May 1995

CEOs underscore the commercial sector's reliance on academia's basic discoveries andtrained investigators DIFFERENT IN KIND: Increasingly, university research is company-backed, but most is direct-output work, says Batelle's Douglas E Olesen. In a recent letter to more than 300 members of Congress, the heads of 15 of the largest United States corporations argued for continued "robust" federal support of university-based research. Among those receiving the letter were presidential hopeful and

Only half of today's firms are expected to exist five years from now, but a similar decrease in jobs is notnecessarily in the offing FEELING FINE: Analyst Joyhn Wong sees biotech layoffs as part of a "healthy cycle". The past year has been a turbulent one for biotechnology. While 1994 saw the first genetically engineered food approved for sale Calgene's Flavr Savr tomato it also witnessed disappointing failures in clinical trials and other industry setbacks. Many investors have deserted biote

For many, the name Michael Milken is synonymous with avarice and conspicuous consumption that characterized Wall Street speculators of the 1980s. However, in the time since his release from federal prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud, serving a two-year sentence, and paying more than $1 billion in fines and settlements, the 48-year-old former junk bond king has been working toward being more closely associated with a cure for prostate cancer. WHEELING AND DEALING: NCI's Marston Li

For many, the name Michael Milken is synonymous with avarice and conspicuous consumption that characterized Wall Street speculators of the 1980s. However, in the time since his release from federal prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud, serving a two-year sentence, and paying more than $1 billion in fines and settlements, the 48-year-old former junk bond king has been working toward being more closely associated with a cure for prostate cancer. The foundation Milken started in 1993,

A National Science Foundation report, scheduled for release this summer, on the demographics of scientists and engineers (S&E) in the federal work force shows a rise in employment of about 6 percent_13 percent among scientists_from 1989 to 1993. But according to various federal officials, these figures may already be outdated, in light of employment cuts that have occurred since the report period or are being proposed by Congress and the Clinton administration. PARING DOWN: H. Ronald Pulli

For the second time in three years, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) will hold its annual meeting together with the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The cooperative event will take place from Sunday, May 21 through Thursday, May 25 in San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. More than 3,000 scientists are expected to attend the conference and exhibition, bringing together a broad span of chemists, biochemists, and biol

Situated equidistant from Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, N.C.--smack in the middle of the Research Triangle--sits the only National Institutes of Health institutional campus outside of the Washington, D.C., Beltway. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is currently responsible for nearly 50 percent of all federally funded research on such subjects. It commands a diverse research agenda that covers populations and geographical boundaries far beyond the triangle or t

President-Elect Of Scientific Honor Society Sigma Xi UNLEADED LEGACY: "These discoveries will affect the health of millions of people for decades to come," asserts Clkair Patterson, regarding the environmentally friendly products that have arisen from his work. William R. Wiley, corporate vice president of research and technology policy at Battelle Memorial Institute, Richland, Wash., was chosen to become the president of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, in 1996-97. Wiley was elected

In Recognition Of His Work On Health Risks From Lead Clair C. Patterson, 72, a professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology's division of geological and planetary sciences, has been awarded the 1995 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Patterson was presented the honor--a gold medal and $150,000--on April 28 at a ceremony in Los Angeles. EMPHASIZING EDUCATION: William Wiley hopes to establish Sigma Xi as an intellectual resource for teachers and legislators at various c

Gary K. Beauchamp, director, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia "THE SCIENTIST presents invaluable coverage of federal science policy and its impact on basic research centers. I learn what government leaders are thinking and how that will translate into support for research. THE SCIENTIST keeps me abreast of the politics of science." The Monell Chemical Senses Center is the world's only multidisciplinary, basic research facility devoted exclusively to studying taste, smell, and chemos

In the article "Struggle Over Online Cancer Service Spurs Larger Medical Ethics Debate" (F. Hoke, The Scientist, April 3, 1995, page 1), Dean Mouscher was insufficiently identified. In addition to being a Chicago options trader in Chicago, he is clinical trials director for the Houston-based clinic of Stanislaw Burzynski, whose experimental and controversial antineoplaston therapy Mouscher feels extended and improved the quality of his father's life. Mouscher's father died of glioblastoma multi

Assessing the biotechnology industry based on layoffs alone is misleading. While statistics related to layoffs make the headlines and certainly have serious consequences for the affected individuals, numerous other factors need to be considered in order to characterize what is happening within the industry. Overall, while 1994 represented an all-time high in the number of biotechnology companies, as well as in the number of employees, some indications point to a reversal of the upward trend. F

I want to thank The Scientist for reporting on my return of a $613,882 grant to the National Institutes of Health in the Dec. 12, 1994, issue (Notebook, page 4). However, the story missed the real purpose for my action--to bring attention to the dangers of the environmental release of genetically altered organisms and of germ-line genetic manipulations in humans. I also announced that I was redirecting my own research to traditional medical systems, particularly Maharishi Ayur-Veda, a preventio

Downsizing is a recurring activity in corporate America. The American Management Association's 1994 survey on downsizing reports that, on average, two-thirds of the firms that cut jobs in a given calendar year will do so again the following year. In this survey, 72 percent of the responding companies downsized in at least one calendar year since January 1989; 46 percent in at least two years; 27 percent in three years or more. Clearly, American businesses now believe that periodic downsizing ha

Rumors of impending layoffs began swirling around the Langford division of Cyanamid Canada Inc. in Guelph, Ontario, last July. As molecular microbiologist Lori L. Burrows recalls it, the Toronto-area veterinary vaccine manufacturer was a small pawn in a battle among three pharmaceutical titans. At first it seemed as if diplomacy would avert a bloodletting: Langford's parent company, American Cyanamid Co. of Princeton, N.J., planned to swap its human pharmaceuticals subsidiaries to SmithKline Be

Through the years, a variety of separation techniques have been used by researchers in their continuing challenge to accurately separate and identify analytes of interest from complex mixtures. Numerous procedures, physical as well as chemical, conducted in an assortment of vessels, are often used to achieve this goal. During the past 25 years, column techniques such as gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) have led to successful separation and identification

Contents Attention, Shoppers Ground-Breaking Discoveries The Streak Continues Bioengineers Find A Home Next Its Sweat and Tears Cleaner Living Through Chemistry Winning Rubes Flake Fate Just Say An announcement in a March 31 issue of Update, a newsletter of the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR), that a guide to socially responsible corporations will delete positive references to animal research has resulted in "a big misunderstanding," according to an author of the guide. Updat