The Scientist articles from April 2001

The Scientist archives from April 2001

IMAGING IN 4-D.
April 30, 2001... Advancing technologies, increased funding allows researchers to view tumor growth in real time Just a few short decades ago, cell biologists--essentially relegated to the tissue culture equivalent of Flatland--couldn't imagine working in...

Gene Therapy: Taking it to the Lesion.
April 30, 2001... Therapy headed for human trials targets not tumors, but the lesions they create A biochemist's unintended wander into gene therapy may have achieved one of gene therapy's long-sought goals: a way to deliver cytocidal genes to metastatic...

Prostate Cancer Complexity.
April 30, 2001... Tracking the disease's genetic roots presents enormous challenges The Mormons' religious beliefs have proven to be quite a boon for cancer epidemiologists. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following religious...

It's Time to Improve Methods for Breast-Cancer Detection.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... It has been more than six years since I was first diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35. Since then, my life has changed in more ways than I could have imagined. I became an activist, founding a nonprofit advocacy organization for Latin...

On Humans and Other Species.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... In reference to Barry A. Palevitz's excellent commentary on animal slaughter,[1] I completely agree that it is about time that we, humans, reconsider our attitude toward other animals or even other humans. The problem is perhaps much more...

NCI Seeks Record Increase in Funding.
April 30, 2001... Financial support would provide needed boost to many programs and research initiatives The $4.18 billion National Cancer Institute budget request submitted by the Bush administration to Congress in April for fiscal year 2002 amounts to...

Herceptin Earns Recognition in Breast Cancer Arsenal.
April 30, 2001... Monoclonal antibody provides targeted therapy With true success stories in cancer treatment so rare, the flood Of recent papers validating the 1998 Food and Drug Administration approval of Herceptin (trastuzumab) stands out.[1-3] In a...

Cancer Imaging Research Projects.
April 30, 2001... Three centers complement each other in covering broad spectrum Although the research has only just begun at the newly established In vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Centers, or ICMICs, the researchers have jumped in and are covering...

Translational Research.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Imaging gene expression in humans: The race is on Although most of the studies now occurring in the In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Centers (ICMICs) are focused on basic animal research, investigators aren't wasting any time in...

NEWS NOTES.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Scaling up newborn screening With the potential for catching serious metabolic disorders before symptoms appear, medical laboratories in the United States are increasingly screening newborns using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)...

A View From the Benches.
April 30, 2001... Posters at AACR meeting provide early glimpses into potentially significant research Scientists submitted more than 5,100 abstracts to the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in New Orleans, March 24-28....

Understanding the VHL Tumor Suppressor Complex.
April 30, 2001... Investigation begins to unlock the workings of von Hippel-Lindau disease During the 1990s, several labs in the United States and United Kingdom investigated the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (pVHL). Many important findings...

Assessing Rectal Gases in Dogs.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... U.K. researchers derive a successful recipe for reducing odor It has long been known that a little hydrogen sulfide (HS) contributes a lot to the distinctive odor of intestinal gas. Researchers at the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in...

RESEARCH NOTES.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Linking Environmental and Genetic Cancer Causes Epidemiologists often investigate connections between cancers and chemicals in the environment. But molecular biologists now are starting to describe the molecular mechanisms for how such...

Playing i*TAg.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Quantifying antigen-specific T cells with Beckman-Coulter's new i*TAg[TM] MHC tetramers Antigen-specific T lymphocytes must be quantified in order to gauge the quality of an immune response. Typically this is accomplished using...

Lights ... Cameras ... Action.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... HitKit[TM] reagents from Cellomics Inc. enhance detection of cellular events Detecting intracellular activity is easier than ever, thanks to the HitKit series from Cellomics Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa. Relying upon dyes and fluorophores...

Cast Array.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Create affordable arrays using S&S's MicroCASTer[TM] Microarrays, or "gene chips," have become valuable tools for studying changes in gene expression; detecting genetic mutations and polymorphisms; analyzing drug resistance and disease...

A Sharper Image.
April 30, 2001... Automated image analysis systems enable better cancer detection Medical miracles abound, yet cancer continues to be a complex and challenging problem. "Cancer" is actually a genetic, catchall term for the malignant tumors that are found...

