Neuroscience Is A Booming Field--For Neuroscientists With Jobs, That Is

Statistics compiled by the placement service at each of the past five Society for Neuroscience meetings reveal a depressing trend for those entering the job market (see charts on page 7): The number of candidates registering for interviews has increased sharply, while the number of position descriptions posted has leveled off, and the number of employers registering to interview candidates has decreased. The result is that, while the average number of interviews each employer conducts at the meeting has increased, the average number of interviews each candidate garners has decreased. Several factors--involving both the supply of neuroscientists and the demand for them--have converged to create this current tight market, observers say. The most significant of these factors is the sharpness with which the supply of neuroscientists has increased: The Society for Neuroscience reports that its membership has grown in the past five years from 11,690 in 1987 to 20,415 in 1992. A small portion of this increase can be attributed to the burgeoning number of Ph.D.'s being awarded in neuroscience. Yet it is ironic that one of the most valuable assets of neuroscience--its interdisciplinary nature--is also the primary reason there are so many scientists competing for a few jobs, neuroscientists say. "Scientists are converging from all different backgrounds into this field: pharmacology, molecular biology, protein biochemistry, immunology, and physiology," says Ted Dawson, an M.D./Ph.D. who has just garnered a joint assistant professorship in the departments of neurology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. "Neuroscience is probably the most interdisciplinary of any of the biomedical sciences," concurs U. Texas' Blankenship. "Molecular biologists are finding that just being able to clone genes is no longer that unusual or marketable a skill. So they are starting to focus, and the developments in neuroscience are probably more exciting, more plentiful, and more rapidly moving than in any other field of biomedical research," says Solomon Snyder, director of the neuroscience program at Johns Hopkins. "So many people are entering the field," he adds, "that NIH [National Institutes of Health] funding for neuroscience is being overwhelmed." Indeed, heightened competition for grant money--almost a prerequisite for staying in an academic department or obtaining permanent appointment--is making the academic sector of the job market tightest for neuroscientists. "Everyone is scared about the grant situation," says Blankenship, and a brief glance at some statistics from NIH reveals why. The success rate of grant applications to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the source of nearly one-third of the $1.9 billion NIH granted to Decade of the Brain projects during fiscal year 1993, has plummeted, from 39.6 percent five years ago to 21.9 percent in 1993. One reason is that the number of applications is up, from 1,583 in 1991 to an estimated 1,802 this year. And Constance Atwell, NINDS director of extramural programs, notes that the institute's annual budget increase is not keeping pace with either this increase in the number of applications or the average size of grant awards. According to students as well as professors of neuroscience, this situation is creating a lot of stress in academic labs throughout the country. And Bredt, who will be moving to the University of California, San Francisco, in January as an assistant professor of neuroscience, says that getting a job doesn't necessarily relieve the pressure: "Unless your research is successful and you are lucky enough to have it be of interest to a granting agency, then you can't even stay in a department." "You are much more marketable in looking for a job if you have a grant," Livingston agrees. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Galveston, in 1987, and it was only three months ago, after two postdoctoral fellowships, that she returned to a position on the same campus as assistant professor in the department of humanities and basic sciences. In her words, an assistant professorship in a liberal arts department is an "unorthodox position" for a scientist who wants to do serious work in the lab. She spends much of her time teaching undergraduate students, and has limited start-up funds and lab space for her own work. She says that some friends advised her against taking this position, cautioning that teaching responsibilities would swallow up her research time. Others felt that she was selling out. "But [the job market for neuroscientists] was a pretty threatening environment," she says. "And I was in a very scary position, especially as a single parent and the sole provider for my family." Now, Livingston says, she is finding her position challenging and interesting. And she is confident that, with colleagues and collaborations still in place on campus from her graduate school days, her research won't suffer. Moreover, bad as her experience has been, she agrees that in another field of research it could well have been worse. "[Undergraduate] biology departments love to have neuroscientists on their faculty," she says. "Big strides have been made in neuroscience . . . and they want to milk the field." With a job market that, at best, can