A M E R I C A N S O C I E T Y F O R B I O C H E M I S T R Y A N D M O L E C U L A R B I O L O G Y

A L S O I N T H I S I S S U E

ASBMB Calls for $8 BillionBudget for NSF By 2005

Samuel Cushman ReceivesADA’s Banting Medal

w w w . a s b m b . o r gMAY 2002MAY 2002

Should thePresident’s prioritiesprevail over thescientific judgment ofNIH? What are youas an individualinvestigator going todo to keep sciencefree of politics?

SEE PAGE 12

Former Congressman John Porter

Constituent Society of FASEB

COMING IN 2003!NEW FORMAT FOR ASBMB ANNUAL MEETING

ASBMB ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM IN CONJUNCTION WITH EB 2003APRIL 11 – 15, 2003 • SAN DIEGO, CA

Ten Thematic Meetings within the National Meeting Every Day!

Theme I: Molecular Basis of Cell and Developmental BiologyOrganized by Nahum Sonenberg, McGill Univ.

Theme II: GlycobiologyOrganized by Gerald W. Hart, Johns Hopkins Sch. of Med.

Theme III: Lipid Signaling, Metabolism and TransportOrganized by Dennis R. Voelker, Natl. Jewish Med. Res. Ctr.

Theme IV: Biological CatalysisOrganized by Tadhg Begley, Cornell University

Theme V: Metabolism – Pathways and RegulationOrganized by Luciano Rosetti, Albert Einstein Col of Med. and Patricia Babbitt, UCSF

Theme VI: Signaling PathwaysOrganized by Natalie G. Ahn, Univ. of Colorado

Theme VII: Genomics, Proteomics and BioinformaticsOrganized by Patricia Babbitt, UCSF

Theme VIII: Protein Synthesis, Folding and TurnoverOrganized by Cecile M. Pickart, John Hopkins Sch. Hygiene and Pub. Hlth.

Theme IX: Nucleic Acid Structure, Function and ProcessingOrganized by Michael Dahmus, UC, Davis

Theme X: Membrane Assembly Interaction and TransportOrganized by Stephen H. White, UC, Irvine

Theme XI: The Future of the ProfessionOrganized by A. Stephen Dahms, California State Univ. System Biotechnology Program

More Opportunities to Present Your Research!Over 300 scientists will be selected from the abstracts submitted to ASBMB Topic Categories to makeoral presentations. Scientific sessions corresponding to the above themes will be held each day inwhich speakers from the volunteered abstracts will present. Oral presenters will also present a posterat the meeting.

Opening LectureRoderick MacKinnon, The Rockefeller Univ.

For more information contact:ASBMB Meetings Office, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814

Tel: 301-634-7145 Fax: 301 634-7126 Email: asbmb@asbmb.faseb.org

f e a t u r e s4 ASBMB Calls for $8 Billion Budget for NSF By 2005

ASBMB President terms agency ‘under-funded, but vital’

10 Robert Horvitz Shares Inaugural Wiley Prize

11 Samuel Cushman Receives ADA’s Banting Medal

16 Alzheimer’s Disease: New Insights, Possible Remedies

17 ASBMB’s 2000-2001 Graduation Survey

18 ‘Speed Bumps’ Won’t Slow Growth of Biotech Industry

20 Big Payoffs from Undergraduates’ Research

21 Search and Track Your Favorite Journals on the Web

d e p a r t m e n t s2 Letters

4 News From the Hill

6 NIH News

8 Members in the News

18 Biotech Business

23 Career Opportunities

C3 Calendar

A M E R I C A N S O C I E T Y F O R B I O C H E M I S T R Y A N D M O L E C U L A R B I O L O G Y

w w w . a s b m b . o r g

O N T H E C O V E R :

12 Scientists Urged toMake Their Voices Heard inWashingtonFormer Congressmanwarns of slump in NIHfunding

11

MAY 2002, Volume 1, Issue 2

16

ASBMBToday MAY 20022

y experience derives from U.K.teaching. However, I am a fre-quent enough visitor to the

United States to have some confidencethat my views may be of interest, inpart, to an American audience.

I read Dr. Farnsworth’s insightful let-ter in ASBMB News with a great deal ofinterest. I think he identifies accuratelythe problem of rote learning of discretefacts rather than integrative learning ofconcepts. Although I post-doc’d in theU.S., I have no direct experience of U.S.undergraduate or high school educa-tion, but on my frequent visits to U.S.labs I hear similar comments to Dr.Farnsworth’s. It is a demonstrable factthat students I teach (chemistry andbiochemistry) in the U.K. know lessand can do less than a generation ago.All of the post-docs in my lab comefrom outside the U.K.

My own personal view is that thereare several causes for this in the U.K.We have moved to a modular system,where the emphasis is on discretepieces of learning. Each module cannotassume too much prior knowledge,

given the bewildering combinationof modules students may have previ-ously taken. We are also seeing a dropin the quality and quantity of students entering science relative tothe arts, management, medicine (anundergraduate degree in the U.K.),and veterinary medicine. Even thosewith relatively good qualifications inmathematics from school, are oftenstumped by simple formulae. The fatal, final factor is a huge well mean-ing drive for “quality assurance” or“value for money” in education at alllevels. In essence the governmentwants us to prove that their money isbeing well spent. For this we mustproduce numbers.

In the U.K., I think universities havelacked the imagination or the courageor the ability to devise assessmentswhich can measure integrative learning.In years gone past, with monolithiccourses lasting for years and bright students, it happened by default. Nowto produce defensible assessments(that very concept encapsulates theproblem), we end up asking our

M

ASBMB Todayis a monthly publication

of The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

OfficersRobert D. Wells President

Richard W. Hanson Past-President

Bettie Sue Masters President-Elect

Albert E. Dahlberg Secretary

Kenneth E. Neet Treasurer

Thomas Blumenthal Councilor

Shelagh Ferguson-Miller Councilor

Alexandra C. Newton Councilor

Merle S. Olson Councilor

Cecile M. Pickart Councilor

Cecil B. Pickett Councilor

Christian R. H. Raetz Councilor

Vern L. Schramm Councilor

James T. Stull Councilor

Non-Voting MembersEdward DennisGeorge CarmanCo-chairs, Meetings Policy Committee

Jane S. RichardsonChair, Publications Committee

Claudia KentVern L. SchrammCo-chairs, 2003 Program Committee

Marion H. O’LearyChair, Education and ProfessionalDevelopment Committee

William R. BrinkleyChair, Public Affairs Advisory Committee

Phillip A. OrtizChair, Minority Affairs Committee

Herbert TaborEditor, JBC

Ralph A. BradshawEditor, MCP

CommentsPlease direct any comments or questionsconcerning ASBMB Today to:

John D. ThompsonEditor, ASBMB Today9650 Rockville PikeBethesda, MD 20814-3996Phone: 301-634-7145Fax: 301-634-7126E-mail: jthompson@asbmb.faseb.org

For information on advertising contact FASEB AdNet at 800-433-2732

ext. 7175 or 301-530-7157, or email adnet@faseb.org.

L E T T E R S

Needed: New Ways

T e l l U s W h a t Y o u T h i n k

We appreciate receiving letters that are suitable for

publication from ASBMB members regarding issues of

importance or commenting on articles appearing in ASBMB

Today. Letters should be sent to the editor, John Thompson, at

the address found at left. Letters must be signed and must

contain the writer’s address and telephone number. The editor

reserves the right to edit all letters.

ASBMBToday 3

ured, and whose objectives can beclearly set out.

In essence, we use methods of assess-ment no different than the days of integrated multi-year courses. As a student’s progress through the systemis measured by their performance ofthese tasks, we establish a feedbackloop. The result is the question askedof and despised by every lecturer, “Do Ineed to know this?” I probably despiseit so much because I know in my heartthat it is my fault. The same mecha-nisms operate in U.K. schools, with results that everyone at university cansee—decreased literacy and numericalskills, despite increasing scores on government tests.

I think that as community we needto think of new ways to measure inte-

grative learning of concepts across thebreadth of a subject. Further, thesemeasures will need to be accepted bystudents and the paymasters, as indica-tions of quality. The pressure to justifyand account for public money will notgo away. This is not an easy task, but ifas I suspect, the U.S. and the U.K. sharesome of the above problems, then perhaps as a community we can worktogether to find solutions.

James H. Naismith Professor of Chemical Biology

BBSRC Career Development Fellow Centre for Biomolecular Sciences

The North Haugh The University

St. Andrews Fife Scotland, U.K., KY16

students to perform tasks which require mainly rote learning of smallchunks of knowledge, are easily meas-

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b re a d t h o f a s u b j e c t .

F u r t h e r, t h e s e

m e a s u re s w i l l n e e d t o

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i n d i c a t i o n s o f q u a l i t y.

I s y o u r D i r e c t o r y l i s t i n g c o r r e c t ?

To update your online listing in the FASEB Directoryof Members, visit www.faseb.org and click on“Member Directory.”

Click “Update Member Info” at the top of yourscreen to make changes. All changes must beentered before July 31, 2002, to be included in the2003 printed directory.

U p d a t e y o u r o n l i n e r e c o r d

a n y t i m e d u r i n g t h e y e a r .

Please note: There is a time delay between submitting revisions and their actual appearance online.

to Measure Learning

N E W S F R O M T H E H I L L

ASBMBToday MAY 20024

for the agency. However, we continue tosupport a 15 percent increase for this un-der-funded, but vital, federal agency.

ASBMB believes that NSF’s core programsare where most of our proposed increasesshould go. Such core programs feature basicscientific research on subjects chosen byprincipal investigators. These “investigator-initiated” projects have historically been thesource of most scientific progress.

Unfortunately, at NSF, too few grantsare funded, and the ones that are fundedare too small and not long enough.

Therefore, we support a major increasein the average size and duration of NSFgrants. The average NSF grant is typicallyin the range of $125,000, but needs to be

at least twice this size. In addition, on av-erage, an NSF grant lasts about threeyears. While this is an improvement overthe average duration in the late 1990s, itis still 1-2 years shorter than the ideal.The amount and type of science funded bythe NSF will suffer if these disparities arenot addressed.

Another important and necessary mis-sion of NSF is support for science andmathematics education.

NSF also supports small but importantprograms on DNA sequencing of microor-ganisms that may be of importance inbioterrorist attacks, and on how these mi-crobes behave in the environment. Wethink this is certainly an important role forthe agency to continue.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to close on apersonal note. I was honored to receivecontinuous NSF support for my own re-search on a series of grants entitled “Stud-ies with Defined Deoxyribonucleic Acids”for more than a quarter of a century. I fi-nally declined further support in 1994,since I felt the agency should fund a newyoung investigator, for whom this supportwould be as vital as it was for me in theearly years of my career (1967). Thus, Ihave profound respect, and even affection,for this agency that played such an impor-tant role in my career, and I urge you totake steps to ensure that this critical role—as an incubator of new scientific talent—be allowed to continue through yourgenerous treatment of its budget.