Bacterial Detectives.
April 30, 2001... BCR Diagnostic's LEXSAS bacteriologic biosensor Bacteria are renowned for their fecundity; given unlimited nutrients and a couple of weeks, the world could be neck-deep in the children of a single bacterial cell. The notion that this...

Making Sense of Microchip Array Data.(microarray analysis software)(Directory)
April 30, 2001... Sophisticated software serves up pertinent information Gene expression profiling using DNA microarrays generates reams of data. But as is so often the case, it's not the quantity but the quality that matters: Gene expression data is...

Benefiting from the Human Genome.(cancer research)
April 30, 2001... Already a vibrant field, cancer research grows with increased emphasis on the biology of diseases As one of the leading causes of death in the United States, cancer continues to challenge those working in the field. Despite long -ongoing...

How Long Will You Work?(academic scientists)
April 30, 2001... University conditions may be a harbinger of longer careers In America, the ratio of children under 18 to adults over 65 is currently about 2:1. By 2030, it will be almost equal.[1] Those statistics are among many offered by sociologists...

PROFESSION NOTES.(cancer study of tomatoes)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Lycopene: A Role in Prostate Cancer? You say tomato, but Phyllis Bowen, nutrition and dietetics professor at University of Illinois, Chicago, says possible prostate cancer deterrent and a great source of research funds. Recently added to...

THE SCHOLARLY PRESENTATION.(critique)
April 30, 2001... I have been in the scientific arena since 1972, 30 long years. By my rough estimate, I have attended an average of four seminars a week, for a total of over 5,000 seminars. I have lost count of the meeting presentations. However, with my...

CONVERGING ON MARINE RESERVES.
April 16, 2001... Research and policy point in direction of protected ocean parks The commercial fishing and conservationist communities have clashed many times over how to protect fishery resources and conserve marine ecosystems while also supporting the...

A Science Publishing Revolution.
April 16, 2001... Grassroots initiative demands free, searchable content from publishers Scientists and publishers generally agree that the Internet is sparking a science publishing revolution.[1] They have yet to agree, however, on how to cultivate that...

Online Health Management Gets a Start.
April 16, 2001... Project in Minnesota may set precedents for future cyberspace programs In southeastern Minnesota, the residents of little Winona are being besieged by messages from the future. On the radio and in newspapers, on billboards and handouts,...

Mary's Little Lambs.(foot and mouth disease prevention)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2001... As foot and mouth disease raced across England and into Europe, shock waves spread well ahead and deep scars remained behind. The United Kingdom sagged under the weight of withering tourism, huge agricultural losses, and wholesale disruptions...

Founder Populations Fuel Gene Discovery.
April 16, 2001... Isolated people-groups further genetic study The field of human genetics has never been "politically correct." The first gene screens created in the 1970s, for sickle cell disease and Tay-Sachs disease, targeted African American and...

NEWS NOTES.(proteome mapping)(ethics of cloning)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2001... Industry Group To Map Proteome A single all-embracing effort to characterize the human proteome is an unlikely prospect (D. Steinberg, "Is a Human Proteome Project Next?" The Scientist, 15[7]: 1, April 2, 2001). Nevertheless,...

Understanding Huntington's Disease.
April 16, 2001... Researchers implicate a second protein in the debilitating illness Researchers are inching ever closer to a treatment for the inherited neurodegenerative disorder Huntington's disease (HD). Following close on the heels of recent...

Piecing Together Actin Assembly.(Brief Article)
April 16, 2001... Findings link actin polymerization to signal transduction pathway Cells rely on their cytoskeletons to do just about everything--from migration to differentiation. Cell biologists must therefore understand the role of actin, a major...

Estrogen Receptors on the Membrane.
April 16, 2001... Novel locale for ERs sparks new direction in steroid hormone research For years, endocrinologists believed that the actions of estrogen and other steroids were confined to the cell's nucleus. By presenting evidence for a plasma membrane...

Antibiotic Corrects Genetic Glitch.
April 16, 2001... Antibiotics that enable ribosomes to "read through" premature stop codons (nonsense mutations), which truncate proteins, may kick-start a new approach to gene therapy. A team of researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and...

