ASCB M A R C H 2 0 1 1 NEWSLETTER VOLUME 34, NUMBER 2 Scientists NIH Budget: A Moving Target Adapting to $1.629 billion: Amount Republicans in the biomedical research. To join, go to www.ascb. Change U.S. House of Representatives want to cut from org/Project50. Page 3 the U.S. National Institutes of n Become a member of the Health (NIH) FY11 budget Coalition for the Life Sciences’ (compared with FY10) Congressional Liaison Committee Finding the $745 million: Amount U.S. (CLC). Receive alerts on President Obama wants to add important science policy issues, Right Academic to the NIH budget for FY12 help build local support for Career (compared with FY10) biological research, and visit your Page 11 No matter how you look at it, Representative in the House and the news could be better for the Senators. To become a member, NIH budget. While the budget’s go to www.coalitionforlifesciences. Genomics future is uncertain, one thing org/be-an-advocate/about-the-clc/ Revolutionizes isn’t—Congress needs to hear join-the-clc. from you. n Stay informed about science policy by Cell Biology What can you do? Become more involved in reading the ASCB Newsletter’s Public Policy science policy advocacy. Briefings. Page 22 n Join Project 50, the ASCB Public Policy n Stay up-to-date on current advocacy alerts by Advocacy Team. Receive special briefings visiting http://capwiz.com/jscpp/home. n Inside and organize your colleagues in support of —Kevin M. Wilson 2011 Congressional Biomedical Don’t Miss President’s Column 3 Public Policy Briefing 7 Research Caucus Topics iBioMagazine

Call for Nominations 9 Each year the Coalition for the Life Sciences (CLS) plans a Issue 3 Dear Labby 10 series of caucuses on Capitol Hill that are designed to foster Join MAC 10 an appreciation for and understanding of biomedical research. For fascinating perspectives WICB Column 11 (ASCB is a founding CLS member.) Thanks to a generous on science and being grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the caucuses a scientist, visit www. Highlights from MBoC 14 provide a forum where congressional Members and staff can ibiomagazine.org for the ASCB Profile 17 interact directly with preeminent researchers responsible for following: International Affairs 20 important scientific research. Most of the researchers are Genomics 22 funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the n Discovering caucuses showcase the impact of those funds. Programmed Cell Death Online Job Board 24 Following are some of the 2011 topics and speakers: n High Tech and Low Member Gifts 24 n March 30—“Are There Pharmaceutical Drugs That Can Tech Research 2011 Half-Century Fund Donors 24 Treat Autistic Patients?” Mark Bear, Massachusetts Institute n Freelance Science Members in the News 24 of Technology Writing and Editing n n Encouraging Scientific CBE-LSE TOC 26 April 13—“Suspended Animation: Control of Respiration during Trauma,” Mark Roth, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Curiosity Letter to the Editor 27 Center n Changing the Way We Calendar 29 n May 4—“Leptin and the Biologic Basis of Obesity,” Jeff Publish Grants & Opportunities 30 Friedman, Rockefeller University n And more…. Caucus Topics, continued on p. 5 The Cell 32 FEI Life Sciences The premier provider of 3D ultrastructural imaging solutions for the life sciences.

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09-305_ASCBNewsletter_Ad_FIN.indd 1 8/11/09 10:45 AM The American Society PRESIDENT’S Column for Cell Biology 8120 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 750 Bethesda, MD 20814-2762, USA Tel: 301-347-9300 Selective Pressures on the Evolving Fax: 301-347-9310 [email protected], www.ascb.org Scientist Joan R. Goldberg Executive Director Earlier this year I had the wonderful They are so tightly bound to the microcosm Officers experience of spending 10 days touring the of their own island that they are dangerously Galapagos Islands on a small ship with a vulnerable to change. Like the once untouched Sandra L. Schmid President dozen distinguished scientists and friends. islands of the Galapagos, our scientific climate Ronald Vale President-Elect I was amazed that although each island was is changing rapidly—presenting both enormous Timothy J. Mitchison Past President Thoru Pederson Treasurer formed the same way—undersea volcanic challenges and exciting opportunities Jean E. Schwarzbauer Secretary activity has been pushing these In thinking about these islands to the surface for over changes, our adaptations to Council five million years—the flora them, and the consequences David Botstein and fauna of this archipelago of these adaptations, there are Raymond J. Deshaies varies immensely from island many possible examples. These Joan R. Goldberg, ex officio to island, making each tiny three come first to mind. Akihiro Kusumi land mass entirely unique. The Inke Näthke Scientists Become James H. Sabry individual islands have emerged David L. Spector at different times, with different Wired Elizabeth Sztul topographies, to different Computers were not a part of JoAnn Trejo wind patterns and ocean my environment as a graduate Fiona M. Watt Susan M. Wick currents, resulting in differing student. In 1984 I wrote my Virginia A. Zakian microclimates and differing thesis with pen and paper Yixian Zheng vegetation, etc. Consequently, Sandra Schmid and then transcribed it on a The ASCB Newsletter the animals on each island dedicated word processor the is published 11 times per year (not only the famous Darwin finches, but also size of a desk. As a student, I would sit for by The American Society mockingbirds, marine iguanas, tortoises, owls, hours at my desk transferring and plotting for Cell Biology. flamingos, penguins, and crabs) have evolved individual data points, which a scintillation Joan R. Goldberg Editor to be ideally suited for their unique situations. counter (we used to work with radioactivity) W. Mark Leader Editor Although many of these animals are thriving on had spit out on a long, narrow slip of paper. Elizabeth M. Rich Production Manager their own islands, they would likely not survive This slow process gave me time to contemplate Kevin Wilson Public Policy Director on each other’s islands. the merits of each data point and the John Fleischman Science Writer Thea Clarke Editorial Manager As our guide informed us of the selective implications of the emerging relationships pressures under which different animal and between them. The quiet time allowed me to Advertising plant species have evolved, I began to consider think about what the next experiment might the environment and selective pressures that an be. Without PubMed, I would frequently The deadline for advertising is the first day of the month preceding the emerging scientist experiences today, compared browse the major journals in my field. cover date. For information contact with those I had experienced three decades ago. Invariably I’d stumble across an unrelated Advertising Manager Ed Newman, An awareness of these changes might help junior article that would capture my interest, exposing [email protected]. scientists to be more proactive in “evolving” me to something new and unexpected. There ASCB Newsletter into the next, hearty generation of scientists. were no Boolean searches or Google, so to ISSN 1060-8982 For senior scientists and mentors, perhaps there find specific information I sought out and Volume 34, Number 2 March 2011 is value in considering these changes so that asked colleagues. I went to their labs, I called we might better help our students adapt and them on the phone, and I made sure to attend © 2011 The American Society for Cell thrive in a constantly evolving environment. seminars regularly to hear about new research Biology. Copyright to the articles is held by the author or, for staff-written articles, Moreover, as senior scientists and leaders, we and to make contacts that might be helpful in by the ASCB. The content of the ASCB have the power to influence the environmental the future. I wasn’t “LinkedIn” to old friends, Newsletter is available to the public under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike forces confronting our young scientists. We can couldn’t follow the latest news events online, Unported Creative Commons License also change those that we perceive as deleterious and didn’t have an iPod. Consequently, I talked (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ to the survival of the species—in this sense, we to my labmates—all the time. On average, this by-nc-sa/3.0). can will the formation of our own archipelago. meant that we discussed what wasn’t working Postmaster: Send change of address to: ASCB Newsletter Yet we must encourage a species of scientist that and what might work. We shared our successes The American Society for Cell Biology 8120 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 750 is more adaptable than our Galapagos friends. as well, but these were rarer events. Bethesda, MD 20814-2762, USA

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 3 Today’s students are experiencing an There’s no doubt that the new selective entirely different environment. There is no pressures to publish in “high impact” journals doubt that the advent of and fill pages of online computers and the Internet supplementary material with has made many aspects of incremental details and/ Are unexpected scientific survival easier and or another paper’s worth of more efficient. But in adapting results and experimental data have affected to this new environment I incongruities— scientists as individuals and wonder if some important as a species. We have become survival skills are atrophying. the real source more subjective in peer review. Are our labs as interactive as of discovery and Ego, competitiveness, and/ they once were? Are postdocs or an unfortunately not- and students discussing innovation— unrealistic view that a paper their results (expected going unnoticed in Cell, Nature, or Science and unexpected, successes (“CNS”) can open career doors by automated and failures), hypotheses, has led us to covet publishing and next experiments? Or data analyses? in these journals. I’ve come are they interfacing with to define CNS as a “Career their computers and hence eNding Strategy” for several becoming more isolated? Are reasons. First, the one or two they inspiring, motivating, and teaching each years (or more) it takes to publish a single CNS other as part of a larger scientific community? paper often comes at the expense of delaying Are they learning from each other’s mistakes careers. Second, it can reduce opportunities for and experiences? Are unexpected results and discovery in two ways: 1) there are usually better incongruities—the real source of discovery and and more important experiments to be doing innovation—going unnoticed by automated than the often incremental ones required to fill data analyses? In adapting to the computer/ ballooning supplementals, and 2) it needlessly Internet age of data analysis and information delays communication of key findings so that acquisition, scientists have become more others can build on them. Third, it deprives How can we instill in efficient in filtering data and focusing on our young trainees of opportunities to practice essential information. But are we missing their writing skills repeatedly and to learn how young scientists the opportunities for serendipitous discovery? How to “finish” their stories. Finally, it’s demotivating merits of ambition might we adapt to better capture these? to be told that your “work is of high quality, but and risk without not of sufficient interest…I call this “rejected The Impact of “Impact” without revision.” There’s no doubt that the instilling in them the Calculated journal impact factors didn’t exist in attributes required for scientists to thrive under idea that to survive 1980 when I was a graduate student, or at least I these new selective pressures are different. Some wasn’t aware of them. We submitted our papers are good: think big, ask important questions, on this archipelago, to the journals most read by our peers based take risks. Some more questionable: political you must “go big on their content, in my case, either Journal of savvy, competitiveness, marketing ability. How can we instill in young scientists the merits of or go home?” Biological Chemistry or Journal of Cell Biology (Molecular Biology of the Cell didn’t exist). ambition and risk without instilling in them These papers generally consisted of five to seven the idea that to survive on this archipelago, you typically single panel figures. There wasn’t room must “go big or go home?” for more because if the figures were too small on the printed page no one could read them: The Vanishing Independent Online supplemental material didn’t exist. I Scientist published seven such papers in my four years as As graduate students in the ’80s, our goal was a graduate student and the frequently repeated to become “independent scientists.” We were experience of writing and publishing gave me assigned largely independent thesis projects (at self-confidence and motivation. It also taught Stanford it was one enzyme: one thesis) and me how to recognize, complete, and package a often published papers alone with our advisors. “story” and to write a scientific paper effectively: In a statistically flawed, small sampling of Cell Practice makes perfect. papers, there were on average 3.2 authors/paper