A 15 percent increase this year, to a to-tal of $5.5 billion, would be an excellentway to start.

I am pleased to answer any questionsyou may have.

alling for a National ScienceFoundation budget of approx-imately $8 billion by the end

of 2005, ASBMB President Robert Wellstestified April 16 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee onVA/HUD and Independent Agencies.

Following his testimony, Wells paidvisits to several legislators from theTexas delegation, meeting with stafffrom the offices of Senators Kay BaileyHutchison and Phil Gramm, and Rep.Ken Bentsen. Wells’ term as ASBMBPresident ends July 1, when he will be-come FASEB President-Elect.

Following is the oral statement madeby the ASBMB President. A more de-tailed written version of Dr. Wells’ state-ment is available on the Society’swebsite at http://www.asbmb.org.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, andmembers of the Subcommittee.

ASBMB believes that the NSF budgetshould increase by at least 15 percent thisyear, to a total of $5.5 billion. We sup-port a rate of increase in the NSF budgetso it can reach approximately $8 billionby Fiscal Year 2005—double the size itwas in 2001.

NSF clearly deserves your strong support.NSF’s performance is excellent by almostany measure, and this fact has been recog-nized by the Administration, with NSF be-ing the only federal agency receiving stellarmarks for financial management.

OMB Director Mitch Daniels also sin-gled out NSF for praise in remarks madelast fall. And of course, I would also like tothank you, Mr. Chairman, and your sub-committee, for your own efforts last yearand in previous years, to boost the budget

AS BM B Calls for $8 Bil l ion Budget for NS F By 2005C

ASBMB President Robert Wells

Pump Up the Volume!MORE MEMBERS MEAN WE HAVE A LOUDER VOICE IN WASHINGTON

Stem cell research. Cloning. Doubling the NIH budget—and what happens next.Bioterrorism. Combating misconduct in science. Living with HIV. Feeding a hungryworld.The human genome project. Molecular medicine. Designer drugs.Today’sheadlines covering subjects in which biochemists and molecular biologists play partsare only going to get more frequent in coming years.

You can help shape the debate by helping to pump up the volume of the oneorganization that works on all these issues solely from the perspective ofbiochemists and molecular biologists—ASBMB.The larger ASBMB’smembership, the more powerful we all become. Supporting your society byencouraging your students and postdocs to join is vital to ensuring thatASBMB will continue to build its influence.

In addition to helping ASBMB better represent you, you’ll be doing your students andpostdocs a big favor. ASBMB membership brings many benefits—increased clout inthe legislative and regulatory arenas of Washington, DC, is a big one, but not the onlyone. Among other benefits they receive are:

◆ Access to FASEB career resources

◆ Free access to AAAS’ScienceNOW and Science’s NextWave.

◆ Discounts on ASBMB meeting registration fees.

◆ Fellowship travel awards, career networking, and employment assistance.

◆ Free subscriptions to a variety of publications, including the Journal of BiologicalChemistry (online), MCP Online, ASBMB’s new magazine ASBMB Today, andThe Scientist.

◆ Discounts on other publications including The Journal of Lipid Research andBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.

◆ A free copy of the FASEB Member Directory and the FASEB Journal.

Furthermore, an undergraduate can join for only $20, and associate members can joinfor only $65—half the regular membership cost.

Do your students a favor and have them join today! ASBMB will benefit from theincreased numbers and enthusiasm that your students will provide, and they’ll benefit too.

Find out more about membership benefits and other information by visiting ourwebsite (www.asbmb.org) or by contacting our Membership and SubscriptionsManager, Kathie Cullins, at kcullins@asbmb.faseb.org

m a n a g e -ment skillsin his MarchRose Gardenremarks. “Dr.Z e r h o u n iand his wifeimmigratedto Americafrom Algeriawith $300 intheir pocket, but a dream of opportu-nity....He is an expert in biomedical re-search, and is committed to extending[its] benefits to all Americans, and allhumanity.

“Dr. Zerhouni is well-prepared tomanage this rapidly growing institu-tion [NIH] during times of great newopportunity and urgent biodefenseneeds. He has supervised research atJohns Hopkins, one of our nation’sleading research facilities. One formercolleague calls him a quadruple threat:a doctor who excels at teaching, re-searching, patient care and manage-ment. Dr. Zerhouni shares my viewthat human life is precious, andshould not be exploited or destroyedfor the benefits of others. And heshares my view that the promise ofethically conducted medical researchis limitless.

“As Director of the NIH, Dr. Zer-houni will be at the forefront of our ef-forts to promote biomedical researchwith a careful regard for the bounds ofmedical ethics.”

Zerhouni will assume his duties atNIH as soon as he is sworn in.

ASBMBToday MAY 20026

Carmona Nominatedas Surgeon General

President Bush, in March, nomi-nated Richard Carmona, M.D., asSurgeon General.

According to a White House factsheet, Dr. Carmona is currentlyClinical Professor of Surgery, PublicHealth, and Family and Commu-nity Medicine at the University ofArizona, as well as Chairman ofthe State of Arizona Southern Re-gional Emergency Medical System.Carmona served as an Army GreenBeret in Vietnam, and has alsoserved as a police officer, a SWATteam member, and a nurse. He wasnamed Physician of the Year in1993 for Pima County, Arizona,and is a past recipient of the TopCops award from the National As-sociation of Police Organizations.

The President has indicated thathe wants Carmona to focus onthree health issues:

Ensur ing that Amer ica i s prepared to respond to majorpublic health emergencies, suchas bioterrorism;

Leading a new initiative that fo-cuses on prevention, fitness andhealthy living as keys to reducingdisease and improving medicalcare; and

Speaking out regularly to the na-tion about the health dangers ofalcohol and drug abuse.

N I H N E W S

n May 2, the Senate con-firmed Dr. Elias Zerhouni,M.D., as the new director of

the National Institutes of Health.There was no discernible opposition tothe appointment which PresidentBush had announced in a Rose Gar-den ceremony on March 26. Zerhouniwas Chairman of the Russell H. Mor-gan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science at Johns Hopkinsand was a Professor of Radiology andBiomedical Engineering. He has alsoserved as Vice Dean for Research atThe Johns Hopkins University Schoolof Medicine.

The Senate held its confirmationhearing on April 30. In the elaboratedance of courtesy, ritual and traditionthat usually accompanies such events,Zerhouni was fulsomely introducedby Senators Barbara Mikulski and PaulSarbanes, both democrats of Mary-land. Zerhouni’s entire family was inattendance, and of course he intro-duced them. Substantively, Zerhounifielded the questions he received withskill and grace. Senator Paul Well-stone (D-MN) asked whether Zer-houni would work to increase thenumber of human stem cell lines thatcould be used beyond the 78 thatPresident Bush approved in his policydecision of August 2001. Zerhouni,while careful to defend the President’sdecision, indicated his intention to re-consider the issue if research resultswarranted.

Bush lauded Zerhouni’s expertise inbiomedical research and his strong

O

Senate Approves Bush Choice as N I H Director

Dr. Elias Zerhouni

By Peter Farnham , Pub l i c A f fa i rs O f ficer

ASBMBToday 7

cleansers. Not only doesthis help one develop resistance to disease—italso slows down theevolution of resistantstrains of bacteria bylessening their exposureto antibacterials.

The mini-med schoolmeets each Thursday night betweenApril 11 and May 23. In addition to ba-sic microbiology, topics covered in-clude immunology; emerging andre-emerging infectious diseases; clinicalmicrobiology; epidemiologic principles;vaccines; and understanding the “bio”in bioterrorism. Instructors includesome of the NIH’s top scientists, includ-ing ASBMB member Gary J. Nabel andDr. Anthony Fauci.

Attendees, at least basedon those at the openinglecture, are a diverse mixof high school and under-graduate students, someNIH non-medical staff,and a large number of lo-cal retirees. The programis free and open to any-

one; about 10% of the audience hadtaken the course before. A “diploma” ispresented at the end of the seven weeks.

The course is an excellent overviewof a number of highly complex topics,and seems best suited to the educatednon-scientist. Similar programs are runat about 70 medical schools aroundthe country, according to Dr. BruceFuchs of the NIH Office of Science Education.

try to stay a little dirty.”This tongue-in-cheek com-

ment was the laugh line of thenight at the kickoff presentation for theNIH’s annual “mini-med school,” heldApril 11 at the Natcher building on theNIH campus. The comment was madeby Dr. John Finerty, Chief of the Cellu-lar Immunology and AIDS LymphomaSection and Hematology Branch of theNational Cancer Institute, NIH. Hiscomment was in response to a questionfrom the audience on whether histraining in microbiology had affectedhow he lived his life.

Finerty, the mini-med school’s open-ing lecturer, spoke on Basic Microbiol-ogy, the first of seven weekly two-hourpresentations. The always popular pro-gram, which began in 1994, is an ini-tiative of the NIH Office of ScienceEducation, and is held each spring atNIH. This year, over 500 local residentssigned up to take the course.

Finerty’s comment was only partly injest. His point was related to the prob-lem of resistance—reduced resistance tobacterial infection among developedworld populations, and the growing re-sistance to antibiotics of many bacteria.“We live in a super clean society,” Fin-erty noted. Resistance to infection is ac-tually more developed in populationsthat are more exposed to bacteria thanwe are. Thus, being “a little dirty” is agood way to increase one’s own per-sonal resistance to disease. Of course,he strongly recommended washingone’s hands regularly, particularly be-fore handling food and after using thebathroom, but said that he did not rou-tinely use antibacterial soaps and

N I H’s Mini-Med School Attracts Large,Diverse Audience

“I

N I H N E W S

The ASBMB Minority Affairs Com-mittee will be participating in theplanning and implementation of aprogram begun by the NIDDK enti-tled Network of Minority ResearchInvestigators Ad Hoc Task Force.

The goal of this program is to pro-vide training to current and poten-tial NIDDK grant holders so thatthey are more likely to receive, andmaintain, funding. Included are is-sues that face grant applicants andrecipients such as “grantsmanship,”time, and lab management. Unlikemany other programs that ask par-ticipants to return the training in-

vestment with service to the com-munity, this program asks nothingin return other than that the investi-gators do their science.

The workshop is scheduled for No-vember 7 and 8, 2002, on the NIHcampus in Bethesda, Maryland. Atthis time the ASBMB MAC is seekingto create a list of scientists who maylike to be invited to this all-expensespaid training workshop. If you areinterested in participating in theworkshop, or know someone whomay be, please forward their namesto Phillip Ortiz, chairperson of theASBMB MAC, at portiz@esc.edu.

