The History of Black Scientists
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February 2011 ASBMB CELEBRATES THE HISTORY OF BLACK SCIENTISTS American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology MMoreore LLipidsipids withwith thethe eexcitingxciting newew FLLuorophoreuorophore n F TopFluor™ LPA It’s New, It’s Effective*, Avanti Number 810280 It’s Available AND It’s made with Avanti’s Legendary Purity *Similar Spectral characteristics as BODIPY® TopFluor™ PI(4,5)P2 Avanti Number 810184 TopFluor™ Cholesterol Also in stock: Avanti Number 810255 C11 TopFluor PC C11 TopFluor PS C11 TopFluor PE C11 TopFluor Ceramide C11 TopFluor Dihydro-Ceramide C11 TopFluor Phytosphingosine C11 TopFluor Sphingomyelin C11 TopFluor GluCer C11 TopFluor GalCer Visit our new E-commerce enabled web site for more details www.avantilipids.com or Email us at [email protected] FroM research to cgMp production - avanti’s here For you contents FEBRUARY 2011 On the Cover: In honor of Black History Month, we assembled a news timeline of noteworthy 2 President’s message black researchers who The Yamamoto Plan have contributed to the 4 News from the Hill life sciences. 18 4 NIH to create translational research center 5 When a clear vision isn’t clear 6 Washington Update FASEB rallies scientific community in support of research funding 7 ASBMB honors Brown and Goldstein 9 Axel T. Brunger wins inaugural ASBMB DeLano Award 10 Christine Guthrie recognized with ASBMB-Merck Award Fun online 11 Retrospective: Eugene Goldwasser science (1922 – 2010) resources. 13 48 ASBMB members elected to AAAS 26 14 Member update features 16 Getting serious about science education 18 A history of black scientists ASBMB journals get mobile platforms. 20 Science focus: Ruma V. Banerjee 33 and Stephen W. Ragsdale deciphering sulfur and carbon metabolism departments 24 Meetings 20 things to do in D.C. 26 Sci.comm Online resources that make science fun for all ages 28 Minority affairs MAC still on task 30 Education and training Accreditation 2011— turning the corner 32 Journal news 32 Noteworthy JLR papers Two high notes for ‘Eddy’ Fischer in the JBC asbmb today online 33 Digital journal access: as you like it Go to the online version of ASBMB Today to get 34 Career insights additional information about topics covered in the Fellowships 101: policy opportunities for scientists magazine including a list of policy fellowships 36 Lipid news for scientists and links to places mentioned The Lipid Research Division: director’s update in the “20 things to do in D.C.” article. www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday February 2011 ASBMB Today 1 president’smessage A monthly publication of The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The Yamamoto Plan Officers BY SUZANNE PFEFFER Suzanne R. Pfeffer President Gregory A. Petsko Past-president Mark A. Lemmon Secretary ast month I wrote about the importance of explaining the significance of our Merle S. Olson Treasurer L research at every opportunity: in papers, in talks and in research propos- Council Members Karen N. Allen Ruma V. Banerjee als. Keith Yamamoto, executive vice dean of the University of California San Dafna Bar-Sagi Benjamin F. Cravatt Francisco School of Medicine, has played an incredibly important, behind-the- Michael A. Marletta Thomas E. Smith Ann M. Stock Jonathan S. Weissman scenes role in steering the evaluation of U.S. science toward impact. He also has crafted a valuable scheme to help job and grant applicants be most suc- Ex-Officio Members Kuan-Teh Jeang cessful; I call this the Yamamoto Plan and share it with you here. Daniel M. Raben Co-chairs, 2011 Annual Meeting Program Committee First, a few words about Keith. One of my first wishes as a first-year gradu- Peter J. Kennelly ate student was to rotate in the Yamamoto lab. My wish came true in the Chair, Education and Professional Development Committee winter of 1978, and I remember coming in to lab on Saturday mornings only Joan W. Conaway Chair, Meetings Committee to find Keith sitting quietly in his office reviewing Journal of Biological Chem- Terri Kinzy istry manuscripts. At that time, his office had a glorious view of the Golden Chair, Membership Committee Craig E. Cameron Gate Bridge, so it was a pretty nice place for him to work. He won’t remem- Chair, Minority Affairs Committee ber this, but Keith personally taught me how to culture mammalian cells, and William C. Merrick Chair, Public Affairs Advisory Committee during my rotation, he reminded me that devising new methodologies is just Toni M. Antalis as important as scientific findings because new techniques often can enable Chair, Publications Committee Martha J. Fedor, Editor-in-chief new discoveries. Herbert Tabor, Co-editor JBC In 1994, Harold Varmus, then director of the National Institutes of Health, Ralph A. Bradshaw asked Yamamoto if he would work with the Division of Research Grants (now A. L. Burlingame Co-editors, MCP the Center for