ASCB JUNE 2 0 0 7 NEWSLETTER V O L U M E 3 0 , N U M B E R 6 E.B Wilson ASCB Council Held First Retreat, Medalists Page 3 Approved Significant Changes Before devoting one-and-one-half days to stra- ❏ To expand networking and Annual tegic planning, the ASCB Council condensed collaboration prospects for ASCB other business into a half members at all career Meeting day on May 21. At the stages (see ASCB Bethesda, MD, Council fellowship available Program Meeting, Council mem- below) Page 8 bers: ■ Approved new ASCB ■ Discussed defining and Committee Female the Council Affiliate members position (announced ■ Voted to Behavior… in the February 2007 discontinue print copies ASCB Newsletter) of Molecular Biology Leader as one in which a of the Cell (MBC) and Left to right: ASCB Executive Director Joan Goldberg local member is Behavior and ASCB President Bruce Alberts eliminate author color empowered to plan Page 20 charges as of January ASCB regional meetings: 2008, as recommended by MBC Editor- ❏ To offer mentorship, career guidance, in-Chief Sandra Schmid and Director of policy contacts, and presentation Publications Mark Leader Inside opportunities to students and postdocs See Council, page 4 President’s Column 2 E.B. Wilson Medalists 3 Program Development & Did You WICB Report 6 Proposal Writer Wanted WICB Awardees 6 Know …? Annual Meeting Program 8 ASCB seeks a postdoc, regular, or emeritus member with ■ ASCB members are eligible for InCytes from MBC 10 expertise in developing educational programs and writing grant applications for same. Position may be part-time in special discounts on Avis and Public Policy Report 11 the Society’s Bethesda, MD, office or as a consultant, work- Hertz car rentals. Summer Public Policy Briefing 13 ing off-site. If interested, send your CV, cover letter, and a will be here soon … what Capitol Hill Day 15 writing sample, no later than August 1, to [email protected]. better time to take advantage of these rates on your next ASCB Profile 16 vacation? Call for Awards Nominations 19 ASCB Fellowship Available ■ ASCB members are also WICB Column 20 eligible for member discounts Letters to the Editor 21 Announcing a new program to enhance ASCB’s visi- on GEICO Direct auto Members in the News 22 bility on campuses, offer career assistance to cell biolo- insurance. gy postdocs, and expand their policy engagement: The Member Gifts 23 ■ ASCB Platinum Plus and Society seeks applicants with a PhD to coordinate this out- Preferred MasterCard credit New Members 24 reach program during a one-year fellowship in the ASCB’s cards are also available. Dear Labby 25 Bethesda, MD, office. Excellent organizational, written, ■ To learn more about these and Classified Advertising 25 and oral presentation skills required. If interested, send other member benefits, visit Grants & Opportunities 27 your CV, cover letter, and a writing sample, no later than August 1, to [email protected]. www.ascb.org. Calendar 28 The American Society for Cell Biology PRESIDENT’S Column 8120 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 750 Bethesda, MD 20814-2762 Tel: (301) 347-9300 Fax: (301) 347-9310 Why Basic Research in Cell Biology [email protected], www.ascb.org Joan R. Goldberg Is Still Critical for Human Health Executive Director Because I co-author a new edition of a teins that bind the reacting partners, and both Officers cell biology textbook every few years, I am the concentrating event and its location are repeatedly confronted by the fact that we know controlled by covalent modifications of the in- Bruce M. Alberts President Robert D. Goldman President-Elect only a tiny fraction of what we need to know, teracting partners. Thus, we should expect to Mary C. Beckerle Past President if we are to really understand an individual cell. find human diseases in which all cellular com- Gary E. Ward Treasurer The knowledge gap is, of course, much greater ponents are normal, with the only defect being Jean E. Schwarzbauer Secretary for those scientists trying to come to grips with in their positioning. multicellularity—that is, with the workings To take a second example, the discovery of Council of an organism like a fruit fly—or even, more an elaborate “histone code,” and of the large set strikingly, ourselves. of code reader-writer and chromatin remodeling Kerry S. Bloom The public and the Congress, including protein complexes that underlie it, reveal that David R. Burgess many of the most effective advocates for eukaryotic cells make use of a remarkable array John S. Condeelis Susan K. Dutcher increased public funding of of chromatin-based epigenetic D. Scott Emr the biomedical sciences, are … we will require mechanisms. Defects in these Joan R. Goldberg, ex officio generally unaware of this epigenetic controls have recently Caroline M. Kane knowledge gap. Further, they a much greater become recognized as major Sandra K. Masur may not know why we need to contributors to a