4 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 in 1975, 5.7 in 1995, and 9.1 in 2010. Clearly, the community of scientists? science has gotten bigger and more complex, As the Galapagos has done for me, I hope you and hence requires teams with too are inspired to consider these diverse expertise. But, have big issues. In particular, as lab heads labs responded by selecting for Successful and mentors, how can we help specialists and team players? scientists must… our trainees to adapt to these How does this change affect environmental changes? Which the training of individuals? acquire strong of the individual characteristics What skills must evolve to leadership and selected for by the current ensure individual recognition environmental pressures are best and survival in this new era of communication suited for advancing knowledge big, team science? Successful skills, the ability to and sustaining the scientific scientists must clearly recognize enterprise? Which might be and seize opportunities to motivate and work harmful? Can we, as cogent lead. They must acquire strong well with others, and scientists—or as societies— leadership and communication the ability to think modify or mitigate the less skills, the ability to motivate constructive selective pressures? and work well with others, and strategically and And as trainees, how can we the ability to think strategically coordinate teams. adapt and evolve in the current and coordinate teams. Are we environment? Perhaps our explicitly teaching these skills to collective ponderings and future our best scientists? What about actions will enable us to shape the other seven (on average) authors? Can they our own archipelago. n all be leaders? What are the career paths for the specialist, the team player? How are these critical Comments are welcome and should be sent to “followership” skills recognized and retained in [email protected].

Caucus Topics, continued from p. 1 n June 1—“A Genetic Blueprint for the Development of Your Heart,” Eric Olson, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas n June 22—“New Therapies for Melanoma,” Keith Flaherty, Massachusetts General Hospital n July 6—“Making a Face: The Role of Neural Crest Cells,” Johanna Wysocka, Stanford University School of Medicine n September 21—“Regenerative Medicine and Its Role in Improving Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Military Service Members,” Regina Armstrong, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences n September 7—“Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: How Research Is Keeping Babies Safe,” Hannah C. Kinney, Harvard Medical School

Anyone who is interested in attending should contact CLS National Director Lynn Marquis at [email protected]. n

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Living up to Life PUBLIC POLICY Briefing ASCB Welcomes New Members of Congress to Washington

It was the neighborly thing to do. After newly For many new members of Congress, the first elected and reelected members of the U.S. few months of their term are intense periods of House of Representatives and Senate were learning about issues not discussed during their sworn into office, the ASCB sent letters of campaigns. New members of Congress and their congratulations. staff often have basic misconceptions about NIH- Along with congratulating the members and National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded on their recent electoral victories, my letter research. Many don’t know that large portions as ASCB Public Policy Director offered of the annual budgets for the NIH and NSF are the services of the ASCB and its members spent in states and congressional districts all over when the Representatives and Senators need the U.S. Even more members of Congress don’t information about biological research. understand the connection between federally I also included general information about funded research and the companies that supply the impact U.S. National Institutes of Health equipment and reagents to research labs. (NIH) funding has on the home state of each For information about the economic impact Senator or Representative. And I noted the NIH funding has on your state, go to http:// number and amount of NIH grants each state tiny.cc/economicimpact. n received in FY10. —Kevin M. Wilson

Not So Fast, Dr. Collins!

Never ask the U.S. Congress for its opinion— By law, the NIH must notify Congress of Representatives might tell you what they think. its plan to create a new center and abolish A plan by the U.S. National Institutes of Health another one. Congress then has 180 days (NIH) to establish the National Center for to react. In response to the plan, the House Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Appropriations Committee has raised various and abolish the National Center for Research questions. John Bartrum, a senior staffer for Resources (NCRR) has drawn the attention of the House Appropriations Subcommittee Congress. on Labor, Health & Human Services, and The proposed center would house a number Education, the subcommittee responsible for of existing NIH programs, including the funding the NIH, has asked some of them. Molecular Libraries program, the Therapeutics In fact, he posed 25 questions to the NIH for Rare and Neglected Diseases program, the regarding the mission of the new center newly created Cures Acceleration Network, and the decision to eliminate the NCRR. and the Clinical and Translational Science Before moving to Capitol Hill, Bartrum Award program. The plan was developed by the served as budget director for the NIH. In an Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB), email requesting the additional information, an advisory panel of NIH Institute directors and Bartrum said he was “disheartened” that non-NIH scientists charged with finding ways the NIH had created a website to solicit to streamline NIH operations. comments from the NIH community before Because the number of NIH Institutes it consulted with Congress. and Centers is limited to the current 27, the It appears that the House Appropriations elimination of an existing center would be required Committee may consider the creation of to create NCATS. Since some NCRR programs NCATS and the elimination of NCRR would be moved to NCATS, the SMRB has separately instead of jointly as intended by the proposed that NCRR be eliminated so the NIH NIH. n can remain under the 27 Institute cap. —Kevin M. Wilson

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 7 I Say “Investment,” You Say “More Spending” U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2011 State “Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat of the Union speech was many things except us into space with the launch of a satellite raucous. In the days after the shooting in called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would Tucson, AZ, which killed six and injured 13, beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a wave of even there yet. NASA didn’t exist. But after comity swept through the halls of Congress. investing in better research and education, we Instead of Democrats and Republicans sitting didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a according to party during the President’s speech, wave of innovation that created new industries many members of the House and Senate crossed and millions of new jobs.” party lines to sit with colleagues. Reaction to the State of the Union speech fell This modern version of the “Era of Good into the usual party-line opinions. Democrats Feelings” did away with the pep rally nature hailed the need for investment to create jobs of recent presidential speeches. But it did not and improve the economy. However, when the stop criticism of the policy components of the President says “invest,” Republicans, especially speech. those in the House of Representatives, hear A major focus of the President’s speech “spend more.” was the need for the U.S. to make strategic This difference of opinion will play out in the investments to grow the U.S. economy. To coming months as Congress tries to complete make his point, Obama reminded Congress the unfinished FY11 budget and construct the about the U.S. reaction to the Soviet launching FY12 budget. n of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. Obama said, —Kevin M. Wilson ASCB 1/2pg BW BRANDplates

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8 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 The American Society for Cell Biology 2011 Call for Nominations

Bruce Alberts Award for Excellence in Science Education Public Service Award Who is Eligible: An individual who has demonstrated innovative and sustained Who is Eligible: An individual who has demonstrated outstanding national leadership in contributions to science education, with particular emphasis on the broad local, regional, support of biomedical research. Nominators must be ASCB members. The award winner and/or national impact of the nominee’s activities. Nominators must be ASCB members, may, but need not, be a scientist. but the candidate and support letter authors need not be. How to Apply: Provide a letter of nomination with a description of the nominee’s How to Apply: Provide a letter of nomination, a maximum of three letters of support, advocacy for, and promotion of, scientific research. and CV. Awards: The winner gives the Public Service Award Lecture at the ASCB Annual Meeting Awards: The winner is presented a plaque and will give remarks at the Annual Meeting. and receives a certificate. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are paid. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are paid. Deadline: March 31 (electronic submission preferred) Deadline: March 31 (electronic submission preferred)

Early Career Life Scientist Award E.B. Wilson Medal Who is Eligible: An outstanding scientist who has served as an independent investigator Who is Eligible: An individual who has demonstrated significant and far-reaching for no more than seven years as of March 31. contributions to cell biology over a lifetime in science. Nominators must be ASCB members, but the candidate need not be. How to Apply: Provide a nominating package that includes CV, brief research statement, nominating letter, and no more than three letters of support (at least one of which must How to Apply: Provide the candidate’s CV and no fewer than three, and no more than come from outside the nominee’s institution). Nominators must be ASCB members. five, letters of support.

Awards: The winner is presented a plaque and an honorarium and will speak in a Awards: The winner of the ASCB’s highest honor for science gives the E.B. Wilson Minisymposium at the Annual Meeting. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are Lecture at the Annual Meeting and receives the E.B. Wilson Medal. Many expenses to paid. attend the Annual Meeting are paid.

Deadline: March 31 (electronic submission preferred) Deadline: March 31 (electronic submission preferred)

Merton Bernfield Memorial Award E.E. Just Lectureship Who is Eligible: An outstanding graduate student or postdoctoral fellow (at the time of Who is Eligible: A minority scientist who has demonstrated outstanding scientific nomination) who has excelled in research achievement. Nominators must be ASCB members, but the candidate need not be. How to Apply: The student or postdoc or his or her advisor should submit a one-page How to Apply: Provide a nomination package that includes a CV and a letter describing research statement, a CV, a list of publications, a copy of the abstract submitted to the the nominee’s scientific achievement and mentoring support of underrepresented minority current year’s Annual Meeting, and the advisor’s letter of recommendation. Postdocs may students and scientists. also submit the recommendation of their graduate student advisor. Duplicate applications from graduate students may be submitted for the Gilula and Bernfield Memorial Awards. Awards: The winner gives the E.E. Just Lecture at the Annual Meeting and receives a Nominators must be ASCB members. plaque and a medal. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are paid. Awards: The winner is presented a plaque an honorarium and will speak at a Minisymposium Deadline: March 31 (electronic submission preferred) at the Annual Meeting. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are paid.

