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Cell Circuitry || Science Teaches English || The Chicken Genome Is Hot || Magnets in Medicine SEPTEMBER 2002 www.hhmi.org/bulletin Leading Doublea Life It’s a stretch, but doctors who work bench to bedside say they wouldn’t do it any other way. FEATURES 14 On Human Terms 24 The Evolutionary War A small—some say too small—group of Efforts to undermine evolution education have physician-scientists believes the best science evolved into a 21st-century marketing cam- requires patient contact. paign that relies on legal acumen, manipulation By Marlene Cimons of scientific literature and grassroots tactics. 20 Engineering the Cell By Trisha Gura Adam Arkin sees the cell as a mechanical system. He hopes to transform molecular 28 Call of the Wild biology into a kind of cellular engineering Could quirky, new animal models help scien- and in the process, learn how to move cells tists learn how to regenerate human limbs or from sickness to health. avert the debilitating effects of a stroke? By M. Mitchell Waldrop By Kathryn Brown 24 In front of a crowd of 1,500, Ohio’s Board of Education heard testimony on whether students should learn about intelligent design in science class. DEPARTMENTS 2 NOTA BENE 33 PERSPECTIVE ulletin Intelligent Design Is a Cop-Out 4 LETTERS September 2002 || Volume 15 Number 3 NEWS AND NOTES HHMI TRUSTEES PRESIDENT’S LETTER 5 JAMES A. BAKER, III, ESQ. 34 Senior Partner, Baker & Botts A Creative Influence In from the Fields ALEXANDER G. BEARN, M.D. Executive Officer, American Philosophical Society 35 Lost on the Tip of the Tongue Adjunct Professor, The Rockefeller University UP FRONT Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Cornell University Medical College 36 Biology by Numbers FRANK WILLIAM GAY 6 Follow the Songbird Former President and Chief Executive Officer, SUMMA Corporation JAMES H. GILLIAM, JR., ESQ. 8 Curriculum Congestion 37 Undergraduate Grants Foster Former Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Teaching, Interdisciplinary Beneficial Corporation HANNA H. GRAY, PH.D., C HAIRMAN 9 Learning from Their Elders Courses President Emeritus and Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service 11 Professor of History, The University of Chicago With a Little Help from 37 Students Love the Details GARNETT L. KEITH Chairman, SeaBridge Investment Advisors, L.L.C. Our Friends Former Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, The Prudential 38 From Soybean Finding, Insurance Company of America 13 Q & A Genome Insider JEREMY R. KNOWLES, D.PHIL. a Career in Science Sprouts Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Harvard University 39 WILLIAM R. LUMMIS, ESQ. HHMI Professors Promise Former Chairman of the Board of Directors to Break the Mold and Chief Executive Officer, The Howard Hughes Corporation ANNE M. TATLOCK Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Fiduciary Trust Company International 40 HHMI LAB BOOK HHMI OFFICERS THOMAS R. CECH, PH.D., President 42 HANDS ON PETER J. BRUNS, PH.D., Vice President for Animal Magnetism Grants and Special Programs DAVID A. CLAYTON, PH.D., Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer 44 INSIDE HHMI STEPHEN M. COHEN, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer International Scholars JOAN S. LEONARD, ESQ., Vice President and General Counsel AVICE A. MEEHAN, Vice President for Communications Down Under and Public Affairs GERALD M. RUBIN, PH.D., Vice President and 45 On Stage and Off, This Director of Planning for Janelia Farm Lawyer Performs NESTOR V. SANTIAGO, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer HHMI BULLETIN STAFF 14 On the Cover: Photographs by Kathleen Dooher. CORI VANCHIERI, Editor JIM KEELEY, Science Editor Jennifer Donovan, Education Editor 34 PATRICIA FOSTER, Manager of Publishing KIMBERLY BLANCHARD, Editorial Coordinator ELIZABETH COWLEY, Copy Editor Maya Pines, Contributing Editor KALYANI NARASIMHAN, fact checking STEVEN MARCUS, PETER TARR, story editing KATHY SAVORY, copy editing David Herbick Design, Publication Design Telephone (301) 215 8855 n Fax (301) 215 8863 n www.hhmi.org The Bulletin is published by the HHMI Office of Communications and Public Affairs. © 2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute PRETE/AP (LEFT), DAVID GRAHAM (TOP RIGHT), TORSTEN KJELLSTRAND (BOTTOM RIGHT) A The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by authors in the HHMI Bulletin do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or JAY L official policies of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. NOTA BENE tinction Award. The awards are given by ■ James P. Allison, hhmi investigator at the ■ hhmi President Emeritus Purnell W. panels of producers and other communica- University of California, Berkeley, won the Choppin received an honorary doctorate of tions professionals. 