Scientific Review) to enhance the NIH peer review process. Edward A. Dennis Since that time, Yamamoto has served as chairman of the Advisory Commit- Joseph L. Witztum Co-editors, JLR tee to the CSR and as a member of the NIH director’s Peer Review Oversight ASBMB Today Editorial Advisory Board Group, the CSR Panel on Scientific Boundaries for Review, and the Advisory Alex Toker (Chair) Mike Bradley Committee to the NIH Director. He also co-chairs both the Working Group Craig E. Cameron A. Stephen Dahms to Enhance NIH Peer Review and the Review Committee for the Transforma- Alex C. Drohat Irwin Fridovich Richard W. Hanson Gerald Hart tional R01 Award. Peter Kennelly Peter J. Parker Each of these committees has discussed the importance of distinguishing Carol C. Shoulders between science that just provides more information and thus moves the field ASBMB Today horizontally, and transformational science that has the potential to move an Nicole Kresge Editor [email protected] entire field forward vertically. Now, during an era in which scientists can do so Nick Zagorski Science Writer much more but must operate with tightly constrained resources, we need to [email protected] Nancy J. Rodnan Director of Publications select the questions that will provide the most important answers. I have said [email protected] this before: Every cell has 10,000 proteins; we need to focus on the classes Barbara Gordon Executive Director [email protected] of protein functions that are most relevant to understanding fundamental biochemistry, biology and the molecular basis of disease. Over the past 15 For information on advertising, contact Capitol Media Solutions at 800-517-0610 years, Yamamoto has steered this important idea through the halls of NIH, or [email protected] culminating in several new mechanisms for support of especially bold ideas as well as new guidelines for the review of grant applications that stress over- all impact over detailed approach. No country has enough research dollars to fund all possible science, and our limited dollars need to be directed toward www.asbmb.org the areas of greatest significance to the entire scientific community. Yamamoto also has devised a plan to help UCSF junior faculty craft their first research grants. His approach can be useful to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in conceiving research proposals for their theses, 2 ASBMB Today February 2011 president’smessage conceptual or technical breadth to the potential out- come? Face-to-face conversations with the full com- mittee uncover uncertainties and ambiguities, resolve differences of opinion, and often stimulate improvements. Then, and only then, does the scientist write the research proposal. A major advantage of the Yamamoto Plan is that qual- ity advice and mentorship can be obtained at an early stage, long before hours are wasted writing up what might not be the best approach. In contrast, scien- tists commonly seek feedback regarding a completed grant application just a few days before a deadline. At that point, it is way too late to send someone back to the starting block to recraft a proposal that is off the mark. Once you write an entire grant application, mental cement can set in. The Yamamoto Plan provides, as he says, “honest feed-forward instead of less-than-honest feedback,” sav- ing time and effort for both applicant and mentors: Most scientists happily will read a one-page Specific Aims description carefully and provide forthright impressions. Job candidates and prospective postdoctoral fellows take note: This plan can be used to hone your CV and research description before you apply for a job. An advi- sory committee also can prepare you for interviews; don’t be shy in asking for help. I recently reviewed what struck me as an unusual grant application from a successful and fairly well-known scientist. What was unusual was the fact that this appli- Keith Yamamoto has played an incredibly important, behind-the-scenes role in steering the evaluation of U.S. cant listed ten other well-known scientists as unpaid “key science toward impact. collaborators.” The applicant could have carried out all the science described in his own lab, but including a list courses and fellowships. Industrial colleagues also may of collaborators left this reviewer with the impression that find value in this very wise plan. At UCSF (and also in this long list of scientists really cared about the outcome my Stanford biochemistry department), grant-writing of the proposal under review and would do all they faculty members select a small number of colleagues to could to support the project and guarantee its success. serve as an advisory committee. Several months before I recently have come to appreciate the importance and a deadline, the grant-writing faculty member drafts a value of scientific collaboration and will write about that single Specific Aims page highlighting the question to in greater detail in a future column.