Deadline: July 15 (electronic submission preferred)

WICB Career Recognition Awards Norton B. Gilula Memorial Award Who is Eligible: For the Junior Award, a woman in an early stage of her career (generally less Who is Eligible: An outstanding graduate or undergraduate student (at the time of than five years in an independent position at the time of nomination) who is making exceptional scientific contributions to cell biology and exhibits the potential for continuing a high level of nomination) who has excelled in research or first-year postdocs whose work was performed scientific endeavor and leadership; for the Senior Award, a woman or man in a later career stage while a PhD or MD/PhD (generally full professor or equivalent) whose outstanding scientific achievements are coupled with a long-standing record of support for women in science and by mentorship of both men and How to Apply: The student or advisor should submit a one-page research statement, women in scientific careers. a CV, a list of publications, if any, the abstract submitted to the current year’s Annual How to Apply: For the Junior Award, provide a letter of nomination, CV, and no more than Meeting, and the advisor’s letter of recommendation. Duplicate applications from graduate three letters of support, at least one of which must come from outside the nominee’s institution. students may be submitted for the Gilula and Bernfield Memorial Awards. Nominators For the Senior Award, provide a letter of nomination, CV, and no more than five letters of support, at least one of which must come from outside the nominee’s institution, to include must be ASCB members. two letters from those who have been mentored by the candidate, mentioning specifics of the nominee’s mentoring history. Nominators must be ASCB members. Awards: The winner is presented a plaque and a ribbon for his/her poster board. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are paid. Funded by an annual grant from Awards: The winners are presented an honorarium and plaque at the Annual Meeting. Many expenses to attend the Annual Meeting are paid. Rockefeller University Press. Deadline: March 31 (Send electronic submissions only to Cheryl Lehr at [email protected].) Deadline: July 15 (electronic submission preferred)

All electronic applications and nominations should be submitted to [email protected]. Or mail to: The American Society for Cell Biology 8120 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 750 Bethesda, MD 20814-2762, USA [email protected] For names of prior awardees or more information, visit www.ascb.org and click on “Awards/Grants,” or contact the ASCB at 301-347-9300 or [email protected].

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 9 DEAR Labby

Getting a Pre-Tenure Talk

Dear Labby, Next January (2012) is the beginning of my tenure review year, meaning that letters and other materials for my dossier will begin to be collected at that time. My institution employs a mini-tenure review conducted at the midpoint of the 5th year. Mine was very favorable except in the area of giving talks at major meetings, which I have not yet done. My chair strongly encouraged me to try to present at least one by the time my tenure review package is assembled. Since I am a cell biologist, I am, of course, thinking of the 2011 ASCB Annual Meeting. Is it prudent to contact the appropriate Minisymposium organizers and alert them to the tenure review–enhancing potential of me getting a talk? Or would this maybe turn them off? —Anxious

Dear Anxious, Once the co-chairs are announced for the most appropriate Minisymposium you can make direct contact and let them know about your forthcoming submitted abstract, mentioning your upcoming tenure review. There is certainly nothing untoward in doing this, but the degree to which it will be a factor obviously depends on the number and perceived quality of all the abstracts under consideration. If you are fortunate in having your abstract strike the co-chairs’ fancy scientifically, the tenure issue may not even come into play. There is a second possibility that might not only get you a talk but could impress your Chair and tenure review committee even more. This would be to submit a proposal for a Special Interest Subgroup session at the ASCB Annual Meeting. These are held concurrently on Saturday afternoon before the Keynote, and are extremely popular. You may have attended one or more of these at previous meetings, and you could look at the programs from recent years to see typical formats. Were your proposal to be accepted, it would display to your department and tenure committee your initiative and organizational skill. In addition, it would certainly meet the criterion of giving a talk at a national/international meeting. You should also still submit an P-1000 abstract for possible Minisymposium or poster selection. Preserving all possible venues for presentation is just a smart proactive Next measure. Labby wishes you luck! n Generation —Labby Direct your questions to [email protected]. Authors of questions Micropipette chosen for publication may indicate whether or not they wish to be Puller identified. Submissions may be edited for space and style. ASCB Minorities Affairs The next generation in micropipette pulling is here NOW! Committee (MAC) Looking for

FEATURES New Members s¬Color touch-screen interface The ASCB MAC is looking for hardworking, dedicated s¬Safe heat mode to protect and extend fi lament life ASCB members to join its very busy Committee. If you have s¬Pipette Cookbook program directory experience working with training grants, please consider NEW s¬Line repeat mode simplifi es programming joining the MAC. s¬Glossary with micropipette and puller terminology s¬Copy & Paste function for writing new programs The MAC has a Minority Access to Research Careers s¬Two symmetrical pipettes with each pull (MARC) grant from the National Institute of General s¬Memory storage for up to 100 programs Medical Sciences that funds a variety of ASCB MAC programs. If you are interested, please forward your CV and a statement that describes your mentoring support of PHONE: 415.883.0128 | FAX: 415.883.0572 underrepresented minority students and scientists to MAC@ EMAIL: [email protected] | WWW.SUTTER.COM ascb.org. Please respond by April 1, 2011. n

10 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 WOMEN in Cell Biology One Title, Many Jobs: How to Prepare for the Academic Career That Best Suits Your Interests

Many aspiring cell biologists enter graduate teaching and service responsibilities, the school with the intention of becoming a primary goal of a faculty member is to run a lab “college professor.” But the that will consistently produce responsibilities of a professor publications in peer-reviewed vary significantly from scientific journals. Such a lab institution to institution. How will typically be populated with can you best prepare for a job postdocs and graduate and when the requirements vary so undergraduate students. much? Thus the key to success It is largely the balance in securing a faculty position between research and teaching, at a doctoral institution is as well as requirements for to demonstrate potential for service to the school and research success by publishing community, that defines the peer-reviewed papers and differences among academic securing external funding. These positions at different benchmarks establish a record institutions. So your first task of research productivity and in preparing for an academic Michael J. Wolyniak therefore make you attractive to career is to discern what balance a potential employer that expects of teaching, research, and service will bring faculty members to establish successful research personal fulfillment and happiness in your labs. Note, though, that teaching experience is professional life. How important is it to you also of value at doctoral institutions and cannot to manage a large research lab with graduate be neglected. students and postdocs? Work on the cutting At an institution in which the master’s degree edge of research? Publish your work? Practice is the highest degree offered, a significantly grantsmanship? Develop engaging and active greater emphasis is placed on teaching than at [Y]our first task in coursework? Train undergraduate or graduate doctoral institutions. Nevertheless, successful preparing for an students? Do you want to work in a large-scale research remains paramount for career success. or small-scale environment? The answers to In both types of institution, the search for academic career questions like these will help you to shape your external funding in the form of grants is critical is to discern job search. for the maintenance of a successful lab. Once you have decided what sort of balance If you will be seeking a position at a master’s- what balance of you are seeking between teaching and research, granting institution, it becomes more important teaching, research, it is important to consider the types of academic to secure teaching experience, preferably beyond and service will institutions and what is expected of a faculty the minimum teaching assistant duties of a PhD member at each type. Here I describe the main program. This will be discussed in greater detail bring personal types of institutions in the U.S. and suggest in the next section. fulfillment and strategies for searching for a job in each type. Liberal Arts College happiness in your Research University A typical liberal arts college will have a small professional life. The research university category is itself broad enrollment (as few as several hundred students) and includes institutions that grant doctoral of exclusively undergraduates. Here, the most degrees and those that grant only master’s important part of a faculty member’s job is to degrees. At doctoral institutions, the balance be an effective teacher in the classroom and the of job responsibilities will tilt heavily toward lab. A typical semester will involve teaching two research. Although he or she will have some to four classes and lab sections and advising

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 11 several undergraduates on independent research interested in cutting-edge HIV research, but projects. Although research remains a critical can this work be performed successfully under part of the job, it is largely conducted with the these conditions? When planning a research goal of educating undergraduates in research program, consider model systems and research techniques and preparing them projects that are relatively for successful scientific careers. inexpensive, portable, and (However, it is important to [T]he key to success amenable to undergraduate note that a subset of liberal participation. arts colleges expect higher in securing a levels of research productivity faculty position at a Community College and publications.) Research The community college will at a liberal arts college, by doctoral institution have a wide cross-section of necessity, will be on a small is to demonstrate undergraduate students in scale and performed with potential for terms of age, background, limited resources. In most and long-term personal and cases, it is expected that faculty research success career goals. A great emphasis will seek external funding by publishing peer- on teaching is found here, opportunities, although not to and in many cases there are the levels expected at research reviewed papers no research expectations. Like institutions. and securing those at a liberal arts college, The most critical part of the community college faculty an application for a liberal external funding. member can expect to teach arts college faculty position multiple classes and laboratories is the demonstration of a per semester. commitment and capacity for college teaching. The suggestions described above for The best way to prepare for this is to obtain liberal arts colleges with respect to obtaining teaching experience in which you are the independent teaching experience apply to primary instructor (i.e., not a teaching assistant), community colleges as well. Prior experience, since this gives you experience in the full such as one or more years in an adjunct teaching gamut of teaching responsibilities, including position, is often expected and may be implicitly class preparation, classroom management, and required to secure this type of position. assessment. Temporary or adjunct vacancies at It is important to note that these are not The most critical local colleges can give graduate students and hard-and-fast rules for a successful job search. postdocs the opportunity to obtain just this sort Each faculty position will have its own unique part of an of experience while still working in a research requirements specific to the nature of the application for a lab. Graduate students may also consider particular institution. Nevertheless, preparation visiting professorships or teaching postdoctoral for a successful academic career requires a liberal arts college fellowships as avenues toward demonstrating significant level of personal discernment to faculty position is competence in both teaching and research. The establish the balance of teaching and research latter is a relatively new type of position found the demonstration that is most likely to bring you personal at both research universities and liberal arts satisfaction. This cannot be emphasized of a commitment colleges. It provides training in both teaching enough—it doesn’t matter if you get the most and capacity for and research in preparation for a liberal arts prestigious and powerful job in the world if that academic career. job does not make you happy. Asking yourself college teaching. With respect to research, remember that what is important to your professional happiness most liberal arts college research programs will allow you to follow the necessary career work with limited budgets and resources preparations to make your academic dreams a and that almost all have only undergraduates reality. n available for research work. You may be very —Michael J. Wolyniak, Hampden-Sydney College

12 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 research + Va l i d at i o n = publication

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The Editorial Board of Molecular Biology of the Cell has highlighted the following articles from the February 1 and 15, 2011, issues. From among the many fine articles in the journal, the Board selects for these Highlights articles that are of broad interest and significantly advance knowledge or provide new concepts or approaches that extend our understanding.

An MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell devoid of paxillin expression invades a 3D collagen- and fibronectin- rich extracellular matrix. Such cells display a highly elongated hypermesenchymal morphology. (Image: Nicholas O. Deakin, SUNY Upstate Medical University)

The AAA-ATPase p97 is essential for outer mitochondrial membrane protein turnover S. Xu, G. Peng, Y. Wang, S. Fang, and M. Karbowski Recent studies have revealed a role for the Ub/proteasome system in the regulation and turnover of outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM)-associated proteins. The data presented show that an AAA-ATPase, p97, is required for the proteasomal degradation of Mcl1 and Mfn1, two unrelated OMM proteins, and establishes p97 as a novel and essential part of the OMM–protein degradation pathway. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (3), 291–300 Distinct roles for paxillin and Hic-5 in regulating breast cancer cell morphology, invasion, and metastasis N. O. Deakin and C. E. Turner This study reveals novel roles for the focal adhesion proteins paxillin and Hic-5 in regulating breast cancer invasion strategies and metastasis. Depletion of paxillin promotes a hypermesenchymal phenotype while dysregulating 3D adhesion dynamics. In contrast, RNAi of Hic-5 induces a hyperamoeboid phenotype with dysregulated RhoA/pMLC signaling. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (3), 327–341 Three sorting nexins drive the degradation of apoptotic cells in response to PtdIns(3)P signaling N. Lu, Q. Shen, T. R. Mahoney, X. Liu, and Z. Zhou LST-4/SNX9, SNX-1, and SNX-6 together drive the degradation of apoptotic cells, as PtdIns(3)P effectors, during Caenorhabditis elegans development. By inducing regional membrane curvature and maintaining RAB-7 GTPase on phagosomes, these three sorting nexins stimulate the fusion of endocytic organelles with phagosomes. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (3), 354–374

14 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 Histone and TK0471/TrmBL2 form a novel heterogeneous genome architecture in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis H. Maruyama, M. Shin, T. Oda, R. Matsumi, R. L. Ohniwa, T. Itoh, K. Shirahige, T. Imanaka, H. Atomi, S. H. Yoshimura, and K. Takeyasu This study demonstrates that the chromosome of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis is organized into a heterogeneous structure created with histone and a novel protein TK0471/ TrmBL2. TK0471/TrmBL2 plays dual roles as a chromosomal protein and as a global transcriptional repressor, and it is conserved in some archaeal and bacterial species. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (3), 386–398 A novel acetylation of β-tubulin by San modulates microtubule polymerization via down-regulating tubulin incorporation C.-W. Chu, F. Hou, J. Zhang, L. Phu, A. V. Loktev, D. S. Kirkpatrick, P. K. Jackson, Y. Zhao, and H. Zou We report that San, an acetyltransferase required for sister chromatid cohesion, also acetylates β-tubulin at lysine 252. The acetylation happens only on free tubulin heterodimers, and it delays the incorporation of modified tubulins into microtubules in vivo. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (4), 448–456 The Dam1 ring binds to the E-hook of tubulin and diffuses along the microtubule V. H. Ramey, H.-W. Wang, Y. Nakajima, A. Wong, J. Liu, D. Drubin, G. Barnes, and E. Nogales Several models of Dam1 complex function at the kinetochore have been proposed. Here we show that removal of the E-hooks of tubulin reduces Dam1 binding 40-fold. We also report the first structure of the Dam1 ring around microtubules and evidence that this ring freely diffuses on microtubules based on imaging individual rings. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (4), 457–466 Recruitment of dynein to late endosomes and lysosomes through light intermediate chains S. C. Tan, J. Scherer, and R. B. Vallee How cytoplasmic dynein is recruited to diverse organelles remains incompletely understood. Using subcellular localization of light intermediate chain (LIC) isoforms, along with RNAi, RILP, and dynactin dominant negatives, the LIC subunits are found to recruit dynein specifically to components of the late endocytic pathway through a dynactin-independent mechanism. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (4), 467–477 In vivo kinetics of U4/U6·U5 tri- snRNP formation in Cajal bodies I. Novotný, M. Blažíková, D. Stanek, P. Herman, and J. Malinsky A combination of mathematical modeling and live-cell measurements was applied to determine the dynamics of small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) formation in Cajal bodies of living cells. Our results indicate that a substantial fraction of tri-snRNPs is formed in Cajal bodies in cells with many Cajal bodies per nucleus. Mol. Biol. Cell 22 (4), 513–523 n

In HeLa cells recovering from cold treatment, wild-type β-tubulin is incorporated into microtubules (upper panels), whereas the K252Q mutant β-tubulin, which mimics San-acetylated tubulin, remains in the cytosol (lower panels). (Image: Chih-Wen Chu, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 15 www.cellimagelibrary.org Got Images?

The Cell: An Image Library™, a new research-, reference-, and education-focused cell image and video repository, wants your images. Why? The Library aims to further discovery and education by cell and molecular biologists, biochemists, developmental biologists, geneticists, pathologists, cancer biologists, computational biologists, and others.

Funded by NIGMS Grand Opportunities grant RC2GM092708 to the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) What Is The Cell? • A growing, repository of microscopy data that includes vetted and annotated images and video of all cell types, including intracellular structures and functions • A collection of image data from diverse organisms, microscopy modalities, and normal and disease states • A searchable, analyzable repository • An open access site to archive your data How to Serve the Scientific Community and Public? • Submit your videos, images, and animations. • Encourage and develop new analytic tools. • Ask others to share their videos, images, etc. What Are The Cell’s Long-Range Goals? • Promote scientific discovery • Advance training and education • Further understanding • Contribute to improved human health

The ASCB welcomes feedback and encourages you to visit www.cellimagelibrary.org for more information. Or email David Orloff ([email protected]), Manager, Image Library. Contributing images is easy and acknowledged.

The American Society for Cell Biology is the community for biologists interested in the cell and related discovery, education, policy, and professional development. Join us. Visit www.ascb.org.

Please post this page at your institution. ASCB Profile Akihiro Kusumi

Cells make a living on the difference between wide before “hopping” to a new compartment. inside and outside, with a bilayer lipid No one had seen this before Kusumi, says membrane standing between. In recent years, W. Karol Subcyznski, a longtime friend and that membrane has been depicted as a fluid collaborator (on other work) who is now at the mosaic with the double layers of lipid molecules Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). “His aligned heads-out and tails-in, behaving for all work was the first to explain this problem.” In purposes like a two-dimensional liquid. Floating living cells, diffusing molecules appeared to lipids and membrane proteins should spread out be moving much more slowly than in artificial rapidly across a liquid-like membrane like ink systems, but that appearance was deceptive. drops in water, driven only by thermal inputs. Speed is time over distance, and until Kusumi In artificial bilayer membranes, they do. In filmed their movement in microseconds, the living cells, they diffuse about 20 times more molecules didn’t seem to be covering much slowly on average, and sometimes they become ground. Yet Kusumi’s camera showed them completely immobilized. tracking round and round Akihiro Kusumi To get at the critical inside fenced compartments. difference between artificial To get at the critical Subczynski explains, “They membranes and those of difference between diffuse very fast in small areas cells, Akihiro “Aki” Kusumi but only when they hop to has been studying membrane artificial membranes another compartment can diffusion in living cells, one and those of cells… we see much movement, so kinetic molecule at a time. they appear to be moving very Kusumi is a high-profile Kusumi has been slowly.” scientist in his native Japan, studying membrane professor of biophysics at diffusion in living Hop Diffusion Kyoto University, and a prime Further experiments with mover behind the new Institute cells, one kinetic optical traps, electron for Integrated Cell-Material molecule at a time. microscopy–computed Sciences (iCeMS). iCeMS, he tomography, and reagents hopes, will marry materials that modify the cytoskeleton science and cell biology on are helping Kusumi and his the “mesoscale,” that is, between the nano- and collaborators fill out the hop diffusion model. micron-scale worlds. Kusumi is equally at home Kusumi now believes that membrane diffusion in international science, where among other is directly influenced by the three-dimensional things he was just elected to a three-year term cytoskeleton beneath the plasma membrane, on the ASCB Council. because the cytoskeleton and plasma membrane Kusumi now believes Yet Kusumi is best known for his are closely and dynamically associated. These extraordinary experiments to capture single compartments confine moving phospholipids that membrane molecule movement. A biophysicist by and membrane proteins, at least for a significant diffusion in living background and a cell biologist by choice, number of milliseconds, until they suddenly Kusumi has assembled a large, multidisciplinary hop away into the next compartment. A fraction cells is directly research team and adapted a high-speed digital of transmembrane proteins are bound to the influenced by the camera originally designed to film explosions actin meshwork and thus catch against the at the equivalent of 40,000 frames per second. actin network shapes and act like picket fence three-dimensional He tethered single membrane protein and stakes on the cell surface. “Remember that the cytoskeleton phospholipid molecules to colloidal gold tags membrane is a fluid,” says Kusumi, “and ruled beneath the plasma and filmed them skittering across the surface by the laws of fluid dynamics.” Hydrodynamic of living cells in culture. Instead of diffusing friction acts on the immobile pickets to form a membrane. randomly across a featureless liquid membrane, diffusion barrier nearby. Kusumi’s tagged single molecules bounced Hop diffusion has been controversial in around inside tiny compartments 30–200 nm cell biology circles since Kusumi first reported

