Notebook

GOOD GOING: Commerce Undersecretary for Technology Mary Good is returning to private life after serving a little more than one term. The Clinton administration lost another key technology official when Mary L. Good, Undersecretary for Technology in the Department of Commerce, stepped down on June 3 to return to private life in Little Rock, Ark. Good, who was unavailable for comment, had served in the department since the beginning of Bill Clinton's first term. She was known as a strong advocate for public-private technology partnerships, particularly the Advanced Technology Program, which fosters relationships among universities, industry, and government. "She was visionary in seeing the incredible economic benefits of technology partnerships," comments ATP director Lura J. Powell. Adds Kathleen Kingscott, public policy director for science and technology at IBM Corp. in Armonk, N.Y.: "Few women have the depth of experience in government, industry, and academe that she brought to the job." Good's career includes stints with Louisiana State University; Allied-Signal Inc. of Morristown, N.J.; the National Science Board; and the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology in the Bush administration. "You can look at the glass as half-full or half-empty," notes Technology Administration spokeswoman Cheryl Mendonsa. On one hand, "Mary's breadth of knowledge of the issues and the strength of her personality will be missed." Yet, she adds, "it provides a great opportunity for [Commerce] secretary [William M.] Daley to establish his own technology team." Daley will be busy: Arati Prabhakar, director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, also resigned recently. Following the recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, President Clinton has proposed legislation that would prohibit human cloning. After Scottish researchers announced in February the cloning of an adult sheep, Clinton asked the commission to examine the issue. In its recommendations, formally presented in a report to the president on June 9, the commission called human cloning "morally unacceptable" as well as unsafe. It advised that any legislation that outlawed cloning include a mandate to reexamine the issue in three to five years, given potential improvements in the science. Clinton apparently agreed; his proposal would charge the commission with reporting back in 41/2 years on whether the ban should continue. The Biotechnology Industry Organization of Washington, D.C., cheered the commission's report but called for cloning research to continue, so long as it does not lead to human cloning. To that end, the commission said it would permit cloning research that does not result in the implantation of a cloned human egg into a woman's uterus, and Clinton's proposal would allow animal cloning and the cloning of human genes for important biomedical research to continue. THE TIME IS NOW: Rep. James Sensenbrenner wants scientists to be more "proactive" in making the case for greater funding. Calls for researchers to step up lobbying efforts to obtain greater funding are legion, but is anyone listening? Maybe not, according to the June 6 edition of the American Institute of Physics' online newsletter "FYI." Citing an American Chemical Society newsletter, "FYI" says that Rep. Rodney Freylinghuysen (R-N.J.), who sits on the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the National Science Foundation, remarked that he could "count on one hand the number of postcards received supporting NSF." Both he and House Committee on Science chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) are urging scientists "to be much more proactive," in Sensenbrenner's words, in letting people know why taxpayer support of research is such a good idea. The concerns come as Congress prepares to hammer out spending details for fiscal year 1998, and in the wake of an agreement that would balance the budget-and thus create even more competition for federal dollars-by the year 2002. "Now is the time to write," advised "FYI." WINNING TRIO: From left, M. Judah Folkman, Herman D. Suit, and Paul M. Nurse Three researchers received the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Science Awards earlier this month. The Charles F. Kettering medal for outstanding contributions to the treatment of cancer was given to Herman D. Suit, a professor of radiation oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. M. Judah Folkman, the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Harvard Medical School, was honored with the Charles S. Mott medal for outstanding research in cancer causation or prevention. Paul M. Nurse, the director-general of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, garnered the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. medal. Each received $100,000 and a gold medal at the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Scientific Conference on June 11 at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Nurse was honored for his work in cell cycling and cyclin-dependent kinases. Suit was recognized for his nonamputative treatment of cancer patients with sarcomas in their limbs. Folkman was cited for his recognition of the importance of angiogenesis in understanding tumor growth. "Angiogenesis is the new growth of very small blood vessels," explains Folkman. "This prize is excellent recognition for all the young scientists who are currently working in the field of angiogenesis. The question now is: How do we turn the growth of tumor blood vessels on and off?" STILL FIGHTING: Vassar's Cynthia Fisher plans another appeal in her discrimination case against the college. Cynthia J. Fisher, the Vassar College biologist who believes she was denied tenure because she is a married woman, is vowing to press on after a court found for the college earlier this month. Prior to joining the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., college, Fisher had taken eight years off to raise two daughters and deal with illnesses in her family. She sued in 1985 after being denied tenure, and in May 1994 was awarded $627,000 and a tenured position (B. Spector, The Scientist, July 25, 1994, page 1); the award was set aside the following year by a three-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, who disagreed with Fisher's statistical analysis that Vassar hadn't granted tenure to a married woman scientist in 30 years (Notebook, The Scientist, Oct. 2, 1995, page 30). In a 6-5 ruling, the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals let stand the panel's decision. Under a court order, Fisher is still teaching cell and development biology at Vassar until the matter is settled. She plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, saying the Court of Appeals simply "rubber-stamped" its smaller panel's previous decision without really addressing it. "This is such bad law we can't stop here," Fisher tells The Scientist. "If a woman even in the distant past takes time off from her career for parenting duties, this can be held against her as lack of a professional commitment. That's what Vassar did. What this says is anyone who ever takes time off can be denied promotion by an employer. To have that as a legal product is disastrous." BONING UP: Patricia Ducy of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (right) and Bjorn Olsen of Harvard believe the Cbfa1 gene may be the key to future treatments for osteoporosis. In his epic poem The Iliad, Homer wrote of a man who came to Troy: "His shoulders were bent and met over his chest." Now scientists may know why. In studies published in the May 30 edition of Cell (T. Kimori et al., 89 :755-64; P. Ducy et al., 89 :747-54; S. Mundlos et al., 89 :773-79; F. Otto et al., 89 :765-71), researchers report that a gene called Cbfa1 is essential for the formation of a complete skeleton. A team from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center believes the gene serves as a "switch" that triggers uncommitted cells in the early embryo to become bone formers, or osteoblasts. Teams from Harvard Medical School and Osaka City University Medical School in Japan found that when mutated, Cbfa1 causes bizarre bone defects, including a rare condition known as cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD). CCD is a developmental disorder that stunts the growth of certain bones-the collarbone, for example, which may explain the deformity of the traveler whom Homer described. "This gene is essential for bone-forming cells to arise in the embryo," observes investigator Bjorn Olsen, a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School. "Without it, there is not a single bone-producing cell in the body." In another study, mice lacking one copy of Cbfa1 had a condition that mirrored CCD; those lacking both copies had skeletons composed entirely of cartilage. According to investigators, the studies could lead to better treatments for osteoporosis. By understanding how to increase the formation of bone in the skeleton, scientists may one day be able to "reactivate the gene-to-bone differentiation process in elderly people," notes Patricia Ducy, an M.D. Anderson postdoctoral fellow in molecular genetics. BIOLOGICAL PARTNERS : CCNY's John Lee hopes the International Society of Symbiology will finally give symbiosis the credit it deserves. A new scientific society has been created to explore what one of its cofounders calls a neglected biological phenomenon. The International Society of Symbiology was established in April at the second International Congress on Symbiosis, held at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. It will provide a forum for discussion for scientists interested in symbiosis-the process by which organisms work in concert to aid in each other's survival. For example, herbaceous plants are nutritionally dependent upon symbiotic associations with bacteria on and in their roots, and herbivorous animals like cows depend on microorganisms in their intestines to metabolize ingested vegetation. John J. Lee, a professor of biology at City College of New York and the society's first president, believes that symbiosis is overlooked and underappreciated: "Right now, far too few people have a proper perspective on the impact that symbiotic phenomena have had on evolution and adaptations of life on Earth." Lee also emphasizes the importance of symbiosis as an integrative biological discipline: "The society is targeted toward a broad spectrum of scientific fields-fields like botany, ecology, molecular biology, and entomology." He hopes its membership of more than 100 will double by year's end. Also affiliated with the society are a newsgroup and the journal Symbiosis, published by Balaban Publishers in Rehovot, Israel (fax: 972-8-94676-32, E-mail: balaban@nefvision.net.il). For more information about the society, contact Lee at the Department of Biology, City College of New York, 138th St. and Convent Ave., New York, N.Y. 10031; (212) 650-8545. Fax: (212) 650-8585. E-mail: jjlee@scisun.sci.ccny.cuny.edu. The Amherst, N.Y.-based Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal (CSICOP) recently announced that it is setting up a "media stock fund" to aid in its continuing efforts to critically examine claims of the paranormal. CSICOP is a nonprofit organization composed of scientists; the group publishes the magazine Skeptical Inquirer. The watchdog group is soliciting support to buy common stock in such large media companies as Time Warner Inc. and General Electric Co. (GE), which are the parent companies of major broadcasting firms. As shareholders, CSICOP members will attend corporate meetings and express their concerns regarding media distortion of science, especially in purported documentaries that present fringe science as real science. Barry Kerr, CSICOP's executive director, cites such television shows as PSI Factor and Sightings as examples of programs that "present the paranormal as truth." The committee's goal is to make shareholder meetings accountability sessions, but, adds Kerr, "we don't have any illusions that we'll develop a 20 percent interest in GE and take over the meetings."

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June 1997

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