Profession Notes

Tools of the Trade As knowledge advances regarding deadly diseases and subsequent treatments, many scientists are relying on the tools and techniques being developed by biotechnology companies to achieve research goals. One genomic information company, Incyte Genomics of Palo Alto, Calif., recently launched Incyte.com, a genomics Web site with proprietary human gene as well as public domain sequence information. The company is focused on the discovery and analysis of genes as they are expressed in healthy and diseased tissues--that is, the 3 percent-5 percent of the human genome that are transcribed genes. Randy Scott, president and chief scientific officer, says, "Genomic data and technologies are already beginning to have a dramatic impact on development of new drugs and diagnostic tests, as well as improvement of drug efficacy and safety." Incyte says it has the world's largest database of transcribed genes, and that it is the top commercial holder of patents on full-length genes. Incyte's fully accessible LifeSeq® Public has a user-friendly interface and contains links to other company resources including LifeSeq Gene-by-Gene, where scientists can purchase proprietary sequence information and clones. LifeSeq Gold is a proprietary human gene sequence database containing 90 percent of the genes in the human genome. LifeSeq Gold subscribers pay $3 million-$15 million for multiyear access, whereas LifeSeq Gene-by-Gene users can pay for data and clones on an individual gene basis. For example, complete gene view and full-length clone list prices are $19,950 and $14,950, respectively. Inctye plans to put all of its genomic data online by the end of 2000. According to Scott, "Incyte's mission is to revolutionize health care by providing genomic information to a worldwide network of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic researchers. Making our data available to as many scientists as possible in as many ways as possible will ultimately accelerate the pace of gene research, and our understanding of the molecular basis of disease." --Kate Devine Research Integrity Concerns Foster Conference and Grant As a means of addressing research integrity, an increasing concern in all academic disciplines, the federal government recently announced a research integrity conference and grant program aimed at fostering empirical research on factors that positively or negatively affect this integrity. According to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI), little empirical evidence exists to guide government, research institutions, scientists, and professional societies in policy development and decision making regarding integrity in research. Lack of research also has prevented development of an information base for policies and programs to ensure integrity in research and to assess the impact on public health when good research practices are not followed. The first Research Conference on Research Integrity, sponsored by the ORI and co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health, is scheduled for Nov. 18-20 in Bethesda, Md. (ori.dhhs.gov). ORI and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke also are inviting R01 grant applications for research on research integrity, with a deadline of Dec. 15 (grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-01-008.html). ORI intends to award about $500,000 in July 2001 for three to five grants and about $1,000,000 in FY 2002 for continuation of the first-year grants and three to five new proposals. According to Mary D. Scheetz, program analyst at the U.S. Office of Public Health and Science, ORI, "The issue of research integrity crosses a variety of disciplines. The conference will provide a forum for scholarly debate; the grant program will afford scholars the opportunity to develop empirical research on the institutions, processes, and values that influence integrity in research. The ORI is hoping [the research integrity program] ultimately will go international." --Kate Devine You Needed That When? Anyone traveling the Information Superhighway soon realizes its benefits seem limitless. Life sciences researchers are among those experiencing the advantages offered by continual advances such as electronic access to published research (See also, Scientists, Publishers, Societies--and Turf, page 1). IDEAL (International Digital Electronic Access Library; www.idealibrary.com), an Academic Press online science library, recently launched IDEALFirst, a feature that gives researchers accelerated access to journal articles. According to Academic Press' Robert Harington, publisher, life and biomedical sciences, "IDEAL allows researchers accelerated publishing of their articles relative to the traditional print method." The current issue of each title is produced incrementally on IDEAL, with accepted papers being added to a running contents page. When the requisite number of articles is accumulated, that journal issue is printed and archived in the traditional manner. Work published on IDEAL holds the same copyright status and receives identical treatment from major abstracting and indexing organizations and funding agencies as does work published in print. Full-article text is available to IDEAL licensees, typically institutions such as libraries, and nonlicensees can access tables of contents and abstracts. IDEALFirst, currently encompassing 22 journals, is an article-by-article publishing feature that will accelerate information access even more. Harington notes, "The advantage of IDEALFirst for all researchers, including those in the life sciences, is the speed at which their papers will be listed. Authors as well as others in research will benefit from this accelerated posting by having access to the latest information more quickly." --Kate Devine

Profession Notes

Tools of the Trade

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