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E: [email protected] www.asbmb.org AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OCTOBER 2005, Volume 4, Issue 7 features 8 6 NIH Conflict of Interest Regs Revised 7 Emerging Staph Strains Increasingly Deadly 8 In Ed Dennis’ Lab Lipids Take the Spotlight 12 How Plants Disarm Toxic Effects of Sunlight 13 So You Think You Know Biochemistry History 14 ASBMB to Honor Thomas Cech 16 Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Lipids 18 Glycobiology and Extracellular Matrix ON THE COVER: 20 Chemical Genetics and Drug Discovery 22 Genome Dynamic: Replication, Repair and Recombination 28 Sales of Biogenerics in U.S., 23 Richardson to Receive Tabor/JBC Award Europe Expected to 24 More Women Receive Ph.D.’s, but Female Senior Faculty Rare Soar 25 New Look for the JBC 26 Brain Fatty Acids Linked to Depression 27 New Understanding of DNA Repair 30 IOM Sees Flaws in Bioterrorism Protection AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE: MOST IMPROVED MAGAZINE 5 COLUMNS & EDITORIALS DESIGN & LAYOUT departments 4 News From the Hill 5 Evolution Watch 6 NIH News 21 ASBMB Reminiscences 28 Biotech Business BRONZE AWARD WINNER 2003 32 Calendar LETTERS ASBMB Council Member Supports ASBMB Officers Judith S. Bond President Bettie Sue Masters Past-President Stand on ‘Intelligent Design’ Peggy J. Farnham Secretary Kenneth E. Neet Treasurer Following is a letter from Council Members a member to ASBMB Evolution Not William R. Brinkley Councilor President Judith Bond in Joan W. Conaway Councilor support of her letter to Robert A. Copeland Councilor Taught Properly President Bush (see Lila M. Gierasch Councilor Dear Editor: Frederick P. Guengerich Councilor article on page 4 of the I am contacting you about an article William J. Lennarz Councilor September issue of ASBMB by Peter Farnham in the August 5 issue Peter J. Parker Councilor Today) concerning his William S. Sly Councilor of ASBMB Today. He reports on a future comments on the teaching William L. Smith Councilor ASBMB symposium on teaching Evolu- of “Intelligent Design” in Ex-Officio Members tion. On the bottom of page 10 and the science classrooms. Dr. George M. Carman top of page 11 is the following state- Chair, Meetings Committee Bond’s reply follows. Cecile Rochette-Egly ment: “However, Justice Antonio Scalia, Dennis R. Voelker Co-chairs, 2005 Program Committee Dear Dr. Bond, in a dissenting opinion. left the door J. Ellis Bell Thank you for the letter you wrote open to teaching alternative theories of Chair, Education and Professional Development Committee to President Bush in response to his how life began on earth.” This sentence Juliette Bell comments on the teaching of Intelli- is in the context of the attacks on the Chair, Minority Affairs Committee Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. But the William R. Brinkley gent Design. I fully support the posi- Chair, Public Affairs Advisory Committee tion that ID is not science and should Theory of Evolution has NOTHING to Christopher K. Mathews do with how life began. In fact, in a Chair, Publications Committee not be taught as such. I hope to see Herbert Tabor ASBMB and FASEB play a greater role March 29, 1863 letter to J. Hooker, a fel- Editor, JBC in educating the public and politicians low scientist, he states: “It is mere rub- Ralph A. Bradshaw Editor, MCP about this important issue, especially bish thinking at present of the origin of Edward A. Dennis in communicating the fact that the life; one might as well think of the ori- Editor, JLR concept of biological evolution is not a gin of matter.” This letter was written ASBMB Today scientific controversy and is supported after the publication of Origin of Species. is a monthly publication A major problem that we have in of The American Society for by overwhelming evidence. