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Panels Under The Axe Human-Embryo Research Opposition Telemedicine Delivers A Diagnosis Symposia Mark Pasteur's Passing Microbiologists Stake Home Page Dr. Seuss, Capitalist Tool Funding Novice Biomedical Faculty Math Medalists The AIDS Research Evaluation Working Group and six Area Review Panels currently charged with evaluating all National Institutes of Health-sponsored AIDS research (B. Goodman, The Scientist, July 10, 1995, page 1) find themselves facing a challenge they may not be able to overcome. Last month, the House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate the direct appropriation of the AIDS budget to NIH through the Office of AIDS Research (OAR), under whose auspices the panels are working. In the plan proposed by the subcommittee, monies will be given directly to the 24 NIH institutes and will not be designated specifically for AIDS research. "That endangers the whole [panel] review," says AIDS activist Gregg Gonsalves of the New York-based Treatment Action Group, a member of the etiology and pathogenesis panel. "If OAR doesn't get a single budget line, how significant will the recommendations be? I've never seen such a huge, huge battle around AIDS research." Gonsalves suspects that some NIH institute directors "talked to their Republican friends in Congress and said, 'We don't want this'" because the directors were concerned that OAR might find better uses for institute money "that's nominally being called AIDS [funding]." The positive side of the coin, he notes, is that "a coalition of hundreds of scientists [is] going to fight like hell to keep the budget line for the Office of AIDS Research." Among these scientists are panel members David Ho, director of the New York-based Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and panel consultant David Baltimore, the well-known Nobel Prize-winning biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who wrote an op- ed article on the topic in the New York Times (July 20, 1995, page A23). Others, including Nobelist Torsten Wiesel, president of Rockefeller University, have expressed their concerns in writing to Congress. The Senate is expected to take up the NIH budget, including the issue of OAR, next month; President Clinton has said he would veto a bill eliminating the OAR appropriation. After a National Institutes of Health advisory group last year proposed that the agency fund certain carefully delimited research involving very early-stage, in vitro human embryos, President Clinton acted to bar the use of taxpayer money for most such investigations (F. Hoke, The Scientist, Jan. 23, 1995, page 1). Clinton was criticized by many scientists for bowing to the then-new conservative majority in Congress on the controversial issue, but perhaps he simply had access to the same pollsters used by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. According to an independent national survey commissioned by the conference in July, 74 percent of Americans oppose the use of federal money to pay for research involving human embryos. Only 18 percent favor taxpayer funding for such studies, with the remaining 8 percent uncertain. The question posed to 1,000 registered voters by poll-takers from the Houston-based Tarrance Group was: "Congress is considering whether to provide federal funding for experiments on live human embryos in the first two weeks of development. The embryos would generally be destroyed or discarded in the course of the research. Would you support or oppose using federal tax dollars for this purpose?" Scientists say vital research in such areas as fertility, birth defects, development, and cancer could have received a critical boost had federal support for some research with human embryos become available. Also in July, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee reinforced Clinton's move by voting to include a ban on federal funding for human-embryo research in NIH's FY 1996 appropriations bill. In April, friends of the Beijing doctors who were treating a 21-year-old female university student named Zhu Lingling posted their baffling case to the Internet, hoping for help from medical professionals here in the world. News groups such as sci.med.telemedicine carried and reposted the SOS describing Zhu's symptoms, which began in December and initially included falling hair, pain in her hands and feet, vertigo, blurred vision,and palsy. These had progressed to include numbness and paralysis, central nervous system respiratory disturbance, and involuntary chewing movements of her mouth. In March, she slipped into a coma. Neurologists at the hospital excluded a number of immunological and metabolic diseases, but could not make a diagnosis that accounted for the symptoms presented. The Internet message was answered by more than 80 physicians and others from Europe, North America, and Australia, who suggested that Zhu Lingling's case might be one of thallium poisoning. If this proved to be so, the treatment would be a course of Prussian blue, a crystalline form of hydrated ferric ferrocyanide, together with hemodialysis and other support. Tests for thallium proved the diagnosis correct, treatment was begun, and the young woman's condition has since stabilized and improved somewhat, although she remains in a coma. The case is being called a success for proponents of an international electronic medical consulting community that can be called on to support doctors working in rural settings or developing countries, or confronting difficult cases. History and updates on the young woman's case can be accessed via the World Wide Web at http://www.radsci.ucla.edu/telemed/zhuling/zhuling.html. (Obselete!) This year marks the centenary of the death of French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur. To honor his legacy, the Pasteur Institute in Paris and UNESCO have organized six symposia as part of the Year of Louis Pasteur International Symposium. The meetings-covering current topics in the fields of Pasteur's discoveries-are held at research institutes throughout the world. North America's conference will be a symposium on Stereospecificity and Molecular Recognition, to be held at Rockefeller University September 