May 1995

As available academic researchjobs decline, many are questioning the wisdom of traditional maxims like 'the cream rises to the top' Rapid and accelerating changes in the structure of United States science have left many scientists bitterly disenchanted and feeling that they have been left high and dry, trapped in dead-end careers, the victims of misleading or downright bad career advice. DOUBTER: Kevin Aylesworth says that graduate advisors have a vested interest in keeping students in resear

Growing number of alliances with pharmaceutical partners seeking access to gene technologies points to new success path for biotechs. NEW TOOLS: Drug companies need the novel technologies that are "bread and butter" to the biotech industry, says Pfizer's Peter S. Ringrose. With growing fervor, the world's largest pharmaceutical companies have been aggressively buying up a range of biotechnology company assets in the past few years, even as the stock market's interest in the younger industry h

DISCRIMINATING: Cecelia and Cabriel Manrique's research reveals bias against Asian Americans in academia. Chang-Lin Tien, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Henry T. Yang, chancellor of UC-Santa Barbara; David Chang, president of Polytechnic University; Alice Huang, dean for science at New York University; James Wei, dean of engineering at Princeton University. These names are mentioned prominently when discussion turns to distinguished scientists and engineers of Asian ance

Edward Fred Knipling, the former director and currently science adviser to the entomology research division in the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), has received the 1995 Japan Prize for his contributions to "science and technology for agriculture, forestry and fishery which conserves the environment." He was presented with the award at a special ceremony held April 27 in Tokyo. ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY: Edward F. Knipling developed the sterile in

The inclusion of eight investigators from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) on the list of 60 newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) may mark a new record for the academy. Although precise data are not available, NAS officials speculate that this is the largest number of new academy members associated with the same organization. The Chevy Chase, Md.-based institute's strong showing comes as no surprise to NAS home secretary Peter Raven, who cites HHMI research

Over the past year, the scientific community has been debating the existence of a Ph.D. glut. Being a young scientist and a junior faculty member, I read about this with a certain fascination. While I already have my "first real job," I don't yet have the luxury of feeling secure in my career, nor can I ignore the plight of students and postdocs whom I teach and train, and with whom I socialize. >From where I sit, a crisis is brewing in the scientific community, and it is beginning with a cert

The scientific employment market has become increasingly competitive over the past two decades. Today's science graduates generally are faced with at least two postdoctoral fellowships, often in very diverse fields--and still with no assurance of a job at the end. Because the primary focus is on the specific technical expertise required, the ancillary, transferable skills and personal attributes that enhance marketability are often overlooked by both applicant and employer. Skills in scientific

Thank you for your increasing coverage of professional and career-related material of interest to scientists. I've noticed the trend, and it is certainly a positive one for The Scientist. However, I must take exception to the cover story by Franklin Hoke in the March 20, 1995, issue. This feature, entitled "Smaller Biotechs Capturing Top Talent From Large Pharmaceutical Competitors" [page 1], seems to perpetuate a number of stereotypes that could have been presented in a more balanced fashion.

I read the article "Struggle Over Online Cancer Service Spurs Larger Medical Ethics Debate" (F. Hoke, The Scientist, April 3, 1995, page 1) with great interest. My strongly felt opinion is that Loren Buhle has been pivotal in creating an extremely useful resource for cancer patients and their families, as well as for the medical community at large. It is distressing to see that he has been relieved of his responsibilities as a result of the University of Pennsylvania's desire to filter informat

Editor's Note: Since 1993, the newsletter Science Watch has ranked the year's most cited scientists and research papers. Based on records compiled by the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), analysts prepared such rosters for 1994. Researchers are ranked by their number of "hot papers." An article is considered "hot" if it has garnered a substantially greater number of citations, within a two-year period, than other papers in similar disciplines. For instance, the 199

Edited by: Neeraja Sankaran K.C. Nicolaou, Z. Yang, J.J. Liu, H. Ueno, P.G. Nantermet, R.K. Guy, C.F. Claiborne, J. Renaud, E.A. Couladouros, K. Paulvannan, E.J. Sorensen, "Total synthesis of taxol," Nature, 367:630-4, 1994. (Cited in 67 publications through April 1995) Comments by K.C. Nicolaou, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif. This paper was the most cited paper in chemistry in 1994-- ranking 12th overall in citations to scientific papers last year--according to the Science Citat

Edited by: Neeraja Sankaran THERMODYNAMICS TACTICS: Ruth Spolar and M. Thomas Record postulate that conformational changes occur at the binding interface between proteins and their ligands, accounting for changes in heat capacity and entropoy in these reactions. R.S. Spolar, M.T. Record, Jr., "Coupling of local folding to site-specific binding of proteins to DNA," Science, 263:777-84, 1994. (Cited in 41 publications through April 1994) Comments by Ruth Saecker Spolar, department of chemistry,

An unfortunate number of young scientists report having been given bad career advice early in their professional lives. Faced with the choice of whether to pursue a scientific career at all, and if so, whether to aim for a career in academia, industry, government, or some other sector, potential scientists are hungry for advice and become bitterly disappointed when that advice proves incorrect. Although "incorrect" counseling may not have been mean-spirited-- indeed, it may not even have been i

FACILITATOR: Norman Anderson hopes to integrate behavioral and social sciences into NIH's behavioral research. Norman B. Anderson, 39, an associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at Duke University, has been named by National Institutes of Health director Harold Varmus to head the new Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), effective July 1. The purpose of OBSSR is to promote and coordinate research at NIH into the role of various nonphysiological factors in health.

Liquid-handling operations, such as pipetting, diluting, and dispensing, are undergoing major changes in today's life science laboratories in response to increased demands for higher productivity and reduced operator interaction. These basic, everyday functions are being improved significantly with a variety of systems that perform more efficiently, use less labor, and often lead to increased accuracy and precision. Single pipettes are expanding to multichannel units, convenient trigger-action

In legal wrangling that is unlikely to knock the O.J. Simpson trial off the front page, a Philadelphia-based punk rock band named Thorazine has drawn the ire of SmithKline Beecham, the drug company also headquartered in the City of Brotherly Love, according to a local weekly, the City Paper (M. Detweiler, May 5, 1995, page 9). Apparently, the company feels that the band's name could dilute the distinction of Thorazine, SmithKline's brand of chlorpromazine, a tranquilizer used to suppress the mo

The Scientist Date: May 25, 1995 THE SCIENTIST® The Newspaper for the Life Sciences Professional (609)-786-7207 For Fast Service "THE SCIENTIST covers both women scientists as newsmakers and the issues that women and minorities face in science careers....THE SCIENTIST makes a concerted effort to represent women's opinions and expertise, all the more important because women's names are often not the first to be put forth in the press." SARAH A. NUNNELEY Research Physician Armstrong Labo