September 2001

Editor's Note: The second installment of this five-part series, on hearing, will appear in the Oct. 1 issue. Freshly cut lilac, fingernails on a chalkboard, just-baked apple pie, satin and silk, the vivid hues of a sunset. Such sensory stimuli shape people's lives. They arouse and change, elate or sadden, calm or agitate. They tap memories of yesterday or years ago. Information that travels through the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and skin define the world: what the senses don't perceive, the brain

Editor's Note: The second installment of this five-part series, on hearing, will appear in the Oct. 1 issue. Using gene therapy, scientists earlier this year reversed blindness in three dogs afflicted with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). The news excited the scientific world and popular press. LCA is a rare, inherited disease characterized by a severe loss of vision at birth. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and University of Florida showed that injecting a

The Canavan trial signals a new phase in a 10-year offensive that gene therapy researchers have waged against neurodegenerative disorders.

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promotes the expression of the enzyme telomerase, which is responsible for copying the ends of chromosomes known as telomeres. Maintaining telomere length is necessary for the growth, survival, and injury prevention of cells. But, after birth, TERT production normally stops in most cell types. Consequently, telomeres are incapable of unlimited proliferation as they shorten during the aging process. Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine, Waco, Texas

President George W. Bush announced on Aug. 9 in a nationally televised address to the nation that he had decided to restrict public funding for embryonic stem cell research to only those cell lines already in existence as of that day. He said at the time that there were 60 cell lines in existence around the world and that these should prove adequate to allow embryonic stem cell research to proceed (See also, "Stem Cells: Steady Momentum for Funding"). He also made it very clear that he would opp

Epigenetics is the buzz word prominent in the current issue of The Scientist (see "Researchers Focus on Histone Code") and a recent theme issue of Science (August 10, 2001). The term was introduced by Conrad H. Waddington in 1942.1 To paraphrase an erudite epistolary exchange in Science, he is said to contrast genetics with epigenetics, the study of the processes by which genotype gives rise to phenotype. In 1942 we had barely any clue as to what those processes are, so "epigenetic" had no conno

To determine whether a given transcription factor activity is present in a sample, you need look no farther than the standard electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). In an EMSA, researchers mix a radioactively labeled DNA probe with a protein extract and run the entire reaction on a nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel. Because the protein-bound probe will migrate more slowly than a free probe, the experiment is described as a "gel shift." Unfortunately, the gel shift is a cumbersome way to pro

Transcription factor oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) decoys are new research tools designed to enhance the study of gene regulation. The approach involves flooding the cells with enough double-stranded decoy to compete for binding of transcription factors with their consensus sequences in target genes. If present in high-enough concentrations, these "decoys" can negate the ability of the transcription factor to regulate gene expression. The technology has proven effective in vitro and more recently,

Yeast possesses many characteristics that make it especially useful as a model system in the laboratory, including an entirely sequenced genome. Recently, a number of researchers published studies detailing the transition from genome sequencing to functional genomics. Notably, these scientists have developed new high-throughput approaches to the characterization of large numbers of yeast genes. In aggregate, these studies make yeast one of the most well-characterized eukaryotic organisms known.

DNA array-based technologies are widely used in biological research, most commonly to measure differential gene expression--that is, comparing the relative levels of RNA transcripts in different cell or tissue samples.1,2 In a common scenario, researchers label cDNA targets prepared from control and experimental samples with two different fluorescent dyes. They then hybridize these two samples simultaneously to a single microarray bearing tens of thousands of oligonucleotide probes. Finally, the

The highest paying jobs in life sciences involve clinical research, bioinformatics, or bioengineering, according to an earnings survey by The Scientist and Abbott, Langer & Associates Inc. The median salaries plus cash compensation for jobs in these disciplines, from $75,000 to $77,000, are 36-40 percent higher than the $55,000 median pay for the 7,902 life scientists who provided usable responses. Salaries for doctorate bioinformaticians who also hold medical degrees prove to be even higher

A new federal rule designed to protect patients' privacy rights could handicap researchers and prompt legal challenges, according to health policy experts. The privacy rule in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)--for which the Department of Health and Human Services released guidelines in July--requires that researchers who use the nation's tissue banks obtain authorizations when they use patient-specific information, such as medical histories. According to HI

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The old PhD career path: Get the degree. Teach. The new PhD career path: Get the degree. Teach, but only if nothing better comes along. A majority of science and engineering doctorate holders have forsaken careers in academia, even though they started out on a teaching track, according to "Academic Employment of Recent Science and Engineering Doctorate Holders." Fewer of those who opt for academia want to share their knowledge with students. "Although a sizeable majority [64 percent] of recent [