CAREER VIEW NATURE|Vol 453|19 June 2008

MOVERS NETWORKS & SUPPORT Neil Turok, executive director, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, The hunt for new US drug regulators Ontario, Canada The US Food and Drug Administration cancer researchers, particularly (FDA), the regulatory body that in the private sector, is hampering 2007–08: Director, Centre certifies the safety of a wide range recruitment. for Theoretical Cosmology, of consumer products, is recruiting Although there is no targeted University of Cambridge, scientists to fill 1,300 positions by recruitment overseas, international Cambridge, UK October. This hiring surge — the applicants can apply through the 1996–2008: Professor, then largest FDA expansion since the Visiting Scientist Fellowship Program. chair, of Mathematical counter-terrorism hiring initiative after So far, the FDA’s embattled status Physics, University of the terrorist attacks in September — it has been criticized for lax drug- Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 2001 — should strengthen its safety monitoring — is not hindering 1993–96: Professor of inspection and oversight capacity. recruitment. It has already hired physics, Princeton University, Most positions require advanced more than half the staff it needs. And Princeton, New Jersey science degrees. But newly minted although salaries at the FDA can’t graduates with at least 30 hours compete with those of industry, it of science coursework are eligible can offer recruitment bonuses of up Neil Turok wants the freedom to explore new ideas. When for 200 front-line consumer-safety to 25% of pay, according to Kimberly he takes the helm of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, positions. Holden, the agency’s assistant Ontario, Canada, this autumn he intends to push forward The largest recruitment effort is commissioner for management. the frontiers of theoretical physics. that of the Center for Drug Evaluation Abbott notes that FDA experience After studying theoretical physics at the University of and Research (CDER), the FDA is a useful stepping stone to industry. Cambridge, UK, Turok pursued a PhD in mathematical group charged with reviewing the “Experience of the FDA regulatory physics at Imperial College London, where he worked with drug-safety process used to approve review process makes someone one of the inventors of superstring theory. Eager to make prescription and over-the-counter extremely valuable to pharmaceutical a lasting discovery, he also pursued his growing interest in pharmaceuticals. The centre is hiring companies,” he says. Other perks galaxy formation. “It was evident even then that Neil was an more than 400 employees in an effort include flexible schedules and iconoclast — using good judgement to explore alternative to reduce drug-approval times. working from home. ideas,” says Paul Steinhardt, a long-time collaborator and Russell Abbott, director of the But Holden and Abbott maintain theoretical physicist at Princeton University in New Jersey. FDA’s Office of Management, says he that the satisfaction of a career in Turok was a postdoc at the Institute for Theoretical is trying to staff the new White Oak the public health service is their best Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, part federal research campus, near Silver selling point. “If you want to be part of a large group that was encouraged to pursue original Spring, Maryland, but some positions of an agency involved in every aspect lines of research. This freedom allowed Turok to work out are proving difficult to fill. These of daily life — food, cosmetics, drugs the physics necessary for more detailed calculations of how include mathematical statisticians — this is the time to play a part,” galaxies might be formed. Next, he tried to apply string and medical officers with an oncology says Holden. ■ theory to early-Universe formation theories, first at Fermilab speciality. He says the demand for Virginia Gewin in Batavia, Illinois, and then back at Princeton. But after a year, he realized such an application was premature. Instead, Turok focused on applied cosmology, using POSTDOC JOURNAL existing theories to predict what would be seen by future measures of, for example, cosmic microwave background radiation. He successfully predicted an observable I’m an alien signature of the presence of dark energy. But, eager to “Naturalisations en masse, STOP,” is one of the more startling political posters continue exploring the Big Bang, Turok accepted an offer to that I pass as I cycle into work. The poster shows that the rights of foreigners chair the theoretical physics department at the University are once more up for debate. This reminds me that I, as a Brit, am an alien in this of Cambridge — a move that led to his fruitful collaboration European society. with Stephen Hawking. They proposed that the Big Bang When it comes to my research, the environment is as familiar as a decent and an infinite Universe arose from a minuscule particle. pint of English ale and BBC Radio 4. The culture of science is truly international, Most recently, Turok has used string theory to suggest and interesting research is exciting in any language. At the last count, my that ‘bangs’, rather than just one Big Bang, occur repeatedly department was home to 18 nationalities, making it almost as diverse as the in a cycle of Universe expansion and contraction. “We are flowers in a Swiss alpine meadow. And rather than this turning into a Tower of at an uncertain point in cosmology — waiting to see how Babel, science is done, null hypotheses are refuted, papers are published and much of the current conventions will remain in the future,” impact factors are recorded. says Steinhardt. “Neil’s creative, alternative models of the My research gives a welcome dose of the familiar in what can sometimes Universe have helped sharpen the focus of both theorists be an unfamiliar culture. I wasn’t brought up with alpine cows, wrapping my and experimentalists.” lips around french vowels or trying the odd yodel. The unfamiliar is fun, but I’m glad that my habitual pursuit, science, is an important one. Arguably, scientific But Turok’s increasing dismay with the UK government’s method crosses national boundaries. I like to think that even a bug-eyed influence over university research prompted him to jump at alien postdoc from a distant planet would find some common currency with the chance to head up the Perimeter Institute. “Perimeter earthling academics. ■ is dedicated to challenging, pure science breakthroughs Jon Yearsley is a senior postdoc in evolutionary genetics at the University of Lausanne ■ — without an agenda,” he says. in Switzerland. Virginia Gewin

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