June 2000

Graphic: Cathleen Heard Twenty years ago, venture capitalists knew little about biotechnology. The scientific community knew only a fraction more. "With respect to immune system hormones, not a single interleukin gene had been cloned by 1981. No cytokine had actually been purified to molecular homogeneity," writes Steven Gillis, chairman and CEO of Corixa Corp., a Seattle-based immunotherapeutics company.1 Gillis recollects that preclinical efficacy data in animals did not exist for the earliest

Model of an inhibitor targeted to g-secretase interacting with presenilin. The background shows an Alzheimer's brain that carried a presenilin mutation, with immunohistochemistry revealing abundant amyloid plaques (red-orange patches). For years researchers have been perplexed by the identity of g-secretase, an enzyme that cuts amyloid precursor protein (APP) into amyloid ß (Aß) fragments that form telltale plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Now researchers from Merck Rese

Vical Inc.'s naked DNA nonviral delivery technology Even as gene transfer research endures criticism for inadequate clinical trial monitoring and underreporting of adverse events, the first several treatments are poised to enter final stages of development. Gene therapy for cancers of the skin and kidney, for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) or "bubble boy" disease, and for hemophilia B, all have produced promising early clinical trial results, attendees were told during the American Soc

Editor's Note: On May 2, the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 60 new members and 15 foreign associates from nine countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Nearly half of the new members are life scientists. In this article, The Scientist presents photographs of some of the new members and comments from a few of them on their careers and on past and current research. A full directory of NAS members can be found online a

Courtesy of Charles S. Hopkinson Jr.Brackish tidal marsh along the Plum Island estuary in northeastern Massachusetts Lessons learned decades ago resurfaced this spring when the National Research Council of the National Academies issued a report calling for a nationwide plan to combat the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution threatening U.S. coastal waters. Lesson one: Ecosystems are interdependent. Lesson two: Virtually every human being is part of the problem and can be part of the solution. "We

Acknowledging that it is important for medical schools to adapt educational programs to changes in the real world, Michael Whitcomb, senior vice president for medical education at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), explains, "Successful medical education will produce doctors who are effective practitioners." The AAMC is establishing three Medical School Objective Project (MSOP) expert panels on health care quality, clinical research, and basic science. The MSOP was started four

Efforts by distinguished biomedical scientists to press Congress to provide increased funding were portrayed in a recent article1 as having originated in 1990 or thereabouts. This article, though accurate about the past decade of these important and highly successful endeavors, failed to note the key precursor: the Delegation for Basic Biomedical Research, formed in 1977. The members of this group were selected by its founder, Mahlon Hoagland of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology,

I applaud your continued efforts to bring business and legal issues to the attention of the scientific community.1 However, there are a few points that I wish to make. First, the subhead "Awarding of patent may only reflect who filed first," while titillating, is clearly legally incorrect under U.S. patent law. In the United States the first to invent any new and useful article of manufacture or method is the true inventor and entitled to a patent, if the inventor satisfies the disclosure, descr

Nicotine holds promise for treating diseases such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and schizophrenia. "Nicotine is a very simple molecule, and it affects receptors of many subtypes; therefore, the consequences, behavioral and biologic, are very broad," says Neil Grunberg, director of the Psychoendocrinology and Biochemistry Laboratory at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Nicotinic receptors control the release of

Putting Polio to Good Use Add polio to a host of other viral and bacterial foes that, in modified forms, could prove therapeutically beneficial. Although Russian scientists attempted to use polio to treat cancer in the 1960s--unpublished experiments about which little is known--a recent brain cancer study in mice is the first modern-day attempt to harness the power of the virus (M. Gromeier et al., "Intergeneric poliovirus recombinants for the treatment of malignant glioma," Proceedings of the

Magnetic Separation Systems Suppliers of Magnetic Microspheres for a Variety of Applications Labsystems' KingFisher Magnetic Particle Processor plunges into the magnetic separation scene. Since LabConsumer's last profile of magnetic bead technology, the use of paramagnetic particles in biological separations and detection has exploded.1 However, development of processing technologies has lagged behind refinements of the beads themselves. The instrumentation emerging within the last few years

PCR Template Preparation Kits Epicentre Technologies' MasterAmp Buccal Swab DNA Extraction Kit Among the thousands of kits and products available to the life scientist, many provide a means of purifying genomic and plasmid DNA.1 Though most of these prepare highly purified DNA for specific applications such as Southern blotting, fluorescent automated sequencing, and RFLP analysis, some are designed to prepare DNA simply for use as PCR templates. Generally characterized as fast, easy, and eff