September 1998

By In the early 1950s, when Jonas Salk produced the first inactivated polio vaccine and Albert Sabin later produced a live, attenuated, oral polio vaccine, the individual researchers' names were permanently linked to the products. But development of an HIV vaccine--a task President Bill Clinton has charged researchers to accomplish by 2007--requires the skills of so many scientists and so many laboratories worldwide that it would be impossible, and perhaps even improper, to link any vacci

As drug companies downsize and research grants in big universities dry up, Chinese scientists in the United States are taking a more aggressive stance toward their own professional and economic development. Chris Pak As though taking the cue from President Bill Clinton and Premier Jiang Zemin, whose open TV debate a few months ago shocked and surprised many Chinese and Americans, Asian scientists in the United States are going after a base of political power. A few are adopting roles ranging

GENOME SYMBOL: DNA strands form the basis of a graphic symbol of the genome project. They said it wasn't a race. When a private venture announced plans in May to produce a version of the human genome four years ahead of the international nonprofit Human Genome Project's deadline, scientists associated with the public project insisted that the private effort wasn't really a challenge to theirs. The private effort would present, at best, a "rough draft" with many holes--if it worked at all, they

Let's say you want to build the best biomedical research facility, bar none. The catch is, it will be in Kansas City. Can you still hope to lure top scientists away from their prestigious postings in world capitals to an untested center in Missouri? Philanthropists Virginia Stowers and James Stowers Jr. think so. And they have a plan to make it happen. On 10 acres across the street from the University of Missouri, the foundations already are being laid for their six-story, 594,000-square-foot

The stream of life science students entering the graduate school pipeline should be frozen to prevent researcher job applicants from flooding the market, according to a recent National Research Council (NRC) report. However, just who will control the valves regulating enrollment--government, universities, or some combination--remains to be seen. "I don't think the federal government alone can provide the answer to this," explains Shirley Tilghman, chair of NRC's Commission on Life Sciences, whi

"His donations to medical research really paid off!"

The unique knowledge and freedom of science evoke novel responsibilities for scientists to stay tuned to, and to inspire, the desires of mankind. Scientists should be candid and honest when addressing the public and should not shun the full implications of ideas, of questions, or of the capacity for science and innovation to shape the future. For example, when members of the scientific community quote polls that show the public supports allocation of more money for basic research, they must not

Thank you for the story "Visa Shortage Highlights Low Pay for Postdocs" by Paul Smaglik (12[15]:12, July 20, 1998). I graduated in Dec. 1997 (Ph. D. in Plant Pathology) and, as a foreign national, I haven't been able to obtain an H1-B visa yet. I am living on my partner's income. I know three other postdocs who have to drop their work in university research and leave the U.S. because they are falling out of status and cannot get an H-1B. In the department in which I graduated, a postdoc makes

I am probably one of those [postdocs] who can understand Deborah Andrew's postdoc best. I am a postdoctoral associate at the University of Miami. The university requires under the soft term "recommends" that all candidates to change status from F1 to H-1B hire a lawyer approved by the university. Fine. It cost me $1500. Anticipating that things with H-1Bs were going bad, I first contacted a "university approved" lawyer on Jan. 6, seven months before the expiration of my present employment auth

Editor's Note: In a subsequent letter received just prior to this issue's deadline, Andrey Savtchenko offers an update: ... Meanwhile, my case was solved, and I received my change-of-status approval [Sept. 15]. I must admit, that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (at least the Texas Service Center) is apparently doing their best to alleviate the situation. [However,] the resolution of my case is not the solution to the problem. The issue is that thousands of professional workers, and

Illustration: Anthony Canamuccio It was once said to me, "A faculty member is only as good as his or her best postdoc." Postdoctoral researchers conduct much of the nation's research; they contribute enormously to the success of the research enterprise; they perform crucial experiments for tenure-track faculty in academic settings; and the success of these faculty often depends on the performance of their postdocs. Despite their importance, postdocs are often a forgotten community with real con

Like explorers searching for the source of a long, expansive river, Alzheimer's disease (AD) researchers are seeking the origins of an exceedingly complex biochemical pathway, one that culminates in the onset of a debilitating condition that afflicts more than 4 million people in the United States alone. Along the way, investigators run into numerous tributaries, factors that, although proven to somehow contribute to disease pathogenesis, may or may not be connected or causally related to one a

Pity the academic researcher. Doing good science is hard enough, but getting grants and spending them wisely may be even more daunting. By instinct and training, most scientists aren't cut out to be money managers or accountants. Yet, researchers are being thrust ever more into the fiscal realm. "PIs [principal investigators] are carrying more responsibility for the administration of their awards than they have in the past," observes Julie Norris, director of the Office of Sponsored Programs at

BIOLOGY RULES ... Biology is becoming so popular, it may overtake the humanities as the foundation of American undergraduate education, claims Joseph G. Perpich, vice president for grants and special programs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Chevy Chase, Md. The institute, America's largest philanthropy, recently announced the allocation of a record $91.1 million in four-year grants to help 58 research and doctoral universities to strengthen their undergraduate programs in biological