Minority Affairs Workshop To Focuson ‘Grantsmanship’

ASBMBToday MAY 20028

The Award hon-ors Johnson for hispioneering contri-butions to our understanding ofthe structure, func-tion, and regulationof liver cytochomeP450 enzymes obtained during his studies over thepast 25 years. He has also elucidatedthe role of cytochromes P450 as a ma-jor antigenic factor for liver kidney mi-crosomal autoantibodies in idiopathicautoimmune hepatitis. Another signifi-cant scientific contribution is determi-nation of the first ever crystallographicstructure of a membrane-bound

cytochrome P450, CYP2C5. Johnson’swork has revolutionized approaches tounderstanding the structural basis ofhuman P450 function and has tremen-dous implications for drug design, development, and therapy.

William B. Pratt, M.D., Professorof Pharmacology at the University ofPittsburgh is the recipient of the 2002Goodman and Gilmer Award in DrugReceptor Pharmacology. He receivedthe Award for his pioneering contribu-tions to our understanding of howsteroids work that resulted from his investigations into steroid receptors.

Dr. Pratt completed his undergradu-ate work in Art with a studio concen-tration in sculpture at Dartmouth

M E M B E R S I N T H E N E W S

hree ASBMB members wereamong the six recipients ofASPET Awards for 2002.

Professor Eric E. Johnson of theScripps Research Institute was presented with the 2002 Bernard B.Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism.The Award, which is given every otheryear by ASPET, honors the fundamen-tal contributions of Bernard B. Brodiein the field of drug metabolism.

Johnson received his B.S. from theUniversity of Texas at Austin and hisPh.D. in Chemistry from the Univer-sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Following postdoctoral work at Urbana-Champaign, he moved to TheScripps Research Institute in 1973.

Eric E. Johnson

A S B M B M e m b e r s H o n o re d T

H. Robert Horvitz, Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology and an HHMI Investigator, is a co-winner of the inaugural Wiley Prize in BiomedicalSciences. Sharing the award withHorvitz is Stanley J. Korsmeyer,M.D., a researcher at Dana-FarberCancer Institute.

Horvitz, an ASBMB member, was se-lected for his seminal research on pro-grammed cell death and the discoverythat a genetic pathway accounts for

the programmedcell death withinan organism. Ko-rsmeyer was cho-sen for hisdiscovery of therelationship be-tween humanlymphomas and

the fundamental biological process ofapoptosis. His experiments showedthat cancer can develop when cancer-causing “oncogenes” block apoptosisand allow cells to grow in an uncon-trolled and chaotic fashion.

“These pioneering researcherswere chosen for their work in defin-ing the genetic and molecular basisof programmed cell death. Theirfindings may lead to understandingthe molecular basis of human development and the developmentof many diseases, especially can-cer,” said Dr. Günter Blobel, recipi-ent of the 1999 Nobel Prizeawarded for Physiology or Medicineand Professor of Cell Biology atRockefeller University.

Blobel served as Chairman of theAwards Jury that selected Horvitzand Korsmeyer. Other members of

the jury included Dr. David J. Anderson, a developmental neuro-biologist at the California Instituteof Technology, and Dr. Qais Al-Awqati, a physiologist at ColumbiaUniversity’s College of Physiciansand Surgeons.

The Wiley Foundation establishedthe Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sci-ences to recognize contributionsthat have opened new fields of re-search or advanced novel conceptsor their applications in a particularbiomedical discipline. In addition,the Wiley Prize recognizes a specificcontribution or a series of contribu-tions that demonstrate significantleadership in the development of re-search concepts or their application.The award carries with it a $25,000grant and an invitation to present alecture at Rockefeller University.

ASBMB Member To Share Inaugural Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences

H. Robert Horvitz

ASBMBToday 9

Professor Alan C. Sartorelli. received the 2002 Otto Krayer Awardin Pharmacology, which is presentedto a pharmacologist in recognition of career-long contributions to the discipline. This Award is given to a distinguished investigator whose research has contributed significantlyto defining mechanisms of action ofdrugs or other chemicals.

Professor Sartorelli received his B.S.in Pharmacy from Northeastern Uni-versity, an M.S. in Chemistry fromMiddlebury College, and his Ph.D.from the University of Wisconsin. Hewas appointed to the faculty in thepharmacology department at YaleSchool of Medicine and was namedthe first Alfred Gilman Professor ofPharmacology. Hechaired the depart-ment at Yale from1977-84 and from1998-2000 and ledYale’s Comprehen-sive Cancer Centeras Director from1984-93.

At Yale’s Comprehensive CancerCenter, he was instrumental in the or-ganization and implementation of oneof the earliest mobile mammographyvan programs that provided screeningfor more than 40,000 women in Con-necticut. Dr. Sartorelli has made an unusually large number of importantcontributions to basic and applied aspects of cancer pharmacology. He isone of the pioneers of the concept thatthe induced differentiation of neoplas-tic cells may be an approach that couldlead to therapeutic benefit. He has alsodeveloped and characterized the mech-anisms of action of a number of cancerchemotherapeutic agents.

Membership, President’sCouncil on Bioethics

President Bush named the indi-viduals listed below to serve onhis Bioethics Advisory Council.The Council has been meetingsince February, and is expected torelease a report on its findings re-garding human cloning by theend of the summer.

Leon R. Kass, University ofChicago (chair)Elizabeth Blackburn, Universityof California at San FranciscoStephen Carter, Yale Law SchoolRebecca Dresser, WashingtonUniversity School of LawDaniel Foster, University of TexasSouthwestern Medical SchoolFrancis Fukuyama, JohnsHopkins UniversityMichael Gazzaniga, DartmouthCollegeRobert P. George, PrincetonUniversityAlfonso Gomez-Lobo,Georgetown UniversityMary Ann Glendon, HarvardUniversityWilliam B. Hurlbut, StanfordUniversityCharles Krauthammer, The Washington Post newspaperWilliam F. May, SouthernMethodist UniversityPaul McHugh, Johns HopkinsUniversity School of MedicineGilbert Meilaender, ValparaisoUniversityJanet D. Rowley, University ofChicagoMichael J. Sandel, HarvardUniversityJames Q. Wilson, University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles

College, and ob-tained his medicaldegree from theYale School of Med-icine. As a postdoc-toral fellow at theInstitute for Thera-peutic Biochemistryat the University ofFrankfurt, Pratt began his studies onsteroid hormone action. He continuedpostdoctoral work at Stanford, wherehe studied glucocorticoids and identi-fied the glucocorticoid receptor inmice, a major focus of his research.

After four years on the faculty ofthe Stanford Pharmacology Depart-ment, Pratt returned to Yale to com-plete his residency in Pediatrics. In1973, he moved to the University ofMichigan Medical School where heis Professor of Pharmacology, andhas continued his study of glucocor-ticoid receptors. Perhaps his mostimportant discovery in this realmwas a 90 kDa heat shock protein,hsp90, which binds to and regulatessteroid receptors. This finding revo-lutionized our understanding ofhow steroid receptors are regulatedwithin cells, and it opened the newfield of chaperone regulation of thefunction of many receptors andother proteins.

In addition to his pioneering research, Dr. Pratt has played a majorrole as a teacher of pharmacology. Heis the author or co-author of sevenreference books that also serve astextbooks, including the third editionof Principles of Drug Action: The Basisof Pharmacology, two editions of TheAnticancer Drugs, and two of The Antimicrobial Drugs, all of which arein wide use today.

William B. Pratt

Alan C. Sartorelli

With AS PET Awards

M E M B E R S I N T H E N E W S

AS BM B Members Elected toNat ional Academy of Sciences

ine ASBMB members wereelected members of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences

at the 139th annual meeting of theAcademy in April. They were among72 new members, and 15 foreign associates, among them another ASBMB member, who were chosen inrecognition of their distinguishedand continuing achievements in orig-inal research.

Election to membership in the Acad-emy is considered one of the highesthonors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. Those elected atthe April meeting bring the total num-ber of active members to 1,907. Foreign associates total 330.

The National Academy of Sciences isa private organization of scientists andengineers dedicated to the furtheranceof science and its use for the generalwelfare. It was established in 1863 by acongressional act of incorporation,signed by Abraham Lincoln, that calls

ASBMBTODAY MAY 200210

Hans Neurath, 92, Professor Emer-itus and founder of the Universityof Washington’s Biochemistry De-partment and of two scientific jour-nals, died April 12 in Seattle after aheart attack.

Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909,Dr. Neurath taught at Cornell Uni-versity and Duke University beforebeing appointed chairman of thenewly established Department ofBiochemistry at the University ofWashington’s School of Medicine in1950. The author of more than 400publications, he was the founding

Editor of Biochemistry and in 1990, atage 81, founded a new journal, Pro-tein Science, which he served as Edi-tor-in-Chief until 1998.

In 1975, he became scientific direc-tor at the Fred Hutchinson CancerResearch Center, while continuing re-search on proteins and enzymes atthe University of Washington. His re-search included the study of prote-olytic enzymes, or protein catalysts,that digest protein in the foods hu-mans eat. Two years later, he resumedhis protein research at the Universityof Washington as Professor Emeritus.

N IAI D Director WinsMedical Research Prize

Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the Na-tional Institute of Allergy and Infec-tious Diseases and a visiting professorat numerous medical centers through-out the United States, has been namedthis year’s winner of the $500,000 Al-bany Medical Center Prize in Medicineand Biomedical Research.

Fauci received the nation’s largestmedical prize for his overall contribu-tions to science, particularly in the development of effective therapies forrheumatology and diseases affectingthe immune system, as well as for hisdistinguished public service. He hasbeen the head of NIAID, a branch ofthe National Institutes of Health,since 1984.

ASBMBToday MAY 2002

on the Academy to act as an officialadviser to the federal government,upon request, in any matter of scienceor technology.

ASBMB members newly elected tothe Academy are:

Jennifer A. Doudna, associate inves-tigator, Howard Hughes Medical Insti-tute, and Henry Ford II Professor,department of molecular biophysicsand biochemistry, Yale University.

Charles T. Esmon, investigator,Howard Hughes Medical Institute;Lloyd Noble Chair in CardiovascularResearch; and Oklahoma Medical Re-search Foundation Professor, Univer-sity of Oklahoma Health ScienceCenter, Oklahoma City.

Laurie H. Glimcher, professor ofmedicine, Harvard Medical School,and Irene Heinz Given Professor of Im-munology, Harvard School of PublicHealth.

Richard H. Goodman, director andsenior scientist, Vollum Institute, and

vice chair of medicine, Oregon HealthSciences University, Portland.

Gail Roberta Martin, professor ofanatomy and director, Program in Developmental Biology, University ofCalifornia, San Francisco.

Rowena G. Matthews, Robert Greenberg Distinguished UniversityProfessor of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Richard V. Wolfenden, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Biochem-istry, University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill.

Chi-Huey Wong, member, Skaggs In-stitute for Chemical Biology, andErnest W. Hahn Professor and Chair inChemistry, Scripps Research Institute.

