Institute of Chemistry in Karachi, haschampioned plans to create a multibillionPan Islamic R&D Fund by the 57-stateOrganization of the Islamic Conference(see Nature 416, 120–122; 2002).

Perhaps the most contentious sugges-tion was that science is stifled by a lack of democracy in authoritarian Islamiccountries. Adnan Badran, president of theBeirut-based Arab Academy of Sciencesand former deputy director-general of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization, is convincedthat a lack of free expression and creativethinking explains the absence of a vibrantscientific culture. “Oppressive regimes arehindering the creativity of scientists inIslamic states, imprisoning the brains ofthe élite,” he said.

Whether religious culture helps orhinders the advancement of Islamic society is a “legitimate question”, arguedÇigdem Kagitcibasi, a psychologist andmember of the Turkish Academy of Sci-ences. She said it is important to assess theimpact of religious dogma on education,and expressed concern about the growthof fundamentalist religious schools.

Such arguments drew fire fromMohamed Falougi, deputy director gen-eral of the Islamic Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization, who said thatthey are political, and should not arise at a meeting of scientists. Saleh Al-Athel,president of the King Abdulaziz City forScience & Technology in Riyadh, SaudiArabia, warned against the idea that science is synonymous with progress,whereas Islam is somehow ‘backward’.

Although the academic élite of Islamiccountries is generally suspicious of theUnited States’ motives and commitmentto democracy in the region, many scien-tists and intellectuals are now so impa-tient for greater freedom that they arewilling to contemplate change imposedfrom outside, according to Badran.

The meeting provided a rare opportu-nity for Western scientific leaders, such as Bruce Alberts, president of the US National Academy of Sciences, to rubshoulders with their Islamic counterparts.Most said that the gathering marked a positive step towards greater cooperationbetween Islamic and Western scientists.

Rahman added that scientists are wellplaced to engage in dialogue betweenIslamic countries and the West. This wasechoed by Abdel-Salam Majali, presidentof the Islamic Academy of Sciences and a former prime minister of Jordan. “Ourscientific community needs to work hardat projecting the true image of our Islamic faith, and counter the gross distortions that have become part ofWestern mentality toward Islam since theevents of 9/11,” he said. ■

Jonathan Knight, San Francisco A project to turn Michigan into a biotech-nology powerhouse is being gutted to helpkeep the state out of debt.

The Life Sciences Corridor — establishedin 1999 with settlement money from a multi-state lawsuit against the tobacco industry —provides nearly $50 million a year in researchfunding to Michigan’s major research univer-sities and biotechnology start-ups (see Nature400, 391; 1999). In the long term, the project is intended to help lessen the state’s economicreliance on the motor industry.

But in February, Michigan’s governor,Jennifer Granholm, chopped the pro-gramme’s 2003 budget down to $32.5 mil-lion as part of a package of cuts to address thestate’s $285-million shortfall. The deficit isprojected to grow dramatically, and on 6March Granholm proposed cutting all but$20 million from the programme in 2004.

Supporters of the project were surprisedby the governor’s decision. “In terms of cre-ating jobs and sources of revenue, this was arather creative proposal,” says Frank Press, aformer president of the National Academy of Sciences and now a consultant with theWashington Advisory Group in WashingtonDC, which advised on early project plan-ning. “To regress now is short-sighted.”

The Life Sciences Corridor was set up as a 20-year project to foster the sort of growthin commercial biotechnology that has sur-rounded universities in other states, notablyCalifornia and Massachusetts.

Nearly half of the programme’s annual

budget, administered by the Michigan Eco-nomic Development Corporation, has goneto fund basic research at public institutionssuch as Michigan State University, with therest helping private start-up companies orpublic–private collaborations.

So far the fund has been involved in some50 Michigan start-ups. The declining econ-omy has made the project’s job even moreimportant, says its managing director, RailiKerppola. “We have been playing the criticalrole of providing seed capital to new compa-nies while private-sector investment haspretty much shut down,” he says.

Grants from the Life Sciences Corridorare given in lump sums, so previous awardswill remain untouched, Kerppola says. Butfar fewer awards will be made this year.

Granholm said that cuts were a “toughchoice” forced by Michigan voters’ resistanceto tax increases. ■

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102 NATURE | VOL 422 | 13 MARCH 2003 | www.nature.com/nature

Rex Dalton, San Diego A historic archive of molecular-biologypapers will not be broken up and sold, asplanned, at auction next month. JeremyNorman, the California-based owner of thearchive, said that he hopes instead to keep itintact and sell it to a library.

The auction house Christie’s announcedon 4 March that it was cancelling the auctionin New York of the Jeremy NormanMolecular Biology Archive. Includingpapers from Aaron Klug, Max Perutz,Rosalind Franklin, Francis Crick and JamesWatson, the archive was valued for Christie’sat between $2.2 million and $3.3 million.

“Christie’s is offering my collection enbloc to various institutional libraries inEngland and the United States,” Normansaid in a statement. “Several institutions

have expressed interest and we are pursuinga private sale.”

“I am glad that Christie’s has withdrawnthe auction,” says Klug, who sold his papersto the archive on the basis of an agreementthat they would be kept together.

When the proposed sale, scheduled for25 April, was disclosed last month, Klug andothers expressed anger that the papers wereto be split up (see Nature 421, 564; 2003).

Al Seckel, a neuroscientist at theCalifornia Institute of Technology inPasadena who purchased the papers forNorman, said that the auction was cancelledafter his extensive documentationprohibiting breaking up the archive wasbrought to the attention of Christie’s.Neither Christie’s nor Norman wouldcomment on why the sale was cancelled. ■

Auction of DNA archive cancelled

Biotech project in turmoil asMichigan balances books

Michigan State University is among theinstitutions set to lose biotechnology funding.

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