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Thanks again for your efforts. fighting Intelligent Design people is Editorial Advisory Board Mark Hahn the fact that Evolution is not taught properly in our schools, as emphati- Irwin Fridovich ASBMB member (since 1994) Richard W. Hanson Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution cally demonstrated by the above. This Bettie Sue Masters should be part of the program of the J. Evan Sadler planned Symposium. Robert D. Wells Dear Dr Hahn, Bernard F. Erlanger, Ph.D. Comments Thanks for your message. We agree Columbia University Please direct any comments or questions this is an important issue in our soci- concerning ASBMB Today to: ety, and would like to play a role in Tell Us What John D. Thompson reaching the public on the points you Editor, ASBMB Today articulated so well. Among other You Think 9650 Rockville Pike things, we will be holding sessions at Bethesda, MD 20814-3996 Letters should be sent to the editor, Phone: 301-634-7145; Fax: 301-634-7126 our centennial meeting in San Fran- John Thompson, at the address E-mail: [email protected] cisco to help our members bring up found at left. Letters must be signed For information on advertising the issues in public settings and with and must contain the writer’s address contact FASEB AdNet at 800-433-2732 politicians. and telephone number. The editor ext. 7157 or 301-634-7157, or email [email protected]. Judith Bond reserves the right to edit all letters. ASBMB President 2 ASBMBToday OCTOBER 2005 From the Desk of the President: New Director of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at NIH: Toni Scarpa Dr. Judith Bond ntonio Scarpa, MD/PhD, was Toni as rigorous, fair, creative, and a ence of an experimental scientist and sworn-in as the new Director builder of ‘bridges’—particularly at the academic administrator to the A of the National Institutes of interface of basic science and medicine. NIH peer-review system. He brings Health CSR on September 15. Toni Dr. Elias Zerhouni described Toni as a energy, creativity, a pragmatic atti- received his MD and PhD in Pathology ‘Renaissance Man,’ with a ‘can do,’ tude, and determination to make the at the University of Padua in 1966 and pragmatic spirit who brings intelligence system better. 1970, respectively. He did postdoctoral and creativity to the CSR directorship. The bad news is that he is arriving work at the Weizman Institute of Sci- The CSR is the major portal of com- at a time when legislators are not ence in Israel, and then rose through munication between the NIH and the likely to raise the NIH budget to even the academic ranks in biochemistry research external community, and its meet the costs of inflation. Funding and biophysics at the University of mission is to fund the most promising to combat terrorism, fight wars and Pennsylvania. In 1986, he went to science. The CSR reviews 90% of the recover from national disasters may Case Western Reserve University as grant application (~ 80,000 grants per well be diverted from allocations for Professor and Chair of Physiology. He year) that NIH considers for funding. investigator initiated research. There has many years of experience as a pro- Approximately 15,000 scientists serve are many concerns in the scientific ductive research scientist in the area of CSR through reviewing activities. It is community about whether the new cellular and molecular mechanisms of the heart of the NIH peer-review system. structure of the CSR review sections is ion transport and homeostasis, and he Toni’s vision is to increase the trans- serving the needs of the scientific has served the profession as a member parency, and enhance communication community, new investigators, pro- of study sections and as an editor of and efficiency of the peer-review system; ductive scientists, and important journals and books. shorten the review cycle and recruit areas of research (e.g., structural biol- At the swearing-in ceremony, Dr. excellent reviewers. He plans to examine ogy, bacterial pathogenesis, many Story Landis, Director of NINDS, and and institute changes in the review of aspects of fundamental research). previously a Chair at Case, described proposals to align the NIH with changes Many feel that critical areas of in the world by research are slipping between the focusing, for exam- cracks of the ‘new review system’. ple, on chronic as Those of us who served on study sec- well as acute dis- tions of the past are wary about some eases, and paying of the new practices in the operation attention to the of the study sections, such as exces- basic mode and cul- sive reliance on ad hoc members, and ture of research in lack of experienced scientists to our institutions.