variety of Barbara J. Meyer understanding of fill it to intervene effectively in human diseases, including Timothy J. Mitchison … fundamental Erin K. O'Shea most human diseases. Scientists cancer. To intervene effectively Anne J. Ridley are partly to blame for not mechanisms … we are likely to need a much Susan R. Wente emphasizing forcefully enough more detailed understanding that the complete sequencing before we can of the molecular processes that ASCB Newsletter of the human genome expect to deal occur in chromatin. Attaining is published twelve times per provides only a small (but very this understanding will year by The American Society adequately with for Cell Biology. important) start to our attempt require a great deal of difficult to understand human biology. the wide variety biochemistry, much of it based Joan R. Goldberg Editor But the misunderstanding is of diseases that on experiments with purified John L. Saville Production Manager not at all surprising. After all, components in in vitro systems. Nancy Moulding Production Assistant new discoveries that reveal the plague humankind. I could go on in this way for Kevin Wilson Public Policy Briefing Ed Newman Advertising Manager complexity of biological systems many pages. My point is simply John Fleischman Science Writer at the molecular level continue that we will require a much Thea Clarke Editorial Manager to amaze even experienced cell biologists like greater understanding of these, as well as many me. And news articles always emphasize what we other, fundamental mechanisms underlying the Deadlines for submission of have learned, rather than the vast amount that function of cells, before we can expect to deal articles and advertising remains obscure. adequately with the wide variety of diseases that materials: plague humankind. Issue Deadline New Discoveries Impact Human August July 1 Health Can ASCB Produce Effective Case September August 1 With each new edition of the Molecular Biology Studies of Recent Breakthroughs? October September 1 of the Cell textbook, we authors are forced to How might we best convey this message to ASCB Newsletter incorporate new discoveries that reveal a sophis- Congress and to the many sincere and dedicated ISSN 1060-8982 Volume 30, Number 6 tication of cell chemistry not previously recog- disease advocates who care deeply about funding June 2007 nized. For example, it has only recently become for the National Institutes of Health, yet may clear to me that living organisms will quite gen- view basic research into cell mechanisms with © 2007 erally concentrate the proteins and RNA mol- some suspicion? The American Society for Cell Biology ecules that catalyze a particular reaction in a As an experiment, I am suggesting Postmaster: Send change of address to small region of each cell. The concentrating that the ASCB membership email me at ASCB Newsletter The American Society for Cell Biology mechanism often involves large scaffold pro- [email protected] to nominate particularly 8120 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 750 Bethesda, MD 20814-2762 2 ASCB NEWSLETTER JUNE 2007 good “case study” examples of recent disease can be particularly useful for breakthroughs in our understanding of cells, making our point. derived from untargeted basic research, that At the ASCB Council’s two-day How might we appear to have profound implications for the meeting and retreat held in Bethesda on eventual prevention and treatment of human May 21–22, we examined a collection of best convey disease. In your email, please include a few previously prepared documents designed this message to references to the published work of relevance. to reach Congress and the public on I hope that we can collect 20 or so the payoffs from fundamental research. Congress—and outstanding examples from ASCB members. These had been produced by other to the many I suggest that we focus on recent discoveries, organizations. We will use them as a sincere and because I have seen claims that the explosion starting point for selecting the format of discoveries in the past decade has brought for a possible new ASCB-sponsored dedicated disease biomedical science to the point where we effort. As the next step, our Public advocates who … should not require further advances in our Information Committee will work with understanding to cure disease—or, more a science writer to develop and test a few may view basic modestly, to the point where the future payoffs prototype brief communications—each research into cell from basic research are likely to be small. As we focused on a single example from the list mechanisms with all know, intensive studies of yeast, Drosophila, that we generate with your input. and other “model organisms” very often My thanks for your help with this some suspicion? provide a shortcut to the understanding of important new project. ■ human biology. This fact seems strange to the —Bruce M.