November 2010 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 NOVEMBER 2010 On the Cover: ASBMB takes a closer society news look at science policy. 12 2 Letter to the Editor 3 President’s Message 5 Washington Update 7 News from the Hill 8 Retrospective: Dale Benos (1950–2010) Jeremy Berg 10 Member Spotlight receives ASBMB public service award. 3 feature stories: SCIENCE POLICY 12 What Is Science Policy? 13 The ASBMB PAAC 14 ASBMB Holds Second Annual Graduate Student/Postdoc Hill Day 16 Meet the ASBMB Hill Day Attendees 18 In Their Words: Important Political Issues 19 The FDA versus Personal Genetics Firms 20 Centerpieces: The Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy at Duke University in every issue 24 Meetings ASBMB members take to the Hill. 14 26 Minority Affairs 28 Education 30 BioBits asbmb today online 32 Career Insights The November issue of ASBMB Today contains several online-only features, including a look at 34 Lipid News what our 2009 Hill Day participants are doing now and a slideshow from the 2010 ASBMB Hill Day. 36 Sci.Comm To read these and other online articles, go to www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday. November 2010 ASBMB Today 1 letters to the editor A monthly publication of The American Society for Dear Editor, necessity for those whom the president Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The September 2010 president’s mes- describes in her message as “individu- Officers sage poses the question and attempts als with burning desire to do research, Suzanne R. Pfeffer President Gregory A. Petsko Past-president to provide practical answers to the per- who are willing to chance the perils of Mark A. Lemmon Secretary academia.” Merle S. Olson Treasurer ceived abundance of people enrolling to obtain Ph.D.s and lack of capacity I agree with the president that we Council Members should not cap numbers of students Karen N. Allen Ruma V. Banerjee in the research sector to provide them Dafna Bar-Sagi Benjamin F. Cravatt with life-long careers. The president who may wish to pursue a postgraduate Michael A. Marletta Thomas E. Smith degree and that Ph.D.s should contrib- Ann M. Stock Jonathan S. Weissman offers various interesting suggestions, ute more to the promotion and public Ex-Officio Members however, before we seriously start con- Kuan-Teh Jeang sidering any of them and altering a tra- understanding of science. I further Daniel M. Raben agree that prospective students should Co-chairs, 2011 Annual Meeting Program Committee dition that goes back centuries, we may Peter J. Kennelly wish to take a step back and identify be informed, in very clear terms, of the Chair, Education and Professional Development Committee the “mission statement” of the degree realities of an academic research career, Joan W. Conaway of lower pay, job insecurity, long hours Chair, Meetings Committee under discussion and contemplate what Terri Kinzy it is for. I will restrict the discussion to in the laboratory and a lifetime of writ- Chair, Membership Committee ing grant applications to obtain funds Craig E. Cameron scientific research, although the argu- Chair, Minority Affairs Committee ments apply equally to the humanities. to do their research. We should also William C. Merrick Chair, Public Affairs Advisory Committee Although an ancient, formal, degree, inform them of the joys and tribula- Toni M. Antalis tions of teaching undergraduates and Chair, Publications Committee “philosophiae doctor” gained a foot- Herbert Tabor hold in the 19th century. The gradual training postgraduate students. This, Editor, JBC to some extent, will guarantee that Ralph A. Bradshaw increase in its bestowment reflects the A. L. Burlingame popularization and institutionaliza- only those with a genuine desire and Co-editors, MCP yearning for what Richard Feynman Edward A. Dennis tion of scientific research. Practition- Joseph L. Witztum ers of research were required to have described as “the pleasure of finding Co-editors, JLR this necessary “training” to achieve things out” will enroll to do a Ph.D. It is ASBMB Today Editorial Advisory Board the pursuit of this pleasure that not only Alex Toker (Chair) Greg P. Bertenshaw the “license” to conduct research. Like Craig E. Cameron A. Stephen Dahms any examination or apprenticeship, advances our knowledge of the universe Irwin Fridovich Richard W. Hanson and ourselves but yields unpredictable Elizabeth A. Komives Bettie Sue Masters the degree serves the dual purpose of Luke A. O’Neill Duanqing Pei regulating numbers and maintaining and unquantifiable benefits to mankind. Carol C. Shoulders Robert D. Wells standards. This followed the trends Ph.D.s can, and do, contribute, ASBMB Today in other ancient “professions” such as immensely, to the various professions Nicole