Newly elected as a foreign associatewas Jan-Åke Gustafsson, professorand chairman, Department of Medical Nutrition and director, Center for Biotechnology, HuddingeUniversity Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

N

Hans Neurath, 1909 -2002:‘Father’ of UW Biochemistry Department

ASBMBToday 11

cal chemistry and cell biology at Rock-efeller University and completing apostdoctoral fellowship at the Institutde Biochimie Clinique in Switzerland,he joined the laboratory of Lester B.Salans, M.D., at Dartmouth MedicalSchool. In 1976, he moved to NIH.

Since the publication of the pivotalfindings on glucose transporters in1978 and 1980, Cushman’s laboratoryhas published the results of numerousstudies that have broadened our un-

derstanding of the subcellular com-partmentalization and cycling ofGLUT4, its regulation, and its involve-ment in the complex network of pro-tein and signaling molecules thatcontrol cellular metabolism. The Cush-man laboratory has also demonstratedthe crucial importance of the numberof intracellular glucose transportermolecules to the magnitude of the glu-cose transport response to insulin, andthus to perturbed insulin action in al-tered metabolic states.

Currently, Cushman’s laboratory isfocused on further establishing themolecular and cell biological details ofthe glucose transporter subcellular traf-ficking pathways in adipose cells and

skeletal muscle, and their regulation. Aprimary goal is to elucidate the mecha-nisms of insulin-resistant glucosetransport. Further attention is alsoaimed at characterizing the acute ef-fects of insulin on the subcellular traf-ficking of proteins of the immunesystem. A new effort is in progress withusing DNA microarray technology toidentify novel adipose cell and skeletalmuscle proteins that contribute to hu-man insulin resistance.

Speaking of Cushman as a person,one former student, Philip Ortiz, said,“He is a great scientist and an equallygood person. He has made a great impact on my career and developmentas a scientist. As chair of ASBMB’s Minority Affairs Committee, I am veryaware of efforts to diversify the scien-tific community. One look at his laband it is obvious that Sam is an out-standing contributor to this goal.”

octor Samuel W. Cushmanhas been selected to receivethe Banting Medal for Scien-

tific Achievement at the American Dia-betes Association’s 62nd AnnualScientific Sessions. The Banting Medalfor Scientific Achievement is the Amer-ican Diabetes Association’s (ADA)highest honor for scientific achieve-ment. Named for Frederick G. Banting,the co-discoverer of insulin, this awardrecognizes significant, long-term con-tributions to the understanding, treat-ment, or prevention of diabetes.

Currently chief of the ExperimentalDiabetes, Metabolism, and NutritionSection of the National Institute of Di-abetes and Digestive and Kidney Dis-eases at NIH, Cushman is a leadingscientist in the field of insulin action.In a pivotal finding in the late 1970s,he and L. J. Wardzala at NIH, and inde-pendently, K. Suzuki and T. Kono atVanderbilt University, demonstratedthat insulin stimulates glucose trans-port into insulin-sensitive tissues bypromoting the translocation of glucosetransporters from an intracellular com-partment to the plasma membrane.

The discovery of intracellular glucosetransporters, subsequently shown to beGLUT4, turned out to be not only amajor breakthrough in understandingthe molecular mechanism of action ofinsulin on glucose transport, but of keyimportance to understanding thepathophysiology of insulin resistanceand type 2 diabetes. This discovery hasalso led to enhanced knowledge of themechanism of action of other hor-mones, peptides, and ligands whichexert their effects through the translo-cation of proteins from intracellularsites to cell-surface membranes.

Cushman completed his undergrad-uate work at Bowdoin College. Afterobtaining his doctorate in physiologi-

Samuel Cushman Receives ADA’s Bant ing MedalD

Doctor Samuel Cushman and assistants atwork in his laboratory. The Banting Medal recipient is currently working on the use of

DNA microarray technology to identify noveladipose cell and skeletal muscle proteins that

contribute to human insulin resistance.

ASBMBToday MAY 200212

organism (and others) and by theexciting possibilities of researchthat lie ahead.

As someone who not only cheersyou on but attempts—now workingoutside government—to continueto secure the resources you need foryour vital work, we need to talk!

Science advocates can only go sofar for you.

Bill Brinkley and Peter Farnham,who does a magnificent job for youin Washington, can only go so farfor you.

You can’t abdicate to advocatesyour responsibilities as scientistsand citizens of this great countryand our world at large.

Let me give you some examples.I can assume that a substantial part

of the resources that you depend on asinvestigators come from peer reviewedgrants from NIH.

The President in his February budgetmessage to Congress proposed a fifthyear of 15% increases for the National In-stitutes of Health which would completea process doubling funding for biomed-ical research from $13 billion just fouryears ago to $27 billion by this October.

We know that the President’s $3.7billion increase for NIH for the next fis-cal year contains a large amount ofmoney for research and facilities re-lated to protecting America from

bioterrorism and taps on NIH funds foractivities related to biomedical researchbut not available for research grantsthemselves.

Nevertheless the President kept hispromise to complete the doublingprocess in a time of a faltering econ-omy and great needs for direct militaryfunding.

How many of you bothered to writethe President or call the White Houseto say “Thank you”?

could not be more honored to be the very firstrecipient of the Society’s

Schachman Public Service Award. I accept it in the spirit of Dr.

Schachman—in the recognition of theimportance of public service to science,but also—I hope—in recognition of theSociety’s and science’s new commit-ment to be more involved in the policyside of science and in the formulationof public policy related to science.

Bill Brinkley is a premier example ofsomeone who has been deeply involvedin science and public policy, who hasgiven countless hours of his valuabletime to impact public policy decisions,and to let his voice be heard at thehighest levels as an advocate for science.

If you want to know someone whohas made a difference for science, youwant to know Bill Brinkley, and I’mproud to have received this first ASBMB public service award from hisable hands.

I served for 21 years on the publicside as part of your support team.

I am not a scientist but I am a sci-ence advocate—someone who has abasic understanding of science and itsrelationship to government, someonewho appreciates science and marvels atyour immense achievements, someonewho is inspired by the progress alreadyachieved in understanding the human

Scient ists“ S c i e n c e a d v o c a t e s c a n n o t d o i t a l o n e . T h e y n e e d t h e c o m m i t m e n t , t h e i n v o l v e m e n t ,

t h e h e l p o f a l l c a r i n g s c i e n t i s t s a n d t h e i r r e p r e s e n t a t i v e p r o f e s s i o n a l s o c i e t i e s t o

s t e e r p u b l i c p o l i c y a f f e c t i n g s c i e n c e i n t h e r i g h t d i r e c t i o n . ” T h a t w a s t h e m e s s a g e

f o r m e r C o n g r e s s m a n J o h n P o r t e r b r o u g h t t o t h e A S B M B A n n u a l M e e t i n g . F o l l o w i n g i s

t h e c o m p l e t e t e x t o f h i s a d d r e s s o n r e c e i v i n g t h e f i r s t H o w a r d K . S c h a c h m a n P u b l i c

S e r v i c e A w a r d , w h i c h r e c o g n i z e s h i s r o l e i n t h e d o u b l i n g o f t h e N I H b u d g e t .

ANSWERING QUESTIONS from the audience after delivering his address,

Porter re-emphasized the need for scientists to make their voices heard on critical

issues affecting science that are now underconsideration by Congress and the

Administration.

I

ASBMBToday 13

years of 15% increases leaving us justwhere we started.

Is that a result we can live with?I suggest 10% increases for NIH is a

reasonable figure after doubling to sus-tain research momentum and take ad-vantage of the good science that isavailable.

You and I could easily and rationallyargue for much more, but politics isthe art of the possible.

How many of you will write thePresident, urging a 10% increase in thefuture?

And even more importantly—be-cause Congress, not the White House,appropriates the money—how many ofyou will visit, call or write your Con-gressional representatives—your Con-gressperson and your two Senators—towork for this kind of sustaining fundingfor NIH?

There are other issues—and otherquestions for you.

Let me go back to a few weeks agowhen we had no named appointee forNIH Director, for Surgeon General, forDirector of the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC), nor forFDA Director.

And although the President has an-nounced he is sending to Congress forconfirmation Dr. Elias Zerhouni asNIH Director and Dr. Richard Car-mona as Surgeon General, he hasnamed no one for CDC, no one forFDA, which has been vacant over 16months, and five institutes withinNIH have no directors.

These are science positions in an Ad-ministration that took almost a year toselect a Science Advisor to the President.

Shouldn’t the science community beconcerned?

Shouldn’t the science community beheard from?

The CDC position requires no Sen-ate confirmation.

This is an important public healthand research post.

You know and I know that the Presi-dent and the White House are being im-pacted by those who think the UnitedStates should have a saliva test for ap-pointees to federal health policy posts.

Shouldn’t the science community—the professional societies and every in-dividual researcher—be on record—loudly—that we need the best possi-ble people for these appointments, peo-ple respected and acclaimed within thecommunity, rather than someone whomeets some philosophical standard?

I believe that all saliva tests—of theright or left—are wrong.

I believe they’re un-American. I believe they’re intolerable in any

society devoted to promoting the verybest and brightest.

Would Oliver Wendell Holmes orLouis Brandeis have made it to theSupreme Court bench through such amaze?

Frankly, during the long months thatthese and other positions have been va-cant, I have been astounded at the si-lence of the science community, theabdication of the field to those looking,frankly, not for excellence in science,but through some philosophical filter.

Where has the science communitybeen?

Today, right this moment, there ispending before Congress, legislationgoing right to the heart of the freedomof scientific inquiry that has alwaysbeen the hallmark of our country.

A bill—already passed by the

You think they won’t notice? Believe me, they do. You think they won’t care? The President’s Office of Manage-

ment and Budget is right now workingon the next fiscal year’s budget.

If the response of the scientific com-munity to this year’s large increase istepid at best, that says two things tothe White House:

First, scientists don’t care, or worse,are ungrateful for the federal resourcesthey receive; and

Second, the science community is souninvolved—so weak and unorganized

as a political force—that in the futurethey can be ignored.

What will that mean? That Mitch Daniels, the OMB Direc-

tor can proceed with his plan for post-doubling budgets for NIH in the 2%increase range.

Yes, that’s what is planned unless allof us, working together, can head it offat the pass, and we can’t do that sittingon our hands.

As Bob Rich, of FASEB, recently cal-culated, 2% increases for the next fiveyears would entirely negate the five

Called on to Make TheirVoices Heard in Washington

A s s o m e o n e w h o n o t

o n l y c h e e r s y o u o n b u t

a t t e m p t s — n o w w o r k i n g

out s id e g ov e r nm e nt—

t o c o n t i n u e t o s e c u re

the r e sourc e s y o u ne e d

f o r y o u r v i t a l w o r k ,

w e n e e d t o t a l k !

ASBMBToday MAY 200214

might lead them? What will the passage of this bill

mean to those elsewhere who mightotherwise have come to and benefitedour society?

There is more: In his budget proposal, the President

suggested greatly increasing fundingfor cancer research, meaning less forresearch that might be related to otherdiseases that afflict humankind.