RESEARCH NOTES.(polymorphism raises non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in AIDS patients)(glial cells play part in higher brain function)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2001... AIDS, Lymphoma, and IL-6 A study of 2,480 AIDS patients has found that they have 2.4 times the risk of contracting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) if they carry a certain polymorphism. Charles S. Rabkin, HIV-cancer coordinator at the...

Image is Everything.(image processing software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 16, 2001... Scimagix and TissueInformatics develop tools for image data mining From 2-D electrophoresis to microscopy, much of the data generated in today's laboratories is image-based. Until recently however, there was no way to efficiently search...

Bench Buys.(scientific products)(Brief Article)(Buyers Guide)
April 16, 2001... Get Ready Until December 31, 2001, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech of Piscataway, N.J., is offering a free 24-reaction Ready-To-Go[TM] PCR beads kit with the purchase of a Ready-To-Run[TM] separation unit. The new Ready-To-Run separation unit...

According to Protocol.(experimental protocol manuals evaluated)
April 16, 2001... Special-topic experimental protocol manuals provide researchers with tools to diversify studies Nearly all scientists involved in basic biomedical research are familiar with the "Red Book" (Current Protocols in Molecular Biology)[1] and...

Premade cDNA Libraries.
April 16, 2001... A standard research tool remains useful despite technology advances The questions of gene function, interaction, and regulation are central to the science of molecular biology. Despite the myriad of new technologies, products, and...

Societies Offer More than Just Prestige.
April 16, 2001... Career enhancement and networking possibilities abound at annual meetings Ask not what you can do for your professional society, but what your professional society can do for you. Douglas Sweet certainly took this sentiment to heart....

Job Searching in a Still-Hot Market.
April 16, 2001... Even with an economic slowdown, opportunities in life science research expand Despite an overall slowdown in the economy, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are optimistic about the future and are investing heavily in research,...

Working in Academia and Industry.
April 16, 2001... The Scientist surveys researchers about the two distinct work environments Life science researchers like working in industry for "career development opportunities" and "financial rewards"; they like working in academia for "creative...

Beckman Rewards Young Scientists.(Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation awards)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2001... This past March, the nonprofit Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation presented grants to 30 young researchers as part of its Beckman Young Investigators (BYI) awards and its Beckman Scholars program for undergraduates. Now in its tenth year,...

PROMOTING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE.
April 16, 2001... Many students are interested in majoring in biology because they liked it in high school or because they have plans to attend medical school. But when majoring in science, discouragement can set in when faced with the daunting task of...

IS A HUMAN PROTEOME PROJECT NEXT?
April 2, 2001... Large-scale efforts appear likely, though the field lacks the clear goals and speed of the Human Genome Project Three dozen scientists, officials, and executives from academia, government, and business are speaking this week at a...

`Ome Sweet `Omics--A Genealogical Treasury of Words.
April 2, 2001... "So intricate and inscrutable a mystery is the origin of language that in 1866 the French Society of Linguistics formally banned further research on the subject." --J. H. Dirckx, 1977. (Dx + Rx: A Physician's Guide to Medical...

Teaching Creationism.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... Teaching Creationism Regarding "Fighting Darwin's Battles,"[1] I spent a day discussing creationism in my science classroom last year. It was right after the controversy in Kansas, and the Channel One news program was highlighting it for...

On the Fast Track in Functional Proteomics.
April 2, 2001... Linking of technologies sets pace for researchers Researchers in Canada and Denmark are employing mass spectrometry, three-dimensional tissue biology, and supercomputing to blaze a trail in functional proteomics research. In the process,...

New Technology Spurs on Proteomics.
April 2, 2001... Companies invest in developing state-of-the-art tools One recent morning at the Applied Biosystems proteomics research center in Framingham, Mass., scientist Jason Marchese patiently used a pipettor to place tiny samples onto a...

Aptamers Identify Protein Signatures.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... Method for screening may provide early warning system A technique not deemed "sexy" enough for commercialization a decade ago may finally find its niche in proteomics. SomaLogic Inc. of Boulder, Colo. is pioneering aptamers, which are...