2002 Public Service Award from the Ameri- humane letters from The Johns Hopkins can Society of Immunologists and the 2001 University at its 2002 commencement. ■ H. Robert Horvitz, an hhmi investigator Centeon Award for Innovative Break- at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolo- throughs in Immunology. ■ The Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s gy,received the 2001 Genetics Society of national academy of science, named Roger J. America Medal. ■ Five hhmi investigators have been named Davis, an hhmi investigator at the Universi- fellows of the American Academy of Arts and ty of Massachusetts Medical School, one of ■ Andrzej Jerzmanowski, an hhmi interna- Sciences: David J. Anderson,California Insti- its 2002 fellows. Peter H. Raven, director of tional research scholar at Warsaw Univer- tute of Technology; Cornelia I. Bargmann, the Missouri Botanical Garden and pro- sity, has been elected to the Polish Academy Ronald D. Vale and Peter Walter,University of gram director of an hhmi precollege sci- of Sciences. California, San Francisco; and A. James Hud- ence education grant there, was elected a ■ speth,The Rockefeller University. foreign member of the society. Saulius Klimas˘auskas and Virginijus Siksnys, hhmi international research scholars in ■ ■ Three hhmi investigators and two of the Stephen J. Elledge, an hhmi investigator Lithuania, received the 2002 National Sci- Institute’s leaders were named as “Biotech at Baylor College of Medicine, won the 2002 ence Prize from the government of the Geniuses to Watch” in the June issue of National Academy of Sciences Award in Republic of Lithuania. Molecular Biology. The award recognizes a Discover magazine: David Baker,University young scientist who has made a recent ■ Louis M. Kunkel, an investigator at of Washington; Elaine Fuchs,who recently hhmi notable discovery in the field. Children’s Hospital, Boston, won the 2002 moved to The Rockefeller University; Stuart LIFE International Research Award for sci- L. Schreiber,Harvard University; Thomas R. ■ David Ginsburg, an hhmi investigator at entists whose research has led to clinical Cech, hhmi president; and Gerald M. Rubin, the University of Michigan Medical School, applications. The award is presented annu- vice president and director of planning for won the 2002 ISFP Prize from the Interna- ally by the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation. Janelia Farm. tional Society for Fibrinolysis and Proteolysis. ■ Two hhmi international research schol- ■ Nine hhmi investigators were elected to ■ Philip Green, an hhmi investigator at the ars, Pedro Labarca of Chile and Raúl A. Padrón the National Academy of Sciences. New University of Washington, was a winner of of Venezuela, have been elected to the members are Philip A. Beachy,The Johns the 2002 Gairdner Foundation International Academia de Ciencias de América Latina, Hopkins University School of Medicine; Award. The award recognizes individuals for the Latin American Academy of Sciences. Patrick O. Brown, Stanford University; their achievement in the field of medical Carlos J. Bustamante,University of Califor- science. He received the award, according to Robert J. Lefkowitz, an hhmi investigator at nia, Berkeley; Constance L. Cepko,Harvard the Foundation, for “his contributions to Duke University Medical Center, received Medical School; Jennifer A. Doudna,who development of the computational tools the 2002 Pasarow Award for Cardiovascular recently moved to the University of Cali- essential for sequencing of the human Research from the Robert J. and Claire fornia, Berkeley; Charles T. Esmon, Okla- genome. Further, he provided compelling Pasarow Foundation. homa Medical Research Foundation; early evidence for a dramatically reduced Richard A. Flavell,Yale University School of number of human genes.” ■ Richard P. Lifton, an hhmi investigator at Medicine; and Thomas Südhof,University of Yale University School of Medicine, won the Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dal- ■ hhmi’s Holiday Lectures on Science,an American Society of Hypertension’s 2002 las. Thomas M. Jessell,Columbia University annual Webcast educational program pre- Richard Bright Award. College of Physicians and Surgeons, is a sented by hhmi investigators for high new foreign associate. school students, won two national awards ■ Richard M. Locksley, an hhmi investiga- for the 2001 lectures by hhmi investigators tor at the University of California, San ■ Three hhmi investigators, Pamela Bjork- David C. Page,Whitehead Institute for Bio- Francisco, is one of five new members man,California Institute of Technology, medical Research at the Massachusetts named to the National Advisory Allergy Judith Kimble,University of Wisconsin– Institute of Technology, and Barbara J. and Infectious Diseases Council, the prin- Madison, and Stanley J. Korsmeyer, Dana- Meyer,University of California,

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