Congress—I should tell you—has al-most always refrained from substitut-ing its political judgment for scientificjudgment as to which areas of researchshould be pursued.

Should the President’s priorities pre-vail over the scientific judgment ofNIH?

What are you as an individual inves-tigator going to do to keep science freeof politics?

Still more:Federal funding for the physical sci-

ences has not kept up with that for thelife sciences, even though they arenow more and more closely inter-twined.

Indeed, the kind of research younow pursue is completely dependenton information technology andphysics and bio-engineering.

Shouldn’t the scientific communitybe impacting federal policy makers onthe importance of increasing fundingfor the physical sciences as well as thelife sciences?

Research!America, together with AS-TRA and others, is attempting to do so.

Are you?Finally—though the supply of issues

for citizen scientists is far from ex-hausted—what about the plan of theSecretary of Health and Human Ser-vices to transfer all communicationsfunctions from NIH and CDC and theSurgeon General and FDA to his direct

control, so that scientists from theseagencies can no longer speak for themdirectly to the media and the Ameri-can people?

Is this okay?What are you doing to prevent its

happening?I know that it may seem ungrateful,

even rude, for the recipient of this greathonor from one of America’s mostprestigious scientific societies to comehere and challenge you in these ways.

But let me return to my opening

statement: Science advocates cannotdo it alone.

They need the commitment, the in-volvement, the help of all caring scien-tists and their representative professionalsocieties, to steer public policy affectingscience in the right direction.

Scientists have tremendous respectin America.

When you speak, the people listen. But you must speak! Loudly. Pub-

licly.There are numerous challenges be-

fore us. They are our collective and individ-

ual responsibilities. Let’s—all of us—work together to

meet them.Thank you for this high honor. Thank you for listening to me.

House—would make research intoDNA replacement therapies—so-called“therapeutic cloning” and the impor-tation from abroad of the results ofsuch research unlawful.

A scientist who conducted somaticcell nuclear transfer research or an in-dividual who went overseas to pursuetherapies that might be developedfrom such research to address diabetesor Parkinson’s disease would be subjectto fines and imprisonment.

Let me repeat: this legislation wouldsubject a scientist to a prison term forpursuing research!

Can it possibly pass?Yes.If this legislation passes the Senate,

the President will sign it. The only physician in the Senate,

Senator Frist of Tennessee, a thoracicsurgeon, has endorsed it—though notthe prohibition on importation—giv-ing other Senators cover to vote for it.

Where is the research community? While advocacy groups like Re-

search!America have spoken out andbeen working against it, I have seennot the slightest mention of the dan-gers of criminalizing scientific inquirythis way by the professional societies.

Many brilliant contributors to Amer-ican biomedical research have comefrom across the world and have en-riched American science and advancedAmerican scientific achievement be-yond measure.

Didn’t they come here to be free ofgovernment directing or restrictingwhere their studies and intuition

S h o u l d t h e P re s i d e n t ’s

p r i o r i t i e s p r e va i l o v e r

t h e s c i e n t i f i c j u d g m e n t

o f NIH ?

W h a t a re y o u a s a n

i n d i v i d u a l i n v e s t i g a t o r

g o i n g t o d o t o k e e p

s c i e n c e f r e e o f p o l i t i c s ?

ASBMB President Robert Wells discussing research issues with a group of post doctoral fellows andand graduate students from his lab between symposia at EB2002. “What a tremendousopportunity this is for students and fellows in training to experience the breadth of biomedicalsciences,” says Wells, who regularly brings his entire lab to the ASBMB Annual Meeting.

ASBMBToday 15

ated to inform the public, in an enter-taining manner, and allay any con-cerns about genomic research.

“The concept,” explained the pro-gram’s producer, Jonathan Ward, “isthat a one- or two-hour show explain-ing gene sequence would be very in-formative, but would not stick withpeople. It would get a gee whiz reac-tion, but only for a short term. Theidea is for this series, Secrets of the Se-quence, to run for over a year for in-depth penetration.”

The programs will include scientists,philosophers, and ethicists who will ad-dress the public’s questions about thefundamental human issues surround-

weekly news magazine thatwent on the air April 5, onover 100 public television sta-

tions which cover more than 75 per-cent of U.S. households, aims to tellthe story of the genome in a way thatwill be easily understood by the gen-eral public.

The sequencing of the humangenome will revolutionize health careand has the potential to feed theworld’s hungry, while at the same timestem cell research, genetically modifiedfood and the possibility of humancloning produce doubt, uncertainty,and sometimes even fear among thepublic. Secrets of the Sequence was cre-

Secrets of the Sequence:New TV Program Tells the Genome StoryA

ing research in the biosciences and thepotential conflict of interest in indus-tries sponsoring research at universities.

In addition to the U.S., the programwill be shown in the U.K., France,Canada, Japan, China, and severalother countries.

Sc ience Does NotOperate in a Vacuum

“Ethical considerations and people’svalues can influence where the sciencesgo and how we train future generationsof scientists,” according to the AdvisoryBoard for Secrets of the Sequence. “Scien-tific discoveries, in turn, have tremen-dous implications for public andeconomic policy. In the post-genomeera of the 21st century, the universityresearch community and the corporatecommunity involved in research mustoffer the public an opportunity to en-gage in a dialogue about genetic andother life sciences discoveries.”

The Advisory Board is composed ofinstitutions working with the programproducers to highlight the importanceof public education in the life sciences.Board members are: Virginia Common-wealth University, Harvard University,the Medical Research Council/Labora-tory of Molecular Biology in Cam-bridge, England, the University ofCalifornia-San Francisco, University ofMichigan, and the University of Wis-consin-Madison. Corporate underwrit-ers for the series include Oracle, PfizerFoundation, and Pfizer.

We b s i t e O f f e r s Po i n t e r sO n S e c u r i t y Fo r La b s

Researchers at the U.S. Depart-ment of Energy’s Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory have developeda concise, relatively jargon-free Web-site offering the best up-to-the-minute scientific advice on how torespond in the case of such an attackagainst a building and its occupants:http://securebuildings.lbl.gov.

Developed by scientists at Berke-ley Lab’s Environmental EnergyTechnologies Division (EETD), thewebsite contains pointers for emer-gency service personnel in two ar-eas: How to reduce the vulnerabilityof buildings to chemical/biologicalagents before an attack in the long-and short-term timeframes, andwhat actions to take using a build-ing’s heating, ventilation, air condi-tioning (HVAC) system to control

the spread of these agents into and inside the building during anemergency.

“The advice on the site representsthe consensus of scientists who havehad extensive experience studyingthe physics and chemistry of the in-door environment, and the diffu-sion of air and pollutants throughbuilding interiors,” according toAshok Gadgil, senior staff scientistand leader of EETD’s Airflow andPollutant Transport Group.

The researchers plan to update thesite as new research results on pro-tecting buildings from chemical andbiological attacks become available.The site is not designed to addresslarge-scale, accidental releases such asthose at a chemical manufacturingplant, nuclear facility, or oil refinery.

T h e s e q u e n c i n g o f t h e

h u m a n g e n o m e w i l l

r e v o l u t i o n i z e h e a l t h

c a re a n d h a s t h e

p o t e n t i a l t o f e e d t h e

w o r l d ’s h u n g r y.

ASBMBToday MAY 200216

tionist science applied to the mostcomplex biological system on theplanet—the human cerebral cortex.The resulting impact on healthcarecosts related to treating or preventingAlzheimer’s disease will be enormous.

In responding to questions from theaudience, the Harvard Medical Schoolprofessor made the following points:

Seven or eight times as many peopleare working on Alzheimer’s research

than 10 years ago, thanks to congres-sional support for NIH funding.

AD is a little more common inwomen. There is a possibility that thedecline in levels of estrogen aftermenopause may increase proneness toAlzheimer’s.

AD brings with it a lack of recogni-tion of the progress of the disease, sothat people are unaware that they haveAlzheimer’s.

he unprecedented increase inlife expectancy that occurredin the twentieth century

brought with an unexpected and un-wanted accompaniment to long life.That unforeseen downside to longerliving is Alzheimer’s disease (AD)which now affects some 4 millionAmericans of all races and ethnicgroups and some 20 million to 30 mil-lion people worldwide.

Will the increasing elderly popula-tion of the country, as well as Europeand other areas where lives are be-coming longer, mean even more peo-ple robbed of their most humanqualities—memory, reasoning, judg-ment, and language? Or is help onthe way?

That was the topic addressed byDennis Selkoe, M.D., of HarvardMedical School, at an April meetingof the Congressional Biomedical Re-search Caucus.

Progress in genetics, biochemistry,and animal modeling during the past15 years has produced a revolution inour understanding of the cause andmechanism of AD. It seems that thepremature loss of brain cells requiredfor memory and thinking results fromthe build up of a small, sticky protein,amyloid beta-protein (A?). Recently,two enzymes that generate A? wereidentified, and that finding led to thediscovery of specific inhibitors forboth of these enzymes. Further re-search resulted in the development ofmethods, including the use of a newAD-fighting vaccine, to erase excess A?from the brain.

Some of these potential treatmentshave reached the initial stage of human trials. If these, and otheremerging therapies, prove successful,the result will be a triumph of reduc-

T

Alzheimer’s Disease:New Insights, Possible Remedies

NIGMS anticipates that compet-ing research project grants for FY2002 will be about seven percentlarger than for fiscal 2001 and thetotal size of the average award willbe about a third more than in FY 98,when budget levels began to risesubstantially.

The size of budget requests innew applications are 60% higherthan they were in FY 98, whilebudgets requested in R-01 continu-ation applications have increasedby only some 30% over the sameperiod.

Research project grants (RPGs) to-tal 85% to 90% of the NIGMS research budget, and R-01 grants

represent approximately 85% ofRPG awards. Consequently, the re-sources required to support ongoinggrants have also increased substan-tially. NIGMS therefore considers financial management of R-01’s essential to its financial manage-ment strategy. As a result, NIGMShas announced that smaller reduc-tions will be made in R-01 awardsthan in new (Type-1) awards. All reductions will be considered on acase-by-case basis.

With appropriate financial man-agement, NIGMS plans to make approximately as many new RPGawards in FY 2002 as in each of theprevious three fiscal years.

N IG MS Strategy for FY 2002 Grants

A l z h e i m e r ’s d i s e a s e ( A D ) n o w a f f e c t s

s o m e 4 m i l l i o n A m e r i c a n s o f a l l r a c e s a n d

e t h n i c g ro u p s a n d s o m e 2 0 m i l l i o n t o

30 mi l l i on p eop l e w or ldw ide .

2000-2001

ASBMBToday 17

by men, the opposite of last year. Overthe four years of the survey, the numberof women receiving masters degrees arealmost identical. As found in previousyears, more doctoral degrees are earnedby men than by women.