12-15. The structure, design, and function of biomolecules will be discussed by international participants, including three Nobel laureates: biochemists Arthur Kornberg, Jean- Marie Lehn, and Thomas Cech. Kornberg will deliver the keynote address, entitled "Coalescence of the Biological Sciences." Rockefeller president Torsten Wiesel, also a Nobel laureate, will give the welcoming remarks. For more information, contact Rockefeller University Office of Public Affairs, 1230 York Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021; (212) 327- 8969. Fax: (212) 327-7876. E-mail: rierag@rockvax.rockefeller.edu. Beginning this month, microbiology has found a home page on the World Wide Web, as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) premiered on the Web at http://www.asmusa.org. Among the services available on the home page are online tables of contents for the society's 11 peer-reviewed journals, along with ASM press releases, meeting programs, and position statements, as well as congressional testimony on microbiology issues. In addition, the information service provides downloadable forms for various ASM publications and employment opportunities; financial aid information; and links for microbiology information with universities, government agencies, electronic journals, and search engines for the Web. For more information, contact ASM, 1325 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.; (202) 942- 9297,.Fax: (202) 942-9367. When the late Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas and his other beloved children's books, little did he know that his amusing stories contained important lessons in ecological economics. Banking on the universal appeal of Dr. Seuss books for kids of all ages, two educators now advocate using Geisel's classics as a " way"="" to="" teach="" undergraduates="" and="" younger="" students="" how="" market="" forces="" impinge="" on="" the="" environment.="" stories="" "are="" much="" more="" interesting="" than="" mathematical="" models,"="" says="" kenneth="" cramer,="" a="" professor="" in="" biology="" department="" at="" monmouth="" college="" illinois.="" along="" with="" paul="" chambers,="" an="" economics="" central="" missouri="" state="" university,="" say="" that="" four="" seuss="" books="" particularly="" lend="" themselves="" subject:="" lorax,="" bartholomew="" oobleck,="" horton="" hears="" who!,="" grinch="" stole="" christmas.="" story="" most="" obvious="" environmental="" overtones,="" cramer="" chambers="" illustrate="" principle="" "although="" short-term="" profit="" may="" be="" less,="" reasoned,="" viable="" forestry="" plan="" is="" needed="" for="" long-term="" success,="" both="" economically="" environmentally,"="" explains="" cramer.="" stately="" forest="" decimated="" by="" greedy="" entrepreneur="" named="" mr.="" onceler,="" who="" chops="" down="" all="" truffla="" trees="" manufacture="" thneeds.="" eventually,="" onceler's="" business="" goes="" bust="" owing="" his="" nonsustainable="" resource="" management.="" presented="" their="" ideas="" annual="" meeting="" of="" ecological="" society="" america,="" held="" earlier="" this="" month="" snowbird,="" utah.="" The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is accepting nominations from institutions for its Career Awards in the Biomedical Sciences, to begin in 1996. The awards program provides up to six years of research training support to postdoctoral- level scientists and physicians during their initial years of faculty service "in making the critical transition toward becoming independent investigators." The award amounts range from $375,000 to $484,000, depending on postdoctoral experience. According to program officials, at least 13 awards will be granted, with at least six going to M.D.'s or M.D./Ph.D.'s and six to Ph.D.'s or D.Sc.'s in the United States or Canada. All candidates must have completed at least one year of postdoctoral research training and are expected to continue postdoc work for at least a year after receiving the award. Those who hold a tenure-track faculty position as an assistant professor or the equivalent are not eligible. Institutions may nominate up to four individuals for the program. Nominations must be received by October 2. For more information, contact the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, 4709 Creekstone Dr., Suite 100, Morrisville, N.C. 27560- 9771; (919) 941-5100. Fax: (919) 941-5884. Although the XXV Olympiad in Atlanta is almost a year away, some American competitors have already enjoyed Olympic moments this summer. The U.S. team took six medals in the 36th International Math Olympiad last month in Toronto, while four U.S. high school students lugged home medals from the People's Republic of China for their showing in the 27th International Chemistry Olympiad in Beijing. Each of the six " on="" the="" u.s.="" team="" earned="" silver="" or="" bronze="" medals="" in="" competition,="" and="" squad="" finished="" 11th="" overall="" from="" among="" 74="" nations="" competing="" two-day="" event.="" china,="" romania,="" russia="" were="" top="" three="" teams.="" aleksandr="" l.="" khazanov,="" 16,="" of="" brooklyn,="" n.y.;="" jacob="" a.="" lurie,="" 17,="" bethesda,="" md.;="" josh="" p.="" nichols-barrer,="" newtown="" center,="" mass.,="" medalists.="" christopher="" chang,="" 15,="" palo="" alto,="" calif.;="" jay="" h.="" chyung,="" 18,="" iowa="" city,="" iowa;="" andrei="" c.="" gnepp,="" orange,="" ohio,="" took="" bronze.="" chemistry="" contest,="" 163="" students="" 41="" countries="" competed,="" with="" iran,="" romania="" winning="" highest="" medals.="" for="" u.s.,="" prashant="" mishra,="" beverly,="" mich.,="" jason="" wong,="" alexandria,="" va.,="" home="" g.="" michael="" sawka,="" jr.,="" alto="" eliot="" waingold,="" york,="" pa.,="" was="" sponsored="" by="" american="" chemical="" society,="" math="" olympians="" nine="" national="" associations,="" as="" well="" army="" research="" office,="" office="" naval="" research,="" microsoft="" corp.,="" matilda="" r.="" wilson="" fund.="" (The Scientist, Vol:9, #16, pg. 30 , August 21, 1995) (Copyright © The Scientist, Inc.)

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