June 1995

Point Grants:NIGMS' Marvin Cassman agrees that risky proposals don't get funded. The traditional, romantic notion of scientific research is of a glorious, serendipitous journey into the unknown. But this ideal is belied, in the perception of many scientists, by the apparent reality that much of what gets funded these days is less exploratory and more predictable_cloning and sequencing a gene, for example. While not denying the importance of such predictable studies, the scientific community s

The Scientist 9[12]:1, Jun. 12, 1995 News University Technology Offices Focus Effort On Overcoming Academic 'Cultural' Barriers Now that efficient systems are in place for patenting, the matter at hand is surmounting concerns about the process among faculty By Lee Katterman Sidebars Using the Internet for Technology Transfer . . . Royalty-Sharing Formulas* of the Top 10 U.S. Universities . . . In little more than a decade, licensing of university technology h

Research Investments From The Budget Ax Editor's Note: It has been two years since President Bill Clinton appointed nuclear physicist John H. Gibbons to be director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Since then, Gibbons appears to have largely contented himself with the nuts- and-bolts work of analyzing complex issues and advising the president on policy options. In many ways, Gibbons was replicating in the executive branch the role he played during the previous dozen years

by: NEERAJA SANKARAN It's summertime! Time to grab sand pails and suntan lotion and head for the shore. But not everyone who goes out to sea and wades in the tidepools is there for a vacation. For some scientists, at least, a trip to the beach on a summer's day is all in a day's work. Scientific Spelunker:Serban Sarbu explores the ecology of isolated systems at the Movile Caves in Romania. Take the researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass. Since it was founded

The Scientist 9[12]:, Jun. 12, 1995 News Using The Internet For Technology Transfer By Lee Katterman Several universities have turned to the Internet to help promote the inventions of their faculty. In some cases, universities have provided searching capability, permitting the Internet browser to display nonproprietary descriptions of inventions available for licensing. Here are the URLs (Universal Resource Locators, also known as "addresses") that turned up during some

The Scientist 9[12]:11, Jun. 12, 1995 News Royalty-Sharing Formulas* Of The Top 10 U.S. Universities By Lee Katterman ROYALTY-SHARING FORMULAS* OF THE TOP 10 U.S. UNIVERSITIES (ranked by total royalties from FY1993) University of California system (FY1993 royalties received: $45,440,022) Subtract costs of patenting and an administrative fee from gross royalties First $100,000 net royalties: 50% to inventor for personal use 25% to state of California 25% to invento

Workers Author: Karen Young Kreeger Executives and educators associated with bioscience industry labs are enthusiastic about a recently released report outlining skill standards for technicians aspiring to work in the industry. They say the standards will serve as a framework for training programs aimed at giving workers more transferable skills, allowing them to move with more ease within the volatile bioscience job market. The report, released last month and entitled "Gateway to the Future:

Consumers, Scientists, And Industry Author: Henry I. Miller. The 1992 "Biodiversity Treaty," rejected by the Bush administration but signed by President Clinton, faces opposition to ratification in the Republican-controlled Senate. But the treaty, a lose-lose proposition for United States consumers, scientists, and industry alike, is a bad idea that won't die. It remains high on the administration's agenda. Speaking at Stanford University on April 26, Tim Wirth, undersecretary of state for glo

Regarding the article on minority science programs [K.Y. Kreeger, The Scientist, March 6, 1995, page 1]: These adjunct science programs are a needed addition to teaching science, but it is unfortunate that they have been truncated to assuage the guilty consciences of the ethnic bean-counters. Why aren't we opening these programs to all science students, making them available to anyone who needs the additional preparation, help, and encouragement? I teach introductory biology courses at a local

With respect to the "contract" Earl Dowell proposes (The Scientist, Feb. 20, 1995, page 12), the fundamental problem is not public willingness to invest in scientists and engineers, but the public willingness to invest more generally in an educated society. Funding for higher education in Washington is constantly getting cut back. Funding for high schools is inadequate and getting worse. The public that pays for it doesn't see the value of a well-educated society. A particularly frightening tre