The number of minorities receivingbachelor degrees is up for American Indians, Black, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander categories. None of thesegroups showed any significant changeat the graduate level. Overall, the num-ber of Asian students is down at eachlevel. Again, this may be a reflection ofthe different mix of schools reportingthis year.

The average size of the faculty in de-partments reporting was 12.3 malesand 3.7 females, with a school size of11,800. This is essentially the same av-

or the 2000-2001 graduationsurvey ASBMB incorporatedthe option to submit the survey

directly on the web. Of the 192 schoolsresponding to this year’s survey, almosthalf (95) chose to respond using thismode. While the number of schools re-sponding was lower than in past years,the number of bachelors and mastersdegrees reported were the same (bache-lors) or up (masters). The number ofdoctoral graduates were down from pre-vious years, probably due to the smallernumber of large institutions reporting.For the first time in the four years of re-porting, the number of women obtain-ing bachelors degrees exceeded thenumber of men. This year the numberof masters degrees obtained by womenwas smaller than the number received

Graduat ion Survey ResultsF

Students Graduated, July 1, 2000—June 30, 2001Bache lors Masters Doctora l

M F Total M F Total M F Total

American Indian or Alaskan Native 6 22 28 6 4 10 2 0 2

Asian 184 201 385 35 26 61 33 21 54

Black, not of Hispanic origin 46 68 114 4 9 13 5 5 10

Hispanic 54 41 95 9 1 10 3 8 11

Pacific Islander 14 18 32 0 2 2 0 1 1

White, not of Hispanic Origin 648 662 1310 115 74 189 157 114 271

International Students 30 42 72 25 31 56 64 37 101

Total 982 1054 2036 194 147 341 264 186 450

erage school size and number of totalfaculty per department with a slight in-crease in the percentage of women fac-ulty. Again this could be because of thedepartments reporting.

For these surveys to be truly repre-sentative of the field we depend upondepartments reporting. If you wish tosee if your department reported thisyear, go to the Graduation Survey linkin the Education Section of the ASBMB website. It is also necessary toknow which departments offer de-grees. A list of departments that weknow offer Biochemistry or MolecularBiology degrees can also be found onthe ASBMB website. If members knowof additional departments offering de-grees, please notify Kelly Gull at theBethesda office.

B I O T E C H B U S I N E S S N E W S

ASBMBToday MAY 200218

Indeed, it has been argued that asurge of novel targets might lead to de-velopment time and expense being ex-pended on targets that are poorlycharacterized and which could resultin failure during the costly clinicalstages of development.

What was heralded as a banner yearin biotechnology with 13 drugs ex-pected to reach the market has beguninstead with a wave of bad news regard-ing the development of nine antici-pated launches. Despite the bad news,Frost & Sullivan believes that biotech-nology is still poised for significantprogress in 2002 and sees multiple signspointing to the industry’s development.

As a result of economic pressures cou-pled with the loss of patent protectionon a number of blockbuster drugs,pharmaceutical firms are under tremen-dous pressures to increase efficiencies in

their discovery efforts. Indeed “bigpharma” is increasingly looking tobiotechnology for innovation andmany indications in the market indi-cate that biotech is coming of age.

This development in the industry isdemonstrated by several factors, in-cluding the increased leverage thatbiotechnology firms have in negotiat-ing deals with big pharmaceuticalcompanies. Industry mergers and ac-quisitions activity was, as recently as1999, dominated by large pharmaceu-ticals with some $12 billion in acquisi-tions. However, this number wasdwarfed in 2001 by biotechnology ac-quirers which spent roughly $23 bil-lion in acquisitions. Finally, valuationsreflect that industry development—witness the $60 billion market cap ofAmgen—exceeds that of pharmaceuti-cal industry bellwether Pharmacia.

Despite some recent bad news, thebiotechnology industry is still poisedfor significant progress this year andmultiple signs point to the industry’sdevelopment, according to an analysis,Biotechnology: Mere Speed Bumps on theRoad to Development, by Frost & Sulli-van Consulting and Market Research.

The combined effects of the sequenc-ing of the human genome and progressin functional genomics and pro-teomics, are creating vast amounts ofdata that will potentially add value tothe drug discovery process. However,with all the hype surrounding thesehuge leaps forward in biotechnology itis easy to forget the complex process ofdrug discovery and the many years itcan take to produce a marketable drug.While increased efficiencies are consid-ered sure to come, when they will ap-pear remains to be seen.

‘Speed Bumps’ Won’t Stop Biotechnology Development

Albany University’sHigh-Tech Vision

A $35 million investment in NewYork state’s Capital Region is takingshape at the University of Albanycampus. When it is completed atthe end of the year, the 118,000-square-foot building could see1,000 researchers from the univer-sity and private companies doingadvanced work in areas such as na-noelectronics and nanophotonics.A business incubator also will behoused there.

New York’s Governor George Pataki,who designated the institution a Cen-ter of Excellence in Nanotechnology,pledged $50 million in state money forthe building project.

India’s Department of Biotechnol-ogy (DBT) has pledged $65 millionfor genomics research over the nextfive years, and plans to expand thenation’s network-based bioinformat-ics program. This program currentlyinvolves 57 universities and public-funded institutions involved in data-base creation, molecular modeling,and algorithm development.

India has seen an influx of privateparticipants in bioinformatics. Thesestart-ups are working on the genera-tion of intellectual property, includ-ing bioinformatics products, as wellas research for domestic and interna-tional clients in the biotechnology

and pharmaceutical sectors. The Indian bioinformatics market wasconsidered worth some $25 millionin 2001—about 51 % of the coun-try’s overall biotechnology market.Growth is estimated at an annualrate of 30%.

India’s principle advantage is a low cost of development, high success rates enjoyed by its bioinfor-matics companies, plus strong government support for the biotechsector and the availability of techni-cal expertise. A low level of competi-tion, a strong IT infrastructure, andskilled manpower are also seen asadvantages.

India Seeks Growth via Bioinformat ics

by John D . Thompson , Ed i tor

In March, three firsts—a nationwidecomputing grid, a cross-disciplinaryconference, and a computer-based disease model—were evidence to therapid growth of bioinformatics.

In the middle of the month, inBoston, the first commercial confer-ence that brought biologists and information technologists togetherunder the same roof was held. Earlierthat month, three partners joined inthe first major alliance aimed solely at using bioinformatics to speed drug development for a specific disease,

and, as the month came to a close,computing giants took the first step toward creating a nationwide computing grid that will do for post-genome research what the Internethas done for communication.

“There’s no doubt we’re on the vergeof a revolution,” is how CompaqChairman and CEO Michael Capellasopened his keynote address at theBioIT World conference in Boston. Hepredicted that by next year bioinfor-matics will—directly or indirectly—account for about 20% of the nation’sgross domestic product.

Capellas spoke in the wake of Com-paq’s alliance with the American Dia-betes Association (ADA) and Entelos, asmall California-based biotech firm.For this venture, Compaq will be pro-viding high-performance servers,which will be run by Entelos to develop a highly sophisticated modelof type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes.

The result will be the Diabetes Phys-ioLab, a large-scale mathematical

model of type 2 diabetes that will pro-vide drug-development informationto a select number of pharmaceuticaland biotech firms. Rather than testingpromising diabetes drugs in cell culture or live animals, the companieswill be able to try them out in thePhysioLab.

The virtual diabetes patient beganwith Entelos engineers who modelednormal homeostasis and then intro-duced known results from genetics, aging, cell modeling, metabolic factors—over 7,000 parameters and morethan 300 experiments.

In the final week of the month, IBMand the Department of Energy (DOE)announced a collaboration on a nationwide computing grid that willhelp researchers tackle the computingchallenges posed by genomics. TheDOE Science Grid started with twoIBM supercomputers and a massivestorage repository. By December it isexpected to process over five trillioncalculations per second.

ASBMBToday 19

B I O T E C H B U S I N E S S N E W S

Signs of Growth in Bioinformat ics

Eli Lilly and Company has re-ceived the Translational MedicineAward cosponsored by the Univer-sity of California-San Diego (UCSD)Institute of Molecular Medicine, theSalk Institute of Biological Studies,and the journal, Nature Medicine. Theaward was presented at the 2002Days of Molecular Medicine Sympo-sium in recognition of Lilly’s newbiotech product, Xigris (drotrecoginalfa (activated)). The award honorspioneering work in molecular medi-cine that leads to therapeutic advances for human diseases.

Prior to the development of Xigristhere had been many failed attempts at bringing a severe sepsistreatment to market. Eli Lilly’s cre-ation of one of the most complexbiotech compounds ever producedwas the result of 20 years of researchand development. The ActivatedProtein C molecule is among thelargest molecules used to make abiotech compound, measuring morethan 400 amino acids in length ascompared with, for example, the 51amino-acid-length Humulin.

Eli Lilly Gets Award

Syngenta to ShareRice Genome, WithRestrict ions

The Swiss agrochemical group, Syn-genta AG, has announced that it willshare genetic information about therice plant with academics, but not putit into the public Genebank database.Syngenta, one of the world’s largestagrochemical and seed companies, saidthe compromise would give public-sec-tor researchers access to its work whileprotecting its commercial interests.

“If we were to put our material inGenebank it would be available to ourcompetitors as well as to academicians,”a company spokeswoman said. “The ac-ademic community will have accessthrough a CD-ROM... they will have tomake a request via their university thatthey will use it for academic purposesand not commercial purposes.”

Without such protection, Syngentafears that competitors will grab its datato patent important genes, then sueSyngenta if it tries to exploit them itself.

Big Payoffs

ASBMBToday MAY 200220

be exposed to what was going on inthe field of immunology as a whole.”

The Federation of American Societiesfor Experimental Biology 2001 meetingin Orlando, Florida, made a similar im-pression on Hesham Attaya. Now a jun-ior majoring in biochemistry at TexasTech University, he presented a posteron his research into human metastaticpancreatic cancer-cell expression of aparticular enzyme, plasmalemmal vac-uolar type proton ATPase. “It was amaz-ing to me how principal investigators,postdocs and graduate and undergradu-ate students from around the worldcome together to talk about science,” he

says. He was impressed with the lack ofcondescension. “Many people came tosee my poster and talked to me as apeer, not a student.”

“My laboratory encourages under-graduates to present their work at na-tional and international meetings,”says Raul Martinez Zaguilan, a profes-sor of physiology and Attaya’s mentor.“Hesham’s poster won one of the top10 undergraduate research awards in acompetition organized by ASBMB atthe FASEB meeting in Orlando, andthat is a major accomplishment.”

Attaya says his participation in themeeting inspired him to pursue anM.D.-Ph.D. and a research career.

Texas Tech sends several undergradu-ates on similar adventures every year.

Larry Blanton, biology professor and di-rector of Texas Tech’s HHMI-supportedundergraduate program, calls present-ing at scientific meetings “one of themost meaningful parts of an undergrad-uate’s research experience. Participatingin these meetings makes them realizethat they are active participants in thecreation of knowledge, rather than pas-sive recipients of delivered facts.”