Debating Shelby.(data access)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... Tension continues to mount over principles of data access Sentiments expressed at a March 12 National Academy of Sciences workshop suggest that scientists and policy-makers remain very concerned about data access issues related to the now...

Bowl of Hope, Bucket of Hype?("golden rice")(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... When a research team led by Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg in Germany announced last year that they had produced beta carotene, or provitamin A, in rice...

NIH's 1.5 Proteomics Projects.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... Should the National Institutes of Health be folded into one big Institute for Proteomics? That playful thought comes from Paul Gilman, director of policy planning at Celera Genomics Group. He muses that "proteomics is really about the rest of...

Combating Microbial Resistance.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... The Federal government's Interagency Task Force on Microbial Resistance has issued an 84-item plan to combat the growing public health problem presented by microbes' increasing ability to shrug off antibiotics. This recently released first...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
April 2, 2001... In the print version of the article "Fighting Darwin's Battles" (E. Russo, The Scientist 15[6]:1, March 19, 2001), the budget figures for the Institute for Creation Research and Answers In Genesis were incorrectly stated. The correct figure...

Designing a More Accurate Protein Census.
April 2, 2001... Three new papers unveil methods to identify elusive proteins in complex mixtures Applied Biosystems will soon begin testing new mass spectrometry machines designed to identify proteins in as many as 1,000 samples per hour. For the...

Survival Factors and Apoptosis.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... Researchers show how signals block death gene transcription factor Cell life depends on stringent repression of apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Repressing transcription of cell death genes is one way of preventing apoptosis. Another...

Ordering the Events of Apoptosis.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... Programmed cell death proceeds through a proteolytic cascade of caspases That apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is fundamental to cell biology is underscored by discoveries that apoptotic dysfunction contributes to numerous diseases....

Better Mouse Memory Comes at a Price.
April 2, 2001... Researchers have discovered that transgenic mice previously shown to outperform their normal counterparts on learning and memory tests[1] are also more sensitive to chronic pain.[2] This finding suggests that memory formation and pain...

Eye Color-Deafness Link?(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... There may be more significance to the color of one's eyes than cues to wardrobe selections. One study links dark eyes to lower incidence of noise-associated hearing loss (M.-L. Barrenas, F. Lindgren. "The influence of inner ear melanin on...

Automated Staining.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... BioGenex releases the i6000 Automated Tissue and Cell Staining System Possibly the most difficult aspect of manual histopathological staining is maintaining consistency. BioGenex of San Ramon, Calif., has overcome this problem with the...

Don't Clone Those Genes!(Brief Article)
April 2, 2001... TAP Express enables speedy, "cloning-free" gene expression If the expression products of a large number of different genes need to be rapidly analyzed, for instance during functional genomic research, consider the Transcriptionally...

Tissue Cultural Revolution.
April 2, 2001... BioCrystal introduces the OptiCell culture system Despite the explosion in cell biology research, the practice of cell culture has changed very little since the 1940s. However, with the OptiCell[TM] system, BioCrystal Ltd. of Westerville,...

2-D Glasses.
April 2, 2001... Scientists focus on proteomics with 2-D gel electrophoresis The inevitable inventory of genes that will be produced by the Human Genome Project heralds the start of a new era: the Age of Proteomics. Although DNA is the blueprint for life,...

Finding a Mate.(two-hybrid system)
April 2, 2001... Two-hybrid systems ease detection of protein-protein interactions Genome sequencing has produced a vast supply of proteins in need of a functional identity. One way to identify a protein's function is to identify its interacting partners,...

Career Paths in Proteomics.
April 2, 2001... Burgeoning field offers many opportunities "This is the beginning," pronounced J. Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics in Rockville, Md., at a press conference at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual...

Writing a Paper that Will Get Published.
April 2, 2001... Many options exist for researchers to get their name in print The experts agree: "Publish or Perish" is still alive and well in the research community. "The cardinal rule is, `A scientific experiment is not complete until the results have...

VIOLENCE AND THE BRAIN: AN URGENT NEED FOR RESEARCH.
April 2, 2001... While the social sciences have devoted much attention to the origin and prevention of violence, relatively little biomedical study has been conducted. Human behavior is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental influences...