SCIENCE STUDIOS Author: Ricki Lewis The field of virtual environments is in its infancy, particularly in the life sciences. Costs now are so high that rather than earmark a grant application for the million or so dollars necessary to start one's own system, researchers are bringing their data to computer science departments providing virtual environments compatible with biological investigation. The University of North Carolina (UNC) offers such a facility, where molecular biolo

Obstacles Author: Ricki Lewis Sidebar: Science Studios Anyone who's played a video game, gazed up in a planetarium, or taken Disney World's trip through the human body has glimpsed computer-created environments. Adding to that the ability to interact with the cyberworld produces what is popularly known as "virtual reality" (VR). Although life-sciences applications of the technology are just beginning, already variations on the VR theme are proving valuable in such areas as new drug development

Edited by Neeraja Sankaran K. Basler, G. Struhl, "Compartment boundaries and the control of Drosophila limb pattern by hedgehog protein," Nature, 368:208-14, 1994. (Cited in 50 publications through April 1995) Comments by Gary Struhl, HowardHughes Medical Institute, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Body-Building: Gary Struhl, top left, and Konrad Basler elucidated the role of the hedgehog protein in controlling limb development in fruit flies This paper describes the ro

Edited by Neeraja Sankaran Seeding Plaques:Peter Lansbury and colleagues identified a possible mechanism for the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease. J.T. Jarrett, E.P. Berger, P.T. Lansbury, Jr., "The carboxy terminus of the b amyloid protein is critical for the seeding of amyloid formation: implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease," Biochemistry, 32:4693-7, 1993. (Cited in 53 publications through April 1995) Comments by Peter Lansbury, Jr., Massachusetts Instit

if (n == null) The Scientist - Two Separate Surveys Find Salaries For Faculty Increasing At All Levels The Scientist 9[12]:, Jun. 12, 1995 Profession Two Separate Surveys Find Salaries For Faculty Increasing At All Levels By Edward R. Silverman Salaries paid to professors of all ranks at public and private institutions rose in 1994-95 from the levels of the previous year, according to two separate surveys recently released by the Washington, D.C.-based Am

Honor Their Indepedent Contributions To Enzymology Author: Neeraja Sankaran The Welch Foundation of Houston has named Robert H. Abeles, a professor of biochemistry at Brandeis University, and Jeremy R. Knowles, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, as corecipients of the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry. The two researchers will receive their awards-- consisting of a certificate, a gold medal, and a shared cash prize of $300,000--at a ceremony in Houston on Octob

Named Winner Of Mallinckrodt Prize For Nuclear Medicine Author: Karen Young Kreeger Thomas Behr, 29, a research fellow at the Newark, N.J.-based Garden State Cancer Center who is on leave from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, has received the 1995 Mallinckrodt Prize. The award is given by the German Society of Nuclear Medicine for the best research in that field. He received the prize, which consists of an honorarium of 15,000 DM (approximately $10,000), in late March at the socie

Dynamics Author: Howard Goldner During the past few decades, fluorescence spectroscopy has developed into an integral technique in many scientific disciplines. In the life sciences, it is implemented extensively in areas such as biochemistry, biophysics, and cell biology for a variety of applications, ranging from basic assay-related quantitative measurements to DNA sequencing. Locates Molecules:Fluorolog-t2 Spectrometer More recently, advances in instrumentation, laser technology, and fluore

Scientists at Stanford University's biological sciences department are staking somewhat more than their professional reputations on the belief that their concerns about the environment are well-founded--about $15,000 more. The scientists responded to a challenge from Julian Simon--a University of Maryland professor of business administration who has long asserted that environmental trends are positive and "doomsaying environmentalists" are wrong--in the San Francisco Chronicle (Op- ed, May 12,

BERNADINE HEALY, physician and senior health and science policy adviser, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio "THE SCIENTIST does a good job of cutting across all scientific disciplines and providing a unified perspective on the interests of creating new knowledge. It is highly factual, current, and interesting to read." Bernadine Healy's career has encompassed public policy, academic medicine, and medical research and practice. As the first woman director of the National Institutes of Health in