Such presentations also help stu-dents clarify their thoughts about re-search, notes Washington Universityin St. Louis biology professor Sarah El-gin, director of a similar programthere. “They must understand and ex-plain their research problem and ex-perimental approach, and report onthe outcomes,” she says.

Scheduling trips to scientific confer-ences can pose problems for undergrad-uates, but they aren’t insurmountable.Elgin recalls a student who would haveto miss a mid-term exam in one of herclasses in order to present his researchat a national meeting. Instead, shefaxed the exam to the student’s men-tor, who served as proctor while thestudent took the exam during themeeting, hundreds of miles from St.

he research that Diana C.Hargreaves performed whilestill an undergraduate at

Haverford College has taken her a longway, literally and figuratively. She wasinvited to travel from her college insoutheastern Pennsylvania to a na-tional gathering of immunologists atAsilomar near Monterey, California, topresent her work. While there, shelanded a job at an HHMI investigator’slab at the University of California, SanFrancisco (UCSF), and she hopes herresearch experience will help opendoors to graduate school and an im-munology career.

Hargreaves is one of a growing num-ber of undergraduates who not onlyconduct research, but have the oppor-tunity to make formal presentationsabout it alongside full-fledged scien-tists. Over the past five years, morethan 5,700 undergraduates have re-ceived HHMI support to participate inthis way at scientific meetings.

Hargreaves took her first step on theresearch ladder as part of an interdisci-plinary program supported by anHHMI grant. The chemistry major’sproject was to help Haverford biologyprofessor Judy Owen design a more ef-ficient system for isolating certain reg-ulatory regions of genes that areexpressed after B-cell activation. Be-cause Owen believes that students whohave made major contributions to thework of her lab should be invited to ac-company her to scientific meetings,Hargreaves found herself at the age of21, presenting a poster at the 2000Midwinter Conference of Immunolo-gists at Asilomar.

“I was pretty scared,” she recalls. “Iwas the youngest person there by along shot. But it was really good to bepart of that scientific community, toget feedback on a national level and to

Tfrom Undergraduates’ Research

Continued on Page 22

“ M y l a b e n c o u r a g e s

u n d e r g r a d u a t e s

t o p r e s e n t t h e i r w o r k

a t n a t i o n a l a n d

i n t e r n a t i o n a l

m e e t i n g s . ”

—Raul Martinez-Zaguilan

AS BM B UndergraduateTravel Awards

Funds are available to assist un-dergraduate students participatingin the ASBMB Undergraduate PosterCompetition during the EB2003Meeting, April 11-15, 2003, in SanDiego. For information contact:

ASBMB, 9650 Rockville Pike,Bethesda, MD 20814-3996

Ph: 301-634-7145; Fx: 301-634-7126; email: kgull@asbmb.faseb.org

ASBMBToday 21

he new HighWire portal allows you to instantlysearch abstracts from all 4,500 journals in Medline,plus the full-text of over 325 journals hosted by

Stanford’s HighWire Press. For the full-text journals, a regis-tered user (registration is free, and takes less than a minute)can tell the portal which of the HighWire-hosted titles areyour “favorite journals”. Then, some special capabilities areavailable for those designated favorites.

The portal’s designers observed that labs typically monitora few dozen journals, and that individuals in labs each takeresponsibility for knowing what is new and important injust a handful among those journals. So the system has fea-tures to help you take a narrow focus when you want tosearch several journals — but only your favorites – and tohelp you keep track of new content in these favorite jour-nals.

Search Scope – You can click a button on any search formand instantly restrict the scope of a search to include onlyyour favorite journals. Note the radio button labeled “My Fa-vorite Journals” in the center column of the HighWire homepage shown (Figure 1).

Search-result Highlighting – In any search result display– whether limited to favorite journals or not — the portalwill highlight citations from your favorite journals by show-

ing the journal cover over a purple bar (see Figure 2, show-ing citations from a search on “Cell Proliferation and CellFate”, with the recent JBC article highlighted).

Monitor new Content — The HighWire home page iden-tifies what the most current content is in each of your fa-vorite journals, and lists your favorite journals in order bymost recent content date. It also provides quick links to thenewest content, the journal home page, the current-issueTable of Contents page, and the search page for each of your

In the February issue, ASBMB News

introduced the new “portal” site

from Stanford’s HighWire Press: the

HighWire Library of the Sciences and

Medicine (http://highwire.stanford.edu).

In March we began a series of short

articles highlighting tools or

features of this new site for

researchers’ sore eyes, starting

with the ability to quickly see

which articles are freely available

to you. This month we continue the

series with a look at how you can

have the system keep track of your

favorite journals, including the

JBC, Molecular & Cellular

Proteomics, Biochemistry and

Molecular Biology Education, and

the Journal of Lipid Research.

T

Search and Track your Favorite Journals EasilyThe HighWire Press Portal:

Figure 1

Figure 2

ASBMBToday MAY 200222

“My Favorite Journals’ preferences”link and checkmark which journalsare your favorites. After making yourselections and clicking the submitbutton, you are returned to the portalhome page, and the Favorite Journalfeatures will be active, with a new[edit] link at the bottom of your se-lected journals. You can easily changeyour Favorite Journal list just by click-ing on [edit].

Next month we’ll look at how you caninstantly retrieve an article—and often itsfull-text – just by typing its year, volumeand first page citation information intothe search form.

Here is the list of what we’ve covered inthis series of short tips:February: Introducing the “portal” athttp://highwire. stanford.eduMarch: Finding which articles are freeis fast at the new portal.April: Tailoring a search result: amend,sort, condense, investigate and down-load search results.May: Keeping track of your favoritejournals.Coming next:Instant citation searches.

Louis. The mentor returned it to Elginby fax in time for grading with the restof the class. “The faculty share a strongcommitment to undergraduate re-search, so we are happy to work withstudents to make meeting participationpossible,” Elgin explains.

At the University of Delaware,where a dozen more undergraduatespresent research at professional meet-ings each year, biochemistry profes-sor and HHMI program director HalWhite explains, “Our objective is toprovide an undergraduate track to aresearch career.” Delaware seniorMike Usher is speeding along thattrack. Presenting his research into the

biochemical mechanisms underlyingtargeted gene repair at the 2001FASEB meeting, he won a Pfizer sum-mer research fellowship. The meet-ing, he says, gave him a taste of theway scientists from different disci-plines can nurture each other’s work.“I look at things from a biochemicalviewpoint, and there I was talking toa molecular biologist about bacterialgenetics,” he recalls.

“We both took home some newideas.” Usher wants to earn an M.D.-Ph.D. and do clinical research.

Remember Hargreaves at Asilomar?One of the scientists who visited herposter was HHMI investigator Jason G.Cyster of UCSF. He was looking for a re-

search assistant, and Hargreaves waslooking for a job after she graduated inMay 2000. “I was impressed by the enthusiasm Diana showed as she tookme through her poster and by the goodunderstanding she demonstrated of thework she had been doing,” Cyster recalls. Hargreaves has worked withCyster ever since. She was first authoron a paper published in the Journal ofExperimental Medicine in 2001, and sheis now applying to graduate school.

This article by Jennifer Boeth Donovanappeared in the March 2002 issue of theHHMI Bulletin and is reprinted with per-mission from the Howard Hughes MedicalInstitute.

favorite journals. It also shows a tinyversion of the new-issue cover for eachjournal. See the listing of My FavoriteJournals in the right column of theHighWire home page shown. Later on,the portal will have a new alerting fea-ture allowing you to restrict your Cite-Track alerts to include only yourfavorite journals.

Gett ing StartedTo put these Favorite Journal features

to work for you, you must tell the por-tal which journals are your favorites.

Step 1: If you haven’t already, youwill need to Register with the portal(this takes only a minute), by clickingon the Register link on the HighWirehome page. If you have already regis-tered, you will need to sign-in.

Step 2: After registering or signing in,first time users will see a “What isthis?” link under the heading My Fa-vorite Journals. Click on “What isthis?” to be taken to a short summaryof the My Favorite Journals feature, in-cluding the link “Create/Modify “MyFavorite Journals’ preferences”.

Step 3: Click on the “Create/Modify

Continued from Page 20

Undergraduate Research . . .

AS BM B WelcomesNew Ph.D.’s

ASBMB extends its congratula-tions to these individuals whorecently received their Ph.D.degrees. In recognition of theirachievement, ASBMB is present-ing them with a free one-yearmembership in the Society. Thenew Ph.D.’s are listed below withtheir current affiliation.

Sharon E. Campbell, East Tennessee State University

Diego F. Gomez-Casati, HB-INTECH

Vincent J.-P. Leveque, Universityof Florida, Gainesville

Antonio Martinez-Ruiz, Centro De InvestigacionesBiologicas – CSIC

Linda Petko, Florida State University

Samuel J. Rulli, Tulane University

Tanya Q. Shang, University of Washington

ASBMBToday 23

Faculty Position:

The Department of Anatomy,Physiology and Cell Biology, School ofVeterinary Medicine, University ofCalifornia, Davis is recruiting anAssistant/Associate Professor ofVeterinary Anatomy/Cell Biology.DVM or equivalent preferred. PhDrequired with advanced training invertebrate anatomy/physiology/cellbiology/molecular biology orassociated field, such asbioengineering, orthopedics orpathology. Responsibilities willinclude teaching in the DVMprofessional curriculum.Demonstrated research record withpotential to develop an independentresearch program in the area ofmusculoskeletal biology and ability tosecure extramural funding. Salarydependent on qualifications andexperience. Submit letter of intent, acurriculum vitae and the names of 3references to Charles G. Plopper, Chair,Department of Anatomy, Physiologyand Cell Biology, School of VeterinaryMedicine, University of California,Davis, CA 95616, Attn: Terry Davison.To receive fullest consideration,applications must be received byAugust 15, 2002; position open untilfilled. AA/EOE.

Postdoctoral Associate, The University of Iowa Health Care,Department of Internal Medicine,Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occu-pational Medicine Division.

Postdoctoral position available fortraining related to Molecular andCellular Biology of the lung.Postdoctoral position also available fortraining in Translation Research relatedto the lung. Requires an M.D. or a Ph.D.

Those interested in applying shouldcontact: Gary W. Hunninghake, M.D.,University of Iowa College ofMedicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, C33 GGeneral Hospital, Iowa City, IA 52242,Phone: (319) 356-4187, Fax: (319) 353-6406. Women andminorities are encouraged to apply.

Molecular Targets for DietaryIntervention in Disease

September 19-22, 2002, Location:Scheman Continuing EducationBuilding, Iowa State University, Ames,Iowa. Deadlines: Abstracts due July 19,2002. Registration is August 19, 2002.Travel grants: Students may apply.Applications due July 19, 2002.