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 17 his single molecule results for transmembrane so determined to fight off any theoretical proteins in 1993 and then for phospholipids threat that they don’t want to consider the in 2002. Some of the opposition stems from cytoskeleton’s possible role in surface dynamics, what Kusumi says is the misconception that hop Mellman says. “A transmembrane segment that’s diffusion contradicts or undercuts the leading buried within the lipid bilayer has an inside model of plasma membrane organization, the which faces the cytoplasmic domain, where it is so-called “lipid raft” model first proposed by constantly bumping into lots of stuff that could, Kai Simons, now at the Max Planck Institute in in principle, impede its movement.” Actin cable Dresden, and Gerrit van Meer of the University networks create cell shape and could well leave of Utrecht. “Some people think that rafts and traces on the membrane, says Mellman. compartments are conflicting ideas but I really don’t think so, and I am sure that neither of the No Single Crisp Experiment fathers of the raft does,” says Kusumi. “I believe But neither “side” has proved its case so far, says in rafts.” Mellman, because it’s extremely hard to devise Kusumi’s work extends to receptor action experiments or visualization methods that do and cellular signaling. When not perturb the membrane glycosylphosphatidylinositol system in unknown ways. (GPI)-anchored receptors are “There’s never going to be stimulated, they form stabilized “Wherever the truth a single crisp experiment,” rafts, and interactions of raft- may ultimately Mellman predicts. “It’s going based lipids play key roles to be an accumulation of in this transgenesis, Kusumi lie,” Mellman correlations. That’s what makes reports. “We found that says, “Aki has this field so difficult.” ligation of GPI-anchored “Wherever the truth may receptors induces their been enormously ultimately lie,” Mellman says, clustering, which leads to the influential, and “Aki has been enormously formation of stabilized rafts. influential, and creatively so, creatively so, in With so many nanoscale in his impact on how we think transient rafts floating around, his impact on about membrane microdomain the plasma membrane is always how we think organization and how we study ready to switch to larger events, it. He’s really had an impact far which I think is at the heart of about membrane outside his field.” “You have the raft thesis. Furthermore, microdomain only to look at my own lab we were able to use the new group,” Mellman continues. simultaneous two-color single- organization and “We’re not professional molecule tracking method how we study it.” biophysicists and yet we’re that we developed to see the very much influenced in our recruitment of intercellular thinking by the type of stuff signaling molecules, one by that Aki has come up with over one, to these stabilized rafts.” Surprisingly, the years.” It’s also one reason that Mellman says intracellular signaling molecules stay in the he persuaded Kusumi to run for ASCB Council. raft of GPI-anchored receptor clusters for The Society needs more biophysicists. only a fraction of a second, which was totally Kusumi likes to joke that a U.S. colleague unanticipated, he reports. “This might change once told him that he had the résumé of an our thinking about how the cellular signaling American. Kusumi has studied, worked as a system works.” postdoc, or held faculty appointments in Kyoto, More recent results indicate that the Milwaukee, Princeton, Milwaukee again, Kyoto plasma membrane is hierarchically organized, again, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kyoto for the third Kusumi says. “The entire plasma membrane time. Returning to Kyoto in 2005 brought is partitioned by picket fences and the raft Kusumi full circle to the city where he was born, domains are dotted within compartments, where he grew up the son of junior high school which are still undergoing hop diffusion across teachers of science and Japanese literature, picket fences.” and where he started at Kyoto University in There is nothing in Kusumi’s hop diffusion “mainstream” physics. In his junior year, an model that proves or disproves the existence of applied mathematics lecture was cancelled and lipid raft domains, according to Genentech’s Ira before Kusumi could slip out to a café, a friend Mellman. Unfortunately, there are “raft loyalists” dragged him off to a lecture on developmental

18 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 biology. The lecturer was the legendary to split the housework 50–50. Commuting to embryologist Tokindo Okada. Kusumi was and from Wisconsin, he discovered that Taeko enthralled and soon after switched to biophysics. meant a 50–50 split overall and not just when As was the custom, Kusumi stayed at Kyoto he happened to be home. “So when I’m home, for his DSc. He was taken into the laboratory of I do a lot of cooking,” he says. “But it is not a Shuni-chi Ohnishi, another renowned figure in hobby.” Japanese science and a pioneer in spin-labeling Back in Milwaukee, Subczynski looks with proteins and membranes for analysis by electron pride on nearly 30 years of collaborating with paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Ohnishi was Kusumi. “The best of my papers are co-authored also unusual among his generation of post-war with him,” Subczynski declares. Their friendship Japanese scientists for having gone abroad for dates to Subczynski’s arrival from Poland for postdoctoral training, working at Stanford with a postdoc only a few months after Kusumi’s Harden McConnell. arrival from Japan. They shared a background in biophysics and the challenge of learning day-to- Needed Cell Biology day English. Subczynski says that Kusumi had With Ohnishi’s encouragement and U.S. an immediate effect on his scientific thinking. connections, Kusumi left Japan in 1979 for a “His background is like mine—physics—but postdoc with Jim Hyde at MCW in Milwaukee. Aki always said that being a physicist was good Hyde was a leader in adapting EPR and but we had to be biologists too. It was Aki who nuclear magnetic resonance for biological and was always trying to understand the biological medical uses. In the Hyde lab, Kusumi used significance of our results.” EPR to study rhodopsin diffusion in artificial membranes but began to chafe at the limits Old Guys and Uncles of these benchtop model systems. To pursue Their scientific work has moved in different a dream of working in living cells, Kusumi directions in recent years, although Subczynski decided he needed cell biology. He revamped adds, “Even a small discussion with Aki can his job talk and somehow convinced cell and be very valuable to my work.” It’s their long developmental biologist Malcolm Steinberg that friendship that he values most these days. “I am a biophysicist would be a useful postdoc in his ‘Uncle’ to his kids and he is ‘Uncle’ to my kids differential cell adhesion lab at Princeton. and now my grandkids.” His friend is not much In 1984, Kusumi went back to Milwaukee, for drinking but “Aki is a very good eater,” says lured by a U.S. National Institutes of Health– Subczynski. “We’re getting to be the old guys funded instrumentation grant to set up the now so maybe we’ll have more time to visit.” Microphotonic Center, a fluorescence lifetime Certainly ASCB business will be bringing imaging facility at MCW. But his mentor in Kusumi to this country more often. At the Kyoto hadn’t forgotten Kusumi. Ohnishi offered 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting, Kusumi him an unusual part-time faculty position was glad to see a renewed appreciation of the at Kyoto University that allowed Kusumi to ASCB’s early history. “This Society when it was commute between Milwaukee and Kyoto. set up was a forum for collaborations between Over the next 10 years, Kusumi’s schedule physicists, chemists, and biologists,” Kusumi gradually shifted from mostly American to explains. “I don’t see any other society that tries mostly Japanese, as his lab moved from Kyoto to really enhance these collaborations, and this to Tokyo University to Nagoya University. In is a concept which I have been cherishing for a 2005, Kyoto invited Kusumi and his Membrane long time. Also cell biology is becoming more Organizer Project to join its expanding Institute and more interested in quantification so I think for Frontier Medical Sciences. biophysics is becoming more a part of the mix. Through all this trans-Pacific flying and Basically, I like the style of this Society.” marathon high-speed camera sessions, Kusumi Kusumi’s style should suit ASCB, says has been married for 25 years to Taeko Mellman. “I find him one of our most engaging Kusumi, an ear, nose, and throat surgeon. and creative scientists. He is committed to They have two children, Natsuko, 22, who just biophysical approaches and yet he is accessible graduated from university after majoring in and tries to think very biologically about the international studies, and Mashahiro, 17, who work he does. That’s something that many is just finishing high school. When they were biophysicists are unable to do.” n first married, Kusumi says he promised Taeko —John Fleischman

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 19 INTERNATIONAL Affairs atio rn na te l Developing Biomedical Research in In A f

f Singapore a

i

r s To enhance its capabilities in research and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the development, sustain the country’s economic Faculty of Science. In addition, a few research prosperity, and create a more value-added and centers and institutes have been created and are knowledge-based economy, Singapore has devoted located in the NUS, such as the: significant resources during the past decade to n Cancer Science Institute of Singapore build a critical mass in cutting-edge research and (www.csi.nus.edu.sg/web/Common/ development in the biomedical sciences. homepage.aspx) The initial project in Singapore’s efforts to n Mechanobiology Institute catalyze biomedical research was the creation of the (www.dbs.nus.edu.sg/mechano) Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) n Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (www.imcb.a-star.edu.sg/php/main.php) in 1987. (www.tll.org.sg) Originally a part of the National University of The collaboration between the Singapore Singapore (NUS; www.nus.edu.sg), IMCB later government (with participation of A*STAR) and became an autonomous research institute of the the Duke University Medical School has created Agency for Science, Technology and Research the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (www. (A*STAR; www.a-star.edu.sg). Since 2001, duke-nus.edu.sg/web/index.php), which hosts the Singapore government and A*STAR have vibrant basic and clinical research programs devoted many more resources to strengthening to facilitate the training of graduate medical the biomedical research community through students. The Nanyang Technology University the establishment of other research institutes (NTU; www.ntu.edu.sg/Pages/default.aspx) has and consortia/centers under the umbrella of the also created a new School of Biological Sciences Due to the strong Biomedical Research Council (www.a-star.edu. (www.sbs.ntu.edu.sg/Pages/Home.aspx) and will sg/AboutASTAR/BiomedicalResearchCouncil/ soon have a new medical school. support of the tabid/64/Default.aspx). These other research In addition to A*STAR and the universities, government and the institutes and consortia include the: there are other research institutes and centers n Genome Institute of Singapore primarily based in hospitals, such as the: presence of superb n Institute for Medical Biology n National Cancer Centre Singapore infrastructure, n Institute of Bioengineering and (www.nccs.com.sg) many scientists Nanotechnology n Singapore Eye Research Institute n Bioprocessing Technology Institute (www.seri.com.sg) from Singapore n Bioinformatics Institute n National Neuroscience Institute have contributed n Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (www.nni.com.sg) n Singapore Immunology Consortium The public research programs are primarily significantly and n Singapore Bioimaging Consortium supported by intramural and extramural consistently to the n Experimental Therapeutics Center programs of A*STAR, the National Research The majority of these biomedical activities Foundation (NRF; www.nrf.gov.sg/nrf/default. advancement of are concentrated in Biopolis (www.one- aspx), the National Medical Research Council cell biology and north.sg/hubs_biopolis.aspx), a biomedical (NMRC; www.nmrc.gov.sg/corp/index.aspx) of related areas.1 hub that also hosts common shared facilities/ the Ministry of Health, the Academic Research resources and other research sites such as the Fund of the Ministry of Education, and the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (www. Temasek Trust (www.temasekholdings.com.sg/ novartis.com/research/nitd/index.shtml) and media_centre_news_releases_160507.htm). GlaxoSmithKline Centre for Cognitive and Neurodegenerative Disorders. Contributions by Singaporean Scientists Growing and Funding Research Due to the strong support of the government In addition to biomedical research activities and the presence of superb infrastructure, in Biopolis, there has been a major growth of many scientists from Singapore have research activity at the NUS, particularly in contributed significantly and consistently to the

