Notebook

Risky Business Biotech Futures Oncology Fellowships Micro Manipulation Environmental Achievement Exercises In Ethics Report Card A new Department of Energy (DOE) database available over the Internet catalogs about 175 current research studies involving human subjects either funded by the agency or conducted at its facilities. In at least 41 of the projects, people are exposed to radiation, most for imaging, diagnostic, or therapeutic purposes. In a statement, the agency reports that "DOE does not support any projects in which the effect of radiation upon humans per se is the object of the study." The database fulfills a promise made by DOE Secretary Hazel O'Leary to Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) in January, in connection with hearings into several past DOE human-subject experiments perceived by some to involve unethical levels of risk to inadequately informed participants. Federal regulations, applicable to all agencies, now require informed consent of human research subjects. The new DOE database provides a title, a brief abstract, the funding level, the name of the research institution conducting the work, and the name of the funding agency for each project. There are several ways to access the database residing at the Johns Hopkins University Welch Laboratory of Applied Bioinformatics in Baltimore. One is by using the gopher command to reach the gopher.gdb.org server and then selecting the following sequence of menu items: "NIH, NSF, DOE, and Other Funding Agencies"; "DOE--Department of Energy"; and then "The DOE Human Subjects Database." The Biotechnology Industry Organizaion (BIO) Washington, DC has announced eight winners of college scholarships in its 1994 Biotechnology High School Essay Contest. The winning 500 word essays - on the theme of "How will biotechnology affect the lives of individuals in the 21st century?"--were chosen from among 130 submissions from students at 29 high schools in 17 states. The eight winners, all seniors, of the $1,500 scholarships were: Marshall Camp and Minming Wu of Douglas Freeman High School in Richmond, Va.; Shayne Campbell of Monterey High School and Antonio Gonzalez of Coronado High School, both in Lubbock, Texas; Tracy Kinsey, Evans High School, Evans, Ga.; Miriam Rosenberg of Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Md.; Daniel Ryklin, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Ill.; and Melinda Shaw of Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Va. Copies of the winning essays are available through BIO, 1625 K St., N.W., Suite 1100, Washington, D.C. 20006; (202) 857-0244. Fax: (202) 857-0237. The American Cancer Society is accepting applications for its 1995 Clinical Oncology Fellowships, intended to "support a multidisciplinary training experience for physicians and dentists preparing for a leadership career in academic oncology," according to the society. The program may include training in cancer research, control, prevention, detection, diagnosis, therapy, and rehabilitation. Applications for the one-year, $10,000 stipend are due July 1. For information, contact Virginia Krawiec, Clinical Awards Program, American Cancer Society Inc., 1599 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, Ga. 30329-4251; (404) 329-5734. Fax: (404) 325-2548. Physicists at Stanford University are gaining physical properties of polymers by using a recently developed tool called "optical tweezers," which allows researchers to directly manipulate individual molecules. Developed from low-temperature laser technology, the optical tweezers are capable of moving strands of viral DNA attached to tiny plastic spheres one-25,000th of an inch in diameter. "It's like a video game. We move the beam around with a joystick," says Thomas T. Perkins, a graduate student in the physics lab of Steven Chu at Stanford. The spheres and their attached polymers are visible through an optical microscope. Using the tweezers, the researchers move the spheres along complicated paths while the DNA strand unravels behind. Nominations are being accepted for the 1995 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, funded by the Alice C. Tyler Trust through the University of Southern California. The $150,000 prize is awarded for "the protection, maintenance, improvement, or understanding of ecological and environmental conditions anywhere in the world; or the discovery, further development, improvement, or understanding of known or new sources of energy." Nominations should include a description of the nominee, which may be an individual or individuals or an institution, corporation, or organization; a summary of accomplishment; a detailed description of contributions; and references. The deadline for nominations is October 1. For information, contact Jerome B. Walker, Executive Director, The Tyler Prize, Office of the Provost, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif. 90089-4019; (213) 740-6559. Fax: (213) 740-1313. E-mail: walker@adm-1.usc.edu. The Research Triangle Park Club of Sigma Xi in North Carolina recently announced that it has produced a video of its November 1991 forum, "Ethical Issues in Scientific Research." The one-hour video--with the same title as the forum--shows scientists and profess and wrong, but to present several views. The issues covered are authorship, peer review, data handling, social responsibility in research, scientific fraud, and reporting research to the public. The club suggests that the video may be useful for courses in scientific ethics. For information, call Harvey Krasney at (919) 967-4517. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Center for Improving Science Education (NCISE) in Washington, D.C., have joined forces to prepare a report, entitled "What College Students Abroad Are Expected to Know About Biology," to make general audiences in the United States aware of the difference in educational standards in biology between the U.S. and other developed countries, such as Germany, Japan, and France. The report is the first volume in a series by AFT called "Defining World Class Standards," designed to aid educators developing internationally competitive education standards, the centerpiece of the federal government's Goal 2000: Educate America Act. Independently, NCISE is preparing similar reports on the subjects of physics, chemistry, and math. For information, contact Matthew Gandal, AFT, Educational Issues Department, 555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001; (202) 879-4458. Fax: (202) 879-4556.

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