For more information, contact:Growth Factor and SignalTransduction Conferences,Symposium Office, Iowa StateUniversity, 3208 Molecular BiologyBuilding, Ames, Iowa, 50011-3260. Tel:515-294-7978, Fax: 515-294-2244,Email: gfst@iastate.edu. Or visithttp://molebio.iastate.edu/~gfst/phomepg.html

POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

Hemostasis and Thrombosis

M.D. and Ph.D. candidates are invitedto apply for a position on a NIHTraining Program dealing with theDynamics and Proteomics of the BloodCoagulation/Fibrinolysis System.Applicants must be citizens, noncitizennationals or permanent residents of the US.

Additional information can be foundon our web site(http://biochem.uvm.edu). Minorityapplicants and women are encouragedto apply. Send CV to: Dr. KennethMann, Biochemistry Department,Given Bldg., Rm. C401, 89 BeaumontAvenue, University of VermontCollege of Medicine, Burlington, VT05405-0068. Email:kmann@zoo.uvm.edu.

University of Michigan HealthSystem Postdoctoral Position

NIH funded Postdoctoral position atUniversity of Michigan Medical Centeris available NIH funded immediatelyto study the physiology of the entericnervous system. Applicants shouldhave a strong background inneurophysiology. Experience inelectrophysiology, cell culture andmolecular biology is required.Interested applicants should submitcurriculum vitae to:

Michael, W. Mulholland, M.D., Ph.D.,University of Michigan Health System,1500 E. Medical Center Drive, 2920Taubman Center, Ann Arbor, MI48109-0331 USA, Fax: 734-936-5830.

The University of Michigan is a non-discriminatory Affirmative ActionEmployer and strongly encouragesfemales and minorities to apply.

C a r e e r O p p o r t u n i t i e s

Place yourCareer Ads inASBMBToday

Recruitment advertising isavailable in ASBMB Today for $12per line, 10 line minimum. Copyis due by the first of the monthprior to the issue month.

For advertising information callValerie at FASEB AdNet, 800-43-FASEB ext. 7157 or 301-530-7157,Email adnet@faseb.org

Display space is also availablefor those desiring greatervisibility. Please contact FASEBAdNet at 800-433-2732 ext. 7157or 301-530-7157 or adnet@faseb.orgfor more information or to placeyour recruitment ad today.

C a l e n d a r o f S c i e n t i f i c M e e t i n g s

ASBMBToday MAY 200224

Proteomes: Structures, Changes, Interactions, andFunction

June 20-23 • Iowa State University, Ames IowaContact: Plant Sciences Symposium Office; Ph. 515-294-7978; Fx. 515-294-2244; email: bmb@iastate.eduWebsite: http://molebio.iastate.edu

AAPS National Biotechnology Conference

June 24–26 • San Diego, CaliforniaContact: AAPS Meetings; Fax: 703-243-9532Email: Meetings@aaps.org

International Conference: Genomics, Proteomics andBioinformatics for Medicine

June 22–29 • Moscow, St. Petersburg, RussiaContact: Professor A. I. Archakov; E-mail: gpbm2002@ibmh.msk.suhttp://www.ibmh.msk.su/gpbm2002/; Tel.: 7-095-246-6980

AAPS National Biotechnology Conference

June 24–26 • San Diego, CAContact: American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientistshttp://www.aaps.org/meetings/biotech/index.aspE-mail: aaps@aapspharmaceutical.com/biotechnologyTel.: 703-243-2800

Trends in Sample Preparation 2002

June 30–July 4 • Seggau-Castle, AustriaContact: Institute for Analytical Chemistryhttp://www.analytchem.tugraz.at/acmr/en/events/home.htmlE-mail: trisp@analytchem.tu-graz.at.at; Tel.: 43-316873-8301

J U LY 2 0 0 2

European Cells and Materials: ECM III Cartilage & Joint RepairTutorials, Basic Research, and Clinical Methods

July 1-3, 2002 • Congress Centre, Davos, Switzerlandhttp://www.aofoundation.org/events/ao/ecm/organiser.shtml

A U G U S T 2 0 0 2

Tissue Remodeling

August 1-4 • Iowa State University, Ames, IowaContact: Growth Factor and Signal Transduction ConferencesPh. 515-294-7978; Fx. 515-294-2244; Email: gfst@iastate.edu Website: http://molebio.iastate.edu

American Society of Cell Biology: NontraditionalFunctions of Ubiquitin and Ubiquitin-like Proteins

August 11-14 • Colorado Springs, ColoradoContact: Delia Zielinski, ASCB; Ph: 301-347-9300Fx: 301-347-9310; Email: dzielinski@ascb.org

M A Y 2 0 0 2

Proteomics: The Next Grand Biological Challenge

May 19-22 • Vanderbilt UniversityContact: Division of Continual Medical EducationPh: 615-322-4030; Fx: 615-322-4526;Website: http://medschool.mc.vanderbilt.edu/proteomics

102nd American Society for Microbiology Meeting

May 19–23 • Salt Lake City, UTContact: American Society for Microbiologyhttp://www.asm.org; E-mail: meetingsinfo@asmusa.orgTel.: 202-737-3600

The Next Step: Exploring the Proteome

May 21 • Bethesda, MDContact: National Institutes of Healthhttp://proteome.nih.gov:8000; Tel.: 301-594-6248 E-mail: StaR@EXTRA.NIDDK.NIH.gov

American Crystallographic Association in Conjunctionwith American Association for Crystal Growth

May 25-30 • San Antonio, TexasContact: Ph. 716-856-9060, ext 379; Fx. 716-852-4846; Email: aca@hwi.buffalo.edu; Website: http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/aca/

J U N E 2 0 0 2

50th Annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry

June 2–6 • Orlando, FLConference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied TopicsContact: The American Society for Mass Spectrometryhttp://www.asms.org; E-mail: office@asms.org; Tel.: 505-989-4517

HPLC 2002: 26th International Symposium on HighPerformance Liquid Phase Separations and RelatedTechniques

June 2–7 • Montreal, Quebec, CanadaContact: HPLC Secretariat; E-mail: hplc2002@ums.lan.mcgill.cahttp://www.medcor.mcgill.ca/hplc2002; Tel.: 514-398-3770

Beyond Genome: In Silico Biology—Bioinformatics andGenome Research Proteomics

June 2–7 • San Diego, CAContact: Cambridge Health Institute; http://www.healthtech.comE-mail: chi@healthtech.com; Tel.: 617-630-1300

45th Annual Canadian Federation of BiologicalSocieties MeetingThemes: Neurological Development; PhysicalActivity, Nutrition and Chronic DiseaseJune 12-15 • Palais des Congres, Montreal, Canada Contact: wantonious@cfbs.org; Website: http://www.cfbs.org

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2

5th Siena Meeting “From Genome to Proteome:Functional Proteomics”

September 2–5 • Siena, ItalyContact: Denis Hochstrasser; E-mail: pallini@mailsrv.unisi.ithttp://www.unisi.it/eventi/proteome

Computational Biophysics: Integrating Theoretical Physics and Biology

September 7-12 • San Feliu de Guixols, SpainContact: Dr. J. Hendekovic, European Science FoundationPh. +33 388 76 71 35; Fx. +33 388 36 69 87, Email: euresco@esf.org

14th Meeting Methods of Protein Structure Analysis

September 8–12 • Valencia, SpainContact: Juan J. Calvete; http://www.mpsa2002.ibv.csic.es/E-mail: mpsa2002@ibv.csic.es

Molecular Targets for Dietary Intervention in Disease

September 19-22 • Iowa State University, Ames, IowaContact: Growth Factor and Signal Transduction ConferencesPh: 515-294-7978; Fx: 515-294-2244; email: gfst@iastate.edu; Website: http://molebio.iastate.edu

7th International Symposium on Dendritic Cells

September 19-24 • Bamberg, GermanyContact: Prof. Dr. Alexander SteinkassererPh: ++49-9131-853-6725; Fx: ++49-9131-853-5799;e-mail: steinkasserer@derma.imed.uni-erlangen.deWebsite: http://www.dc2002.de/

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 2

European Conference on Computational Biology 2002in conjunction with the German Conference onBioinformatics 2002

October 6–9 • Saarbruecken, GermanyContact: http://www.eccb2002.deE-mail: eccb.organizers@bioinf.uni-sb.de

Metabolic Engineering IV: Applied System BiologyOctober 6-11 • Il Ciocco, Castelvecchio Pascoli Tuscany , ItalyContact: United Engineering Foundation; Ph: 212-591-7836Fax: 212-591-7441; Email: engfnd@aol.comWebsite: http://www.engfnd.orgRegistration: http://www.engfnd.org/2ay.html

9th Midwest Platelet and Vascular Biology Conference

October 11-13 • Washington University School of Medicine,St. Louis, MOAbstract and registration due August 15, 2002Website: http://www.biochem.wustl.edu/mwpc9/index.html

Federation of Analytical Chemistry and SpectroscopySocieties

October 13–17 • Providence, Rhode IslandContact: FACSS National Office; http://www.facss.org

The Applications of Proteomics

October 16–18 • Lille-Villenueve d’Ascq, FranceContact: French Society for Electrophoresis and ProteomicAnalysis; Tel.: 33-3-20-43-40-97; http://www.sfe-ices.org/E-mail: hubert.hondermarck@univ-lille1.fr

18th Asilomar Conference on Mass Spectrometry

October 18–22 • Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CAContact: American Society for Mass Spectrometryhttp://www.asms.org; E-mail: office@asms.org; Tel.: 505-989-4517

Fourth HUGO Pacific Meeting and Fifth Asia-PacificConference on Human Genetics

October 27–30 • Pattaya, Chonburl, ThailandContact: Tel.: 66-2-8892557-8; http://www.mu-st.net/hugothai/

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 2

AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition

November 10-14 • Toronto, Ontario, CanadaContact: AAPS Meetings; Fax: 703-243-9532 Email: Meetings@aaps.org

First Human Proteome Organizational (HUPO) Congress

November 21–24 • Versailles, FranceContact: http://www.hupo.org

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 2

13th International Conference on Genome Informatics

December 16–18 • Tokyo, JapanContact: http://giw.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/giw2002/E-mail: giw@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp

M A R C H 2 0 0 3

Keystone Symposium, Proteomics: Technologies andApplications

March 25–30 • Keystone Resort, Keystone, ColoradoContact: Paul Lugauer; http://www.keystonesymposia.orgE-mail: info@keystone.symposia.org; Tel.: 970-262-1230 ext. 111

A P R I L 2 0 0 3

American Society for Biochemistry and MolecularBiology Annual Meeting in Conjunction with EB2003

April 11-15 • San Diego, CaliforniaContact: EB2003 Office; Ph: 301-530-7010Fx: 301-530-7014; Email: eb@faseb.orgWebsite: http://www.faseb.org/meetings/eb2003

Molecular & Cellular

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Molecular & Cellular

PROTEOMICS