20 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 advancement of cell biology and related areas.1 Collaborating Internationally Their contributions cover many areas of cell A*STAR, NRF, NUS, and NTU have biology,2 and their works have been published in established several successful collaborations prominent journals. Recently, many prominent with overseas institutes such as the scientists have relocated to Singapore.3 Together Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), these scientists form a vibrant and visible resulting in the creation of the Singapore- community working in cell biology and its MIT Alliance for Research and Technology associated research fields. (SMART) Centre (http://web.mit.edu/smart). A*GA’s ongoing overseas PhD scholarship Recruiting Scientists and Students program has teamed up with several overseas The current focus to recruit young and promising universities, such as Imperial College London, scientists to Singapore is evidenced by the University of Cambridge, University of prominent A*STAR Investigatorship (www.a- Oxford, University of Dundee, Karolinska star.edu.sg/AwardsScholarships/Investigatorships/ Institutet, Carnegie Mellon University, and tabid/88/Default.aspx) and the Singapore NRF University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Fellowship (www.nrf.gov.sg/nrf/otherprogrammes. Other international partnerships such as joint aspx?id=142). Both aim to attract the best young grant calls have also been established (www.a- scientists to Singapore to conduct independent star.edu.sg/Partnerships/ASTARCollaborations/ research. To facilitate the collaboration between tabid/172/Default.aspx). n basic scientists and medical doctors and to —Wanjin Hong, Institute of Molecular and Cell enhance translational research, A*STAR and Biology, Singapore NMRC have established several programs. These include the Singapore Translational Research Notes Award and the Clinical Scientist Award programs. 1Singaporean scientists who have contributed Training the next generation of scientists significantly to cell biology and related fields include is another important aspect in Singapore’s Mohan Balasubramania, Xinmin Cao, William Chia, biomedical efforts. The A*STAR Graduate Graeme Guy, Barry Halliwell, Wanjin Hong, Walter Academy (A*GA; www.a-star.edu.sg/ Hunziker, Kong Peng Lam, Thomas Leung, Ding Jeak AboutASTAR/ASTARGraduateAcademy/ Ling, Edison Liu, Edward Manser, Alirio J. Melendez, tabid/74/Default.aspx) has recruited over Huck Hui Ng, Shazib Pervaiz, Yijun Ruan, Kanaga Sabapathy, Haiwei Song, Tuck Wah Soong, Uttam 1,000 Singaporean scholars who are at various Surana, Patrick Tan, Bor Luen Tang, Byrappa Venkatesh, stages of pursuing doctoral studies in major Yu Wang, Markus Wenk, Xiaohang Yang, Henry Yu, research universities in the U.S., UK, and Qiang Yu, Qi Zeng, and Lian Hua Zhang. locally in A*STAR research institutes, NUS, 2Singaporean scientists have made major contributions and NTU. Some scholars have already returned to areas that include PAK protein kinases and their to Singapore to contribute ongoing research regulatory pathways in Rho GTPase signaling, cell Training the next polarity of mammalian cells and model organisms, in A*STAR. Working with NUS and NTU, generation of A*STAR has established an attractive PhD identification and functional characterization of SNAREs and other molecules in protein secretion and scientists is another program called the Singapore International endocytosis in mammalian cells, structural biology of Graduate Award (www.singa.a-star.edu.sg). The translational control and mRNA decay, cell signaling important aspect program aims to recruit international students pathways, PRL-3 phosphatase in cancer metastasis, to pursue PhD training in A*STAR research protein complexes in asymmetric cell division of in Singapore’s institutes, NUS, and NTU. A prominent the fly, molecular machineries and mechanisms of biomedical efforts. and high-profile graduate program called the cell cycle in the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, comparative genomics, NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences microbial quorum sensing mechanism, cancer and stem and Engineering (www.nus.edu.sg/ngs) was cell genomics, epigenetic regulation of stem and cancer established at the university level to attract cells, molecular and cellular immunity, lipidomics, and the very best PhD students both locally and free radicals and antioxidants in biological systems. internationally. Similarly, various PhD fellowship 3Prominent scientists who have relocated to Singapore programs are also available at NTU (http:// include George J. Augustine, Brian Burke, Patrick J. admissions.ntu.edu.sg/graduate/scholarships/ Casey, Stephen Cohen, Alan Colman, Neal Copeland, Pages/ResearchScholarship.aspx). Frank Eisenhaber, Xin-Yuan Fu, Philip Ingham, Yoshiaki The collective efforts of A*STAR, NUS, and Ito, Nancy Jenkins, Michael Kemeny, Barbara Knowles, Birgit Lane, David Lane, Alex Law, Bing Lim, Edison NTU will have a huge impact in training future Liu, Paul Matsudaira, Pernille Rorth, Michael Sheetz, scientists and nurturing future leaders to sustain Shirish Shenolikar, Davor Solter, Colin Stewart, James the momentum in biomedical research and Tam, Yoichi Taya, Daniel Tenen, Jean Paul Thiery, future clinical and translational research. David Virshup, and Jackie Ying.

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 21 Automating Cell Biology: Genomics as Industrial Revolution

Genetic approaches have long been a driver of as journeymen, graduate students as apprentices, progress in cell biology. Genetic screens in the all organized into departments akin to guilds. last quarter of the 20th century demonstrated A similar situation persisted for the the power of genetics to elucidate biological production of goods into the late 18th century. problems as diverse as cell cycle control, Most manufacturing was performed in cottages; secretion, Drosophila development, apoptosis, hence the term “cottage industries.” The quality and cell polarity. and beauty of the Much of the goods depended progress came on the skill of the from traditional manufacturer. If genetic screens that the artisan died, have been termed the quality of the “forward genetics.” product might First a set of die with them identical organisms (e.g., Stradivarius or cells are violins). In the mutagenized then late 18th century altered phenotypes Richard Durbin Anthony A. Hyman the Industrial are identified within the mutagenized Revolution arrived in Britain. Production population. Next the altered phenotype must was moved into factories and standardized. be correlated with the altered genotype. This The standardization of production methods means trying to find out which genes have been and quality control led to a great increase in mutated in individuals showing any altered reliability, average quality, and economy. For phenotype. instance, when one buys a car one expects it to Doing this is akin to finding the proverbial run 50,000 miles without any problems. The “needle in a haystack.” Typically for chemical continued development of the microprocessor mutagenesis, one altered base pair must be would have been impossible without industrial [Reverse] found among 100 million. In single cell production standards. However, many of the genetics... differ organisms such as yeast this can be done items we treasure most as a society have been relatively rapidly, and thus genetic analysis has made using pre-industrial techniques, or even from conventional proceeded quickly in these organisms. However, came from the pre-industrial era. genetics in the for multicellular organisms, even in the best cases it is hard to identify the mutated gene in Genome Phonebooks following way: A under a year. Next generation sequencing will With the introduction of genomics-based known gene is make mutation finding very fast for organisms techniques we are witnessing an industrial with small genomes like yeast, but it will likely first targeted and revolution of genetics. This revolution was take longer to apply this approach directly to stimulated by the successful sequencing of whole the phenotype is larger genomes. Furthermore, because different genomes. A whole genome sequence can be then assessed. laboratories use diverse methods and qualitative likened to a “yellow pages” in which there are scoring techniques, it is hard to establish the names of 30,000 businesses, but without any standardized phenotyping methods. mention of the services they provide. Similarly a genome sequence is a set of genes looking for Lab “Guilds” function. The development of rapid techniques Laborious exchange of strains between labs is for evaluating gene function has made it required to sort this out. The whole process of possible to fill in the “genome phonebook” for linking genotype to phenotype using forward any process that can easily be assayed. These genetics is a small-scale activity. Individual procedures are called reverse genetics and differ students work in diverse locations, with the from conventional genetics in the following speed determined by individual skill and way: A known gene is first targeted and the dedication of the scientist, with a large dose of phenotype is then assessed. Among these reverse luck required. This can be likened to a medieval genetics techniques are RNA interference, guild. The PI as the master craftsman, postdocs which reduces the expression of genes, and