Kresge Editor [email protected] medicine, law or theology. they join after dabbling in research. Nick Zagorski Science Writer Today, a major proportion of What we must refrain from doing [email protected] scientific research is conducted at is attempting to alter the nature of Nancy J. Rodnan Director of Publications [email protected] universities. To be able to participate in philosophiae doctor into a faddish, Barbara Gordon Executive Director this endeavor, it is necessary to obtain “marketable” and “transferrable” skills [email protected] a Ph.D. Original scientific research course. If a Ph.D. student decides to For information on advertising, contact is mainly about questioning, doubt- pursue another career, they should do Capitol Media Solutions at 800-517-0610 or [email protected] ing, experimenting and discovering, this as a matter of personal choice. If using questions and problems that they indeed wish to become lawyers or apparently do not have any immediate teachers after they obtain their Ph.D., “relevance.” In defense of research, G. they should pursue these by engaging in www.asbmb.org H. Hardy, in “A Mathematicians Apol- numerous well-established courses and o g y,” proclaimed that the first reason qualifications traditionally available for for researchers to do what they do is these professions. intellectual curiosity and a desire to Yours sincerely, know the truth. A Ph.D. is, therefore, a Aamir Ahmed 2 ASBMB Today November 2010 president’smessage Honoring Jeremy Berg BY SUZANNE PFEFFER n Sept. 20, the American Society for Biochemistry Oand Molecular Biology presented the 2011 Howard K. Schachman Public Service Award to Jeremy Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Established in 2001, the Schachman Award is the highest honor given by ASBMB to acknowledge exemplary dedication to public service in support of biomedical science. Previous recipients include U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Tom Harkin; former U.S. Reps. John Porter and Robert Michel; the National Institutes of Health’s Ruth Kirschstein; philanthropist John Whitehead and the Research!America organization. The ASBMB Public Affairs Advisory Committee selected Berg because of his tireless advocacy in support of investi gator-initiated research and the fundamental research that is dear to the hearts of every ASBMB member. Howard K. Schachman is a former president of ASBMB (1987) and former president of the Federation ASBMB President Suzanne Pfeffer gives the Howard K. of American Societies for Experimental Biology (1988) Schachman Public Service Award to Jeremy Berg. who chaired ASBMB’s Public Affairs Advisory Com- mittee from 1989 to 2000 (1, 2). As a young faculty the Rational Design of Biologically Active Molecules at member, Schachman spoke out vociferously against Hopkins. Berg continues to direct an active research an anti-Communist loyalty oath imposed in 1949 by lab that focuses on the structural and functional roles the Regents of the University of California (3). A pio- of zinc-finger proteins and zinc-binding domains and neer in the field of analytical ultracentrifugation (2, 4), on the properties of receptors involved in intracellular Schachman devoted an enormous amount of time protein targeting. He certainly is a working scientist and advocating for the importance of federally funded basic a card-carrying biochemist. research. He worked as an adviser to former NIH Direc- Many may recognize his name from the textbook, tor Harold Varmus, as NIH ombudsman in the basic “Biochemistry,” which he co-authored with Tymoczko sciences and sat in on many study-section meetings and Stryer (5). His involvement as lead author of this to obtain insight on how to improve the peer-review textbook evolved from his research experiences in process. In all of his public service activities, Schachman Lubert Stryer’s laboratory as an undergraduate at Stan- helped to formulate positions that he hoped represented ford University. Berg’s deep and broad knowledge of the working scientist’s point of view. biochemistry is, in part, why he frequently is sought after Given this background, Jeremy Berg is an especially by the press to explain the underlying discoveries that appropriate recipient of this award. Prior to his appoint- lead to Nobel prizes and other awards. ment as NIGMS director, Berg was a faculty member As director of NIGMS, Berg oversees a $2 billion and director of both the department of biophysics budget that funds basic research in cell biology, bio- and biophysical chemistry and the Institute for Basic physics, genetics, developmental biology, pharmacol- Biomedical Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Univer- ogy, physiology, biological chemistry, bioinformatics sity School of Medicine in Baltimore.