Helen M. Ranney, the first woman to head a department of medicine at a U.S. medical school, died last month at age 89. Ranney was a pioneer in the field of genetics, studying the inheritance of sickle cell disease in the early 1950s, when scientists knew little about DNA. To identify carriers of the sickle cell gene, she adapted gel electrophoresis to quickly and easily separate cells with normal hemoglobin from distorted, sickle-shaped cells, since adult carriers contained roughly equal amounts of normal and diseased hemoglobin. She also adapted this approach to other blood disorders.
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Image: National Library of Medicine |
The Bay Area is reporting an overall slowdown in hiring for the biotech sector, according to the region's biotech trade organization, BayBio. At fault: recent mergers, sell-offs, and drug failures, according to linkurl:Mission Loc@l.;http://missionlocal.org/2010/04/hiring-slows-in-sfs-biotech-industry/ Interestingly, our recently released linkurl:Best Places to Work survey for Industry;http://www.the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/section/bptw_industry_10.jsp showed the opposite trend among U.S. biotech companies overall -- that they are continuing to grow. All 10 small companies that topped this year's survey and six of the top 10 large companies reported positive growth in their Research & Development workforce. Nude hospital gowns?
__Medical Hypotheses__, the beleaguered and controversial journal, continues to churn out interesting papers. In one recent study, a scientist from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests that altering the color of hospital gowns and bed sheets to match a patient's skin color will help doctors detect health problems associated with subtle changes in skin color. "If a doctor sees a patient, and then sees the patient again later, the doctor will have little or no idea whether the patient's skin has changed color," said neurobiologist and study leader linkurl:Mark Changizi;http://www.changizi.com/ in a linkurl:statement.;http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/563961/?sc=dwhn Another solution: develop tabs in skin-toned colors and attach one to each patient to track hue changes. You can see Changizi's linkurl:paper;http://www.changizi.com/colorclinical.pdf on his linkurl:website.;http://www.changizi.com/ Phew! Funding act passed
A Congressional Committee has renewed the America Competes Act, designed to help boost spending on basic research at government agencies, albeit at slightly lower levels than originally planned in 2007. According to the linkurl:__Chronicle of Higher Education__,;http://chronicle.com/article/Lawmakers-Renew-Commitment-to/65320/ last week the House of Representatives Science Committee gave the National Science Foundation $7.5 billion in the 2011 fiscal year, and $10.2 billion in 2015. The slight reduction in spending (down from the originally authorized $9 billion in 2011 and $13.7 billion in 2015) is a reflection of the state of the economy, said the panel's chair, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX). This new authorization must now get an okay from the full House and Senate to move forward.
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:Structure Made Simple;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/57181/
[March 2010]*linkurl:Radical journal gathers support;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/57190/
[26th February 2010]*linkurl:Best Places to Work: Industry;http://the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/section/bptw_industry_10.jsp
[May 2010]