22 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 gene targeting, which mutates the gene itself. individual contributions and creativity, as Further examples include genome-wide tagging factories standardized production. Movements screens to measure protein levels or document such as Arts and Crafts with William Morris localization patterns. in the UK, and Art Nouveau in France, were Taken together the two processes, genome among the reactions to this problem. One of sequencing and rapid reverse genetics, allow the most damaging aspects of the Industrial standardization of the process Revolution was that while it by which genotype is linked to increased the standard of living, phenotype, and thus completely it created a huge shift in the change the scale of genetics. Taken together the structure of society. Among As in industrial production two processes, the problems were alienation where different functions such genome sequencing of workers, by divorcing the as welding or painting are done worker from the creative by different people, different and rapid reverse process, and concentration aspects of genomics will also genetics, allow of power and money in the be done by different people. hands of a few people. In the By focusing on a component standardization long term, industrialization of the process such as DNA of the process by led to proliferations of design sequencing, an individual and ideas, freeing production or group can concentrate on which genotype is from tradition. In time we process engineering. Thus, linked to phenotype, have come to recognize the increase in scale will bring and thus completely value of handmade products, enormous increase in accuracy, while appreciating the precision as has already been seen for change the scale and functionality of modern DNA sequencing. of genetics. industrial design. The Size of the Puzzle Cultural Shifts As the techniques get better How will the culture of and better, the screens will become more and biomedical research handle this shift? As the more complete, or saturating. Completeness collection of data becomes more standardized, has a general advantage in studying a biological and the opinions of the individual become problem: Whereas forward genetics gives you less important, there is a danger that fewer pieces of the puzzle, genomics can also give you creative people will be interested in going into the size of the puzzle. To realize how important biomedical research as a career. Furthermore, this is, imagine a child’s jigsaw puzzle. If you the concentration of power and money could are given 10 pieces of the puzzle and the puzzle mean that fewer and fewer new ideas will be is 50 pieces, you are on your way. But if the tested. It is therefore essential that biomedical puzzle is 500 pieces, it may not be possible to research continue to fund small individual begin. Knowing the size of the puzzle allows research programs, and even talented the design of appropriate experiments to individuals working on their own, searching understand how your process works. A further out new and undescribed problems, while at advantage of industrialization is that, because the same time funding large, industrialized the phenotype of all of the genes can be screened projects. One possible way forward is to look at in one location, one person can look at all the the development of the chemical and physical phenotypes and thus provide a global picture sciences. While departments of chemistry focus of the process under study. This ability to on basic research in chemistry, departments accurately measure often subtle phenotypes of chemical engineering focus more on the on a genome scale will also drive the future of process engineering necessary for scaling up systems biology. syntheses in large scale. Genomics is in essence Initially industrialization was confined to process engineering of lab-based protocols so a few genomics centers, but as the technology that they can be performed on an industrial becomes cheap and standard, it is rapidly scale. Perhaps establishing departments based spreading among the scientific community, on engineering biological experiments would just as industrial production spread from be beneficial for the future of biomedical Britain all over the world. However, the research, by allowing separate concentration Industrial Revolution had many downsides. on small-scale research groups and large-scale Among these was a reduction in identifiable process engineering.

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 23 MEMBER Gifts Genomics is in essence process engineering of lab-based protocols so that they can The ASCB is grateful to the following members and applicants be performed on an industrial scale. who have recently given a gift to support Society activities: Robert L. Bacallao

Juan S. Bonifacino In the Western world, we have moved into a postindustrial era Thelma Dunnebacke-Dixon in which service economy now dominates. In a service economy, production has been so standardized as to become a commodity. Henry N. Higgs Instead, information gathering and processing is the driving Uma Sankar force. Perhaps biomedical research will eventually end up with Caroline Elizabeth Shamu a similar service model, with analysis of information lying at the heart of discovery. We are far from this stage right now, as automation of cell biology is still in its infancy. However, the current acceleration of industrialization of all techniques in cell 2011 Half-Century Fund biology, from mass spectrometry to microscopy, suggests that such a future is a real possibility. n Donors —Richard Durbin, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and Anthony A. Hyman, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology The ASCB is grateful to the following donors* whose and Genetics contributions support Society activities: Gold Kenneth Yamada ASCB Highlights Sustainer Jim Clegg Positions: Have One Paul Forscher Maryanne McClellan To Fill? Want One? *As of February 1, 2011

Did you know that the ASCB Online Job Board offers a variety of options for those recruiting or seeking postdoctoral MEMBERS in the News fellowships and academic and industry positions? You don’t Bonnie L. Bassler, of Princeton University, an ASCB have to be an ASCB member to take advantage of these member since 2003, is the recipient of the National opportunities, but ASCB members do enjoy significant Academy of Sciences’ Richard Lounsbery Award. The discounts. Visit the ASCB Online Job Board at award recognizes extraordinary scientific achievement by http://jobboard.ascb.org. French and American scientists in biology and medicine.

For Job-Seekers Gary Borisy, of the Marine Biological Laboratory, an n Post your résumé/CV at no charge, search job ASCB member since 1970 and 2002 ASCB president, announcements, apply for jobs listed, and receive email was recently appointed Head of Faculty for Cell Biology at alerts when jobs matching your criteria are posted. Faculty of 1000. n Since its launch, the Online Job Board has received over 210 new job postings. Photo: Elizabeth Armstrong n Currently, 459 active CVs/résumés are available for viewing. Bruce A. Jackson, of Massachusetts Bay Community n The job postings have received 37,374 page views. College, who first became an ASCB member in 1992, is one of the recipients of the Presidential Award for For Employers Excellence in Science Mentoring. n Post your position and receive emails daily with qualified candidates. n Increase your exposure with Featured Job and Featured Employer options. n Receive a 50% discount for job postings if you’re an ASCB member. Write [email protected] if you have any questions. n

24 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 ASCB Members Elected as American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellows Twenty-four members of the ASCB were among the 503 scientists elected as American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows.

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Charles K. Barlowe Kerry S. Bloom Ta Yuan Chang Benito O. de Lumen Dartmouth Medical School University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Dartmouth Medical School University of California, Berkeley First joined in 1996 Member since 1998 Member since 2000 Member since 1999 Photo: Rice University Gideon Dreyfuss Mary Cynthia Farach-Carson Thomas D. Fox Jorge E. Galán University of Pennsylvania Rice University Cornell University Yale University School of School of Medicine/HHMI Member since 1985 Member since 1999 Medicine Member since 1991 Member since 1995

Picture not available Photo: UCSD Photo: Paul Burch-Celentano Photo: Paul University Tulane Kasturi Haldar S. Michal Jazwinski Yishi Jin Haifan Lin University of Notre Dame Tulane University Health Sciences Center University of California, San Diego Yale University School of Medicine Member since 1996 Member since 1998 Member since 2004 Member since 1995 Photo: Dan Davenport Jerry B. Lingrel Manuela Martins-Green Peter J. Novick Janet M. Oliver University of Cincinnati University of California, University of California, San Diego University of New Mexico Member since 1980 Riverside Member since 1995 Health Sciences Center Member since 1986 First joined in 1979 Photo: Bachrach Photography Terry L. Orr-Weaver Katherine W. Osteryoung Huntington Potter Mark M. Rasenick Whitehead Institute for Michigan State University University of South Florida College of University of Illinois at Chicago Biomedical Research First joined in 1990 Medicine Member since 1998 First joined in 1999 First joined in 1993

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Susan R. Wente Gary M. Wessel Roy S. Wu John D. York Vanderbilt University Medical Brown University National Cancer Institute, NIH Duke University Medical Center Center Member since 1983 Member since 1978 Member since 2001 Member since 1992

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 25 Life Sciences CBE Education www.lifescied.org

Volume 10 Spring 2011

26 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 LETTER to the Editor

To the Editor: A time comes when the research community and the leadership of the ASCB, as our representatives and advocates, have to rethink our approach to enhancing our research capabilities beyond merely lobbying Congress for more money for the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation. In 2009, NIH reviewed 43,142 applications and awarded 8,881 grants, a success rate of 20.6%. This means that about 79.4% of all applicants did not receive any funding for their research. These applicants are all well-trained scientists who may have come up with critical breakthroughs in understanding and developing treatments for cancer, AIDS, heart disease, diabetes, and many other diseases. Reviewing the large number of applications takes up much time, money, and effort on the part of the granting agencies and the scientific community. I believe we have to change the paradigm for NIH funding in a more rational and useful manner.1

Lottery or Roulette? In a Science editorial, Bruce Alberts [an ASCB past president] (2010) stated, “With success rates for acquiring an NIH grant below 10% in some cases, achieving a stable research career now has elements of a lottery, with one’s future depending on a chance ranking assigned through a peer-review process that is unable to discriminate adequately among a sea of research proposals. Biomedical scientists are spending far too much effort writing grant applications and reviewing those of others, leaving precious little time to do what they should be doing: reading the scientific literature and thinking deeply about their research and teaching.”2 I assume most of us would prefer to read papers, and concentrate on our research and teaching. In an earlier editorial in the ASCB Newsletter, Alberts (2007) wrote, “The careers of outstanding researchers can be terminated through bad luck in a chance selection process, one that resembles a game of Russian roulette.”3 Indeed, as Jonathan Yewdell (2010) proclaimed regarding NIH grants, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”4

Moving Beyond Mopping Up In the current paradigm, grant applicants need to have already made their discovery to have any chance of getting funded. Thus, NIH is not funding actual discoveries, but rather, in Thomas Kuhn’s words, mopping up operations. The tedious description of what a scientist is going to do five years from when a grant is funded is contrary to the true nature of scientific research, and an unrealistic exercise in bureaucracy.5 I am proposing a new paradigm for NIH grants, where about half of NIH’s budget will be allocated to scientists who have a track record of solid publications, and to young scientists with a proven postdoctoral track record who are starting their first independent position. With grants of $300,000/year (for 10 years) for “established” investigators and $50,000/year (for five years) for younger scientists, and indirect costs limited to 30%, we can fund 80,000 grants at a cost of $18.2 billion/year. This is more than three times the number of R01 grants NIH funds now. Many new ideas will be generated by these 80,000 grantees to help understand and find cures for diseases. These grants will be in addition to the regular R01 or other grants that may need higher levels of funding, but whose total number will have to be reduced to accommodate the stable grants. Altogether, NIH may be able to fund about 90,000 grants. To be considered for these grants, scientists will merely indicate their interest. Large international panels of established and younger scientists, in different biomedical science disciplines, will rank the applicants. The review process will simply involve scoring accomplishments that have already been peer-reviewed for publications. Scientists who opt for this long-term funding will agree not to apply for additional NIH grants, but may apply for nonfederal or shared instrument grants. Scientists on the new system who wish to submit large R01 applications will forfeit their grant within a year, placing them on an equal footing with other scientists who are applying for R01 support. By eliminating the arduous review process on these 80,000 grants, including the necessity to travel, NIH will save significant funds, and former grant reviewers will save a lot of time.

