, C.G. Johnston, P. Li, J.A. Mankovich, M. Terranova, T. Ghayur, "Identification and characterization of ICH-2, a novel member of the interleukin-1b-converting enzyme family of cysteine proteases," Journal of Biological Chemistry, 270:15250-6, 1995. (Cited in nearly 100 publications through June 1997) Comments by Joanne Kamens, BASF Bioresearch Corp., Worcester, Mass. HIGH INTEREST: Joanne Kamens' paper

"There's a fine tradition of passing the bad apple around, but that doesn't do anybody any good." -- Toxicologist Resha Putzrath One of the constants of a scientist's professional life is the annual tradition of writing letters of recommendation as students and colleagues seek fellowships, jobs, and advancement to tenure. But the act of writing or requesting such a letter may not be so simple. Letter-writers must make their missives honest yet sufficiently enthusiastic that they help rather tha

Almost everything you need for PCR with MBP's EasyStartTM Tubes Comparison of PCR reactions uing MBP's EasyStartTM Tubes and control reactions made from frozen stock solutions. Each 50 micoliter reaction contained 200 ng mouse genomic DNA and primers for the single copy c-fos gene, which produces a 707 base pair product. The reaction pairs wsere run on agarose gels with a molecular weight marker. The reactions on th left were run with Amplitaq Gold (Perkin Elmer) and on the right with Boehring

Process of proteins flowing through channels of Continuous Bed. Loading-whether it's a computer program, the station wagon in preparation for a big vacation, or an ion exchange purification, nobody likes to wait. "The faster you can load the column without losing any resolution, the better off you're going to be. In all I've done, [sample loading] has always been the limiting step," says Anthony David Couvillon, lab manager in the division of signal transduction at Beth Israel Deaconess Medic

LabConsumer recently invited a local representative of the Rainin Instrument Company to our office, giving our staff the opportunity to test drive Rainin's unique ShaftGard 10 ml FinePoint pipette tips. These tips allow for full immersion into 0.5 to 2.0 ml microcentrifuge and PCR tubes and are manufactured with several features designed to reduce the likelihood of cross-contamination and ensure repeatability. ShaftGard tips are compatible with Pipetman P-2 and P-10 pipettes, as well as Rainin

When the next time around is always better. Date: July 21, 1997 Comparison Chart DNA sequencing methods have come a long way in 20 years. From the chemical method of Maxam and Gilbert and the dideoxy method of Sanger, DNA sequencing techniques evolved into the "labeling/termination" method that used a modified T7 DNA polymerase such as Sequenase. Propelled by the power and potential of DNA amplification using thermal cycling strategies, earlier DNA sequencing methodologies have increasingly b

Date: July 21, 1997 Comparison Chart What do Frankenstein's monster and Dolly the sheep have in common? Electricity brought them both to life. New life has been given to those performing transfection experiments through the power of electroporation. While chemical methods have long been the most frequently used means for cellular transfections, for many, electroporation is the preferred protocol. Electroporation transfection rates for some cell types are generally touted as being several order

There's bad news for faculty members in the American Association of University Professors' recently released annual report on academic salaries. While average salaries in 1996-97 rose 3 percent, the rate of inflation was slightly higher at 3.3 percent. The net result was a 0.3 percent decrease in faculty members' real wages. Report author Linda Bell, an associate professor of economics at Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia, tells The Scientist that last year's "moderate" 3.3 percent inc

The recent public apology by President Clinton on behalf of the United States government to survivors of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments was intended to close the door on one of the most scandalous instances of officially sanctioned scientific misconduct in the annals of biomedical research. Yet, while the apology may bring closure to the particular incident, it stands as a stark reminder of the history that has led many minorities to distrust supposedly objective scientific research. Betraye

There is a challenge that faces the entire scientific community. From the farmland of Northern Wisconsin to the business district of San Francisco, a blanket covering the untapped potential for medical research advocacy needs to be removed. The opportunity to strengthen the call for doubling the United States' commitment to medical research looms larger than ever. It is time for the scientific community to elevate its advocacy, with a unified voice, to a volume not yet heard by local, state, an