May 2001

When New Jersey gave the Coriell Institute for Medical Research $5 million last year, it was the first time any state had funded an umbilical cord blood bank. But no other state has a research institute like Coriell, in Camden, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The nonprofit has, for nearly five decades, collected, stored, and cultured cells, providing them to almost every major research center worldwide. Courtesy of Coriell InstituteAn umbilical cord blood cassette used in storing t

Click to view the PDF file: Important Events in Stem Cell Research Graphic: Leza Berardone As the Bush administration stood on the verge this month of announcing a decision on whether the federal government will fund embryonic stem cell (ESC) research, the scientists involved braced themselves for the worst and continued planning for ways to move ahead. An issue that is politically, ethically, and religiously loaded, this tempest, like the issues of RU-486 and abortion before it, has galvani

For better or worse, stem cell science has become inextricably married to stem cell politics. Policymakers who oppose public financing of embryonic stem cells have used recent adult stem cell findings to argue for a dismissal of the NIH stem cell guidelines (see "On the Brink," page 1). The guidelines, finalized last summer during the Clinton administration, call for funding the use, but not derivation, of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs); the pro-life Bush administration appears ready to ban t

When you fill out a customs declaration form for entering New Zealand, you are asked if you are carrying any of a long list of animal and plant products. Are you carrying camping gear and boots, riding equipment, and clothing that may have been in contact with farm animals? Have you been on a farm or in a forest in the last 30 days? In a world increasingly worried about alien species and imported livestock diseases, perhaps no other country has been as traditionally concerned about introducing

The flaws that mar proteins as drugs would be a lot easier to eliminate, or at least reduce, were it not for the one thing that gives protein engineers fits: allergic reactions. The protein engineer's doctoring arts are balm for many a malady, but not allergic reactions. A protein too unstable, too toxic, maybe too costly to manufacture, or burdened by some other problem, changes for the better when the appropriate amino acid residues are altered. The catch is that protein engineers never know w

As the study of biology and medicine continues to take place beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere, so too does the study of important, sometimes unique, bioethics issues. Recognizing the need for a cogent bioethics policy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently hired its first chief of bioethics and human subject protection, Paul Root Wolpe, a fellow at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. NASA's individual centers already convene bioethics committ

Parkinson's disease could be the perfect target for stem cell therapy. The etiology of this progressively debilitating disease is clear: scientists know what cells are affected, where those cells reside, when those cells are created during development, and what their target is. This information is reported in scores of articles on cell transplantation that use fetal cells to treat Parkinson's in animal models and people. The good news continues. New research shows that by using stem cells, sci

While celebrities and U.S. entanglement in the Colombian drug war keep cocaine in the headlines, a larger tragedy hides in the unseen lives of both addicts and former addicts. In 1999, 1.5 million Americans took cocaine at least once a month, according to the federal government's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. The problem's vast size is aggravated by two stubborn realities: many addicts just can't quit, and those who do might relapse when stressed or tempted. Both groups suffer because

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., have shown that running can boost brain-cell survival in mice with the neurodegenerative disorder Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T).1 Surprisingly, during the course of the study, they also discovered that the Atm gene--which is absent in those with the disease--appears to play a critical role in neural stem cell development. A-T is a rare disease characterized by the death of brain cells, which results in a progressive lo

Male rhesus monkeys with destroyed amygdala will abandon their normally slow and cautious familiarization process and immediately approach other monkeys with whom they are unfamiliar, according to David Amaral, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of California, Davis. His study on these animals is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of Behavioral Neuroscience. The study involved six lesioned monkeys, each meeting for many 20-minute sessions with a "stranger" monkey. The

For this article, Eugene Russo interviewed Christopher R.R. Bjornson, a graduate student in the department of biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. C.R.R. Bjornson, R.L. Rietze, B.A. Reynolds, M.C. Magli, A.L. Vescovi, "Turning brain into blood: A hematopoietic fate adopted by adult neural stem cells in vivo,"Science, 283

For this article, Eugene Russo interviewed Mark F. Pittenger, director of discovery research at Osiris Therapeutics. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. M.F. Pittenger, A.M. Mackay, S.C. Beck, R.K. Jaiswal, R. Douglas, J.D. Mosca, M.A. Moorman, D.W. Simonetti, S. Craig, D.R. Marshak, "Multilineage potential of adult human mesenchymal stem cells," Science, 284:143-7, April 2,

Click to view the PDF file: Suppliers of LIMS Courtesy of Thermo LabSystemsLaboratory information management systems (LIMS) can enhance lab efficiency while reducing data transcription errors. Commercial laboratories are ultimately in the information management business. A laboratory's ability to track samples, tests, and results, archive data, and then produce timely and accurate reports can make or break that lab's success. Reducing internal bottlenecks streamlines work and lowers costs whil

Click to view the PDF file: Bead-based Fluorescent Multiplex Protein Analysis Systems Courtesy of LINCO ResearchLabMAP-based systems use internally dyed fluorescent microspheres to analyze as many as 100 different analytes concurrently. Today's competitive, high-paced research environment has stimulated the development of a host of approaches for rapid, cost-efficient analyses of large numbers of samples. In keeping with this trend, methods for simultaneously analyzing multiple species in a g

When a data safety monitoring board found the AIDS drug Remune provided little benefit to patients involved in clinical trials, the principal investigator, James O. Kahn, put an end to the project. But when he and his colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco and Harvard University decided to publish the results, they ran into an obstacle: their project's corporate sponsor. Immune Response Corp. (IRC), the drug's manufacturer, filed legal documents alleging that the UCSF team h

Federal grant proposal writing may be an art, but for many busy researchers it can quickly turn to a grind: Compiling biographical sketches, doing the project write-up. Figuring the budget. Refiguring the budget. Calculating that budget yet again. Before the application ends up in the National Institutes of Health mailroom, it can undergo more incarnations than psychic Edgar Cayce. Cayuse Inc., a small company based in Portland, Ore., (www.cayuse.com), created a software program called GrantSl

To improve the application of basic research to clinical treatment, the National Institute of Mental Health has established a $2.75 million translational research program. The program evolved in response to NIMH concerns that findings in basic research were not being put into practice, explains Bruce Cuthbert, chief of the Adult Psychopathology and Prevention Research Program at NIMH. An example of such translational research, Cuthbert says, would be to apply basic findings in motivational psych

Organizations are welcome to submit information for consideration for future listings by contacting bmaher@the-scientist.com Click to view the PDF file: Funding Opportunities in the Life Sciences