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 27 A Bright Future The awardees of this new grant program will be able to concentrate on their research and to take risks, by having stable funding over a long period, and by not having to submit numerous grant applications. Young scientists starting their first independent position will no longer be under the pressure of obtaining a grant while working toward tenure. The new program will end the hypocrisy of proposing many experiments that will never be performed, and end the constant need for using the grant money to generate preliminary data for the next application. The system I am proposing will distribute more efficiently and equitably our scarce resources to scientists with demonstrated merit and accomplishments. This system will also reduce the anxiety felt by scientists because of the uncertainty in funding.6 The new system will be a more humane and rational way of funding biomedical research. I suspect that the scientists in current leadership positions will not want to give up the system they have built that works for them. My concern is about the remaining great majority of scientists who are constantly struggling to procure even a small amount of funding to carry out their research. n

—Nejat Düzgünes,? University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry

References

1Düzgünes? N (2007). A new paradigm for NIH grants. The Scientist 21, 24. 2Alberts B (2010). Overbuilding research capacity. Science 329, 1257. 3Alberts B (2007). Peer-review processes at the National Institutes of Health. ASCB Newsletter 30(2), 2. 4Yewdell J (2010). Opinion: Research redesign. The Scientist (Nov. 9). www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57801.

5Düzgünes? N (1999). Science by consensus: why the NIH grant review system must be changed. The Scientist 13, 13. 6Couzin J, Miller G (2007). Boom and bust. Science 316, 356.

28 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 MEETINGS Calendar

A complete list of upcoming meetings can be found at http://ascb.org/othermeetings.php. The following meetings were added since the last issue of the Newsletter:

March 17–20, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany European Molecular Biology Organization/European Molecular Biology Laboratory Symposium: Seeing Is Believing—Imaging in Biology and Medicine. www.embo-embl-symposia.org/symposia/2011/EES11-01/index.html

March 28–30, 2011. Bethesda, MD The 25th Annual Meeting of the Groups Studying the Structures of AIDS-Related Systems and Their Application to Targeted Drug Design. http://meetings.nigms.nih.gov/?ID=10905

May 5–8, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany European Molecular Biology Laboratory Conference: Sixth International Congress on Electron Tomography. www.embl.de/training/events/2011/TOM11-01/index.html

May 16–18, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany Seventh Annual BioMalPar Conference: Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite. www.embl.de/training/events/2011/BMP11-01/index.html

May 23–25, 2011. Minneapolis, MN University of Minnesota Biopreservation Core Resource Short Course: Preservation of Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biospecimens. www.biocor.net/preservation-of-cells-tissues-and-gamets-overview

June 1–5, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany European Molecular Biology Organization Conference: Chromatin and Epigenetics www.embl.de/training/events/2011/CHR11-01/index.html

July 29–31, 2011. Minneapolis, MN First National Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research. http://saber-biologyeducationresearch.wikispaces.com

September 7–11, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany European Molecular Biology Organization Conference: Protein Synthesis and Translational Control. www.embl.de/training/events/2011/TCR11-01/index.html

September 17–19, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany European Molecular Biology Organization/European Molecular Biology Laboratory Symposium: Cancer Genomics. www.embo-embl-symposia.org/symposia/2011/EES11-02/index.html

October 2–5, 2011. Santa Fe, NM Toxins 2011: Seventh International Conference on Basic and Therapeutic Aspects of Botulinum and Tetanus Toxins. www.toxins2011ibrcc.com

October 13–15, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany European Molecular Biology Organization/European Molecular Biology Laboratory Symposium: Structure and Dynamics of Protein Networks. www.embo-embl-symposia.org/symposia/2011/EES11-03/index.html

November 4–5, 2011. Heidelberg, Germany 12th European Molecular Biology Organization/European Molecular Biology Laboratory Science and Society Conference: Making Sense of Mental Illness—Biology, Medicine and Society. www.embl.de/training/events/2011/SNS11-01/index.html

ASCB Annual Meetings

December 3–7, 2011. Denver

December 15–19, 2012. San Francisco

December 14–18, 2013. New Orleans

December 6–10, 2014. Philadelphia

December 12–16, 2015. San Diego

MARCH 2011 ASCB NEWSLETTER 29 GRANTS & OPPORTUNITIES

Items shown in blue have been added or updated since the last issue of the Newsletter.

ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee (MAC) Visiting Professorship Awards Program and Linkage Fellows Program. The MAC Visiting Professorship Awards Program provides research support for professors at minority-serving institutions to work in laboratories of members of the ASCB for eight to 10 weeks during the summer of 2011. The MAC Linkage Fellows Program is designed to increase participation of faculty from minority-serving institutions to serve as a link between the institution, its students, faculty, and administration and the ASCB MAC. Funding for both programs is provided by a Minorities Access to Research Careers grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Deadline: March 31, 2011. www.ascb.org (click on “Committees,” then “Minorities Affairs”).

High-Throughput-Enabled Structural Biology Research (U01). The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) encourages applications to establish partnerships between researchers interested in a biological problem of significant scope and researchers providing high-throughput structure determination capabilities through the NIGMS PSI:Biology network. Applicants should propose work to solve a substantial biological problem for which the determination of many protein structures is necessary. Expiration: September 8, 2013. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-214.html.

Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award (K25). The purpose of these National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards is to attract to NIH-relevant research those investigators whose quantitative science and engineering research has thus far not been focused primarily on questions of health and disease. Expiration: January 8, 2012. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-039.html.

Minority Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grant (T34). The National Institute of General Medical Sciences will award these grants to eligible institutions as a means of supporting undergraduate academic and research training for students underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Applications due: May 25, 2011, and 2012. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-119.html.

The National Academies’ Research Associateship Programs administer postdoctoral (within five years of the doctorate) and senior (normally five years or more beyond the doctorate) research awards sponsored by federal laboratories at over 100 locations in the U.S. and overseas. Quarterly application deadlines. www7.nationalacademies.org/rap.

National Centers for Biomedical Computing (R01). This funding opportunity is for projects from individual investigators or small groups to collaborate with the National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBCs). Collaborating projects are intended to engage researchers in building an excellent biomedical computing environment, using the computational tools and biological and behavioral application drivers of the funded NCBCs as foundation stones. Expiration: September 8, 2011. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-08-184.html.

National Centers for Systems Biology (P50). The National Institute of General Medical Sciences invites grant applications from institutions/organizations proposing to establish Centers of Excellence in Systems Biology. Letters of intent due: September 28, 2011. Applications due: October 27, 2011. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-200.html.

Pathway to Independence Award. The primary purpose of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) program is to increase and maintain a strong cohort of new and talented NIH- supported independent investigators. The program is designed to facilitate a timely transition from a mentored postdoctoral research position to a stable independent research position with independent NIH or other independent research support at an earlier stage than is currently the norm. Expiration: January 8, 2012. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-036.html.

Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-related Research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced to PIs holding specific types of NIH research grants that funds are available for administrative supplements to improve the diversity of the research workforce by supporting and recruiting students, postdoctoral researchers, and eligible investigators from groups that have been shown to be underrepresented. Expiration: September 30, 2011. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-08-190.html.

30 ASCB NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 GRANTS & OPPORTUNITIES

Research Supplements to Promote Re-entry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers. These supplements are intended to encourage individuals to re-enter research careers within the missions of all National Institutes of Health (NIH) program areas. This program will provide administrative supplements to existing NIH research grants to support full-time or part-time research by individuals in a program geared to bring their existing research skills and knowledge up-to-date. Expiration: September 30, 2011. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-08-191.html.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows in PharmD/PhD Programs. The objective of this National Institutes of Health funding opportunity announcement is to help ensure that highly trained PharmD/PhD graduates will be available in adequate numbers and in appropriate research areas to carry out the U.S. biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research agenda. Expiration: January 8, 2012. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-029.html.

SHIFT Awards: Small Businesses Helping Investigators to Fuel the Translation of Scientific Discoveries (SBIR: R43/R44). These National Institutes of Health awards are intended to foster research that is translational in nature and to transform academic scientific discoveries into commercial products and services. They require that an investigator who is primarily employed by a U.S. research institution at the time of application transition to a small business concern (SBC) and be primarily employed (more than 50% time) by the SBC by or at the time of the award. Expiration: January 8, 2013. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-10-122.html#SectionIV3A.

Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins (R01). This National Institutes of Health funding opportunity is for research that will lead to the determination of membrane protein structures at high resolution. In addition to the structures of integral membrane proteins, the structures of the complexes formed between these proteins and their biological partners are of interest. Expiration: September 8, 2013. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-10-228.html.

Supplements for Functional Studies Based on High-resolution Structures Obtained in the Protein Structure Initiative. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) announces the availability of administrative supplements to provide funds to enable investigators interested in protein function to capitalize on the information and material products of the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI). These supplements are available for 1) NIGMS- funded research grants (R01, R37, and P01) as well as 2) investigators with peer-reviewed research grants not funded by NIGMS, through the PSI research centers. www.nigms.nih.gov/initiatives/PSI/supplements.

Support of NIGMS Program Project Grants (P01). The National Institute of General Medical Sciences encourages innovative, interactive program project grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose to conduct research that aims to solve a significant biological problem through a collaborative approach involving outstanding scientists who might not otherwise collaborate. Expiration: September 8, 2013. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-266.html. n

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The Cell continues to grow, and we need your help to make the site easier to use for researchers, educators, students, and the public. Surveys for users and submitters are on the site at www. cellimagelibrary.org; please participate. If you haven’t submitted any images, videos, or animations yet, please do so. The Cell provides a great way to archive your data as well as comply with the National Science Foundation’s new requirements for database management and data availability. A link to the user survey can be found at the top of The Cell’s homepage, and the link for the submission process survey can be found at the top and bottom of the Submit page (http:// cellimages.ascb.org/pages/contribute). For additional comments or questions, please contact David Orloff ([email protected]), Manager, Image Library. The Cell is funded by NIGMS Grand Opportunities grant RC2GM092708 to the ASCB. n —David Orloff