be described as stable, why do many neuroscientists feel fortunate? "Neuroscience is exciting right now," says Dawson. Indeed, recent advances in molecular biology are enabling scientists to clone receptor proteins and identify subreceptors that no one knew existed a decade ago. Developments in neurophysiology are allowing scientists to record activity of a single ion channel. The gene for Huntington's disease has been identified, and it is now known that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) is caused by the loss of a simple enzyme. "A whole new category of drugs is being developed to treat previously untreatable neurodegenerative diseases," notes Kayla Paul, director of international clinical research at Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. in Nutley, N.J. And because America's aging population is making neurodegenerative diseases more prevalent, industry's investment in neuroscience is expanding. "Since there are new tools and new avenues for therapeutic intervention, there is more money being spent in neurology and, especially, neuropharmacology," observes Thomas L. Copmann, assistant vice president for biotechnology and biologics at the Washington, D.C.-based Pharmaceutical Manufac- turers Association. "The pharmaceutical industry is having a renaissance of interest in neuroscience," adds Johns Hopkins' Snyder. "And of course, this translates into jobs." Although recent layoffs and job cuts at major pharmaceutical firms have gotten a lot of media attention, several of these companies indicate that they are not backing away from their R&D commitments in the neuroscience area. Merck & Co. Inc. in Whitehouse Station, N.J., reports that it hired 18 people in the neurosciences in 1993, and plans to continue this expansion in 1994, hiring some 10 to 15 more. SmithKline Beecham, Philadelphia, won't release hiring numbers, but confirms that it has hired some Ph.D. neuroscientists in 1993, and that neuroscience continues to be one of its core programs. Warner- Lambert Co. public relations representative Lisa Wilder reports that her Morris Plains, N.J.-based company launched Cognex, the first United States Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for Alzheimer's disease, in early September. "Cognex is the most important drug in the history of our company," she says. "Neuroscience is a big growth area for us." And the picture at smaller biotech firms that specialize in neuroscience is also one of cautious expansion. Neurogen Corp. of Branford, Conn., hired 15 researchers (including six Ph.D.'s) during the past year, and estimates it will make five to 10 new hires in 1994. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y., hired 25 new employees in 1993, and projects 1994 new hires will number about 50. Cephalon Inc. of West Chester, Pa., has expanded the ranks of its Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s by 20, an increase of 31 percent since last December, and plans to continue hiring throughout the coming year. Cambridge Neuroscience Inc. hired 10 neuroscientists in 1993, and has plans to hire six more in 1994. And Raymond Bartes, senior vice president of neurobiology at Alkermes Inc., also in Cambridge, has hired eight neuroscientists in the last eight months, and says that positions are still open at his company. This expansion is being fueled not only by the normal growth of young companies, but also by the unprecedented number of promising compounds these neuroscience companies are working on, according to analysts in the biotechnology research division of Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. As a group, these firms have at least 28 neuroscience-generated products (neurotrophic factors, neurotrophins, and other neurology products) in development. Many of these, according to Merrill Lynch, address previously untreatable neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's disease, stroke, and spinal cord injuries. Despite this increased activity, all of these companies are currently operating under economic and political pressure. Consumers and investors are spending less money, and the potential results of the current national debate on health care have top managers at biomedical corporations concerned. Guarded Optimism "We are in an anomalous situation now," says John Groom, president and chief executive officer of San Carlos, Calif.-based Athena Neurosciences Inc. "We are making good scientific progress in a negative [economic] environment. As a result, I am very optimistic about our technology, but very pessimistic in terms of how to pay for it." Nevertheless, Groom says, there currently are openings for Ph.D.'s at Athena--positions that represent expansion, not just replacement. Until some of these issues are resolved, neuroscientists counsel their job-seeking colleagues to be patient. Christine Livingston recalls the advice of a professor that she has found to be true: "Just stick it out and you'll make it." Blankenship also urges calm and perseverance. "The short term looks a little spooky," he acknowledges. "But openings are there, and in the long term, things should cycle back around." Susan L-J Dickinson is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.

Neuroscience Is A Booming Field--For Neuroscientists With Jobs, That Is

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