DAVIES, SCHMID, & SCHWARTZ-BLOOM WIN ASBMB AWARDS Promoting Science November 2008 Education American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology M\i`ÔXYc\ Gifk\`e<ogi\jj`fe *.#'''kX^^\[Z;E8Zcfe\j E$KX^j :$KX^j Kil\FI= ]fikX^^\[gifk\`e\ogi\jj`fe ?`j$?8$9CB ?8$9CB DpZ$;;B!$9CB ?`j$;;B!$9CB DpZ$;;B!$9KB >=G ?8$9CB DpZ$;;B!$9CB ?`j$?8$9CB Kil\FI=\ogi\jj\jk_\\eZf[\[kiXejZi`gkXjXe Xek`$?`j \g`kfg\$kX^^\[gifk\`e#]XZ`c`kXk`e^jlYj\hl\ek[\k\Zk`fe# gli`ÔZXk`feXe[cfZXc`qXk`fen`k_Xek`$kX^Xek`Yf[`\j% Xek`$?8 >\efd\$n`[\Zfm\iX^\1?ldXe&dflj\ J\hl\eZ\m\i`Ô\[Xe[^lXiXek\\[ Xek`$DpZ K_\:$k\id`eXc[lXckX^f]DpZXe[;;B! KiXej]\Zk`fe$i\X[p1Gifm`[\[Xj('l^f]gli`Ô\[gcXjd`[ Xek`$;;B! <Xjpj_lkkc`e^`ekf)'kX^^\[m\Zkfijlj`e^Gi\Z`j`feJ_lkkc\ jpjk\d Xek`$9KB ,#'''Zcfe\ji\X[p]fie\ok$[Xp[\c`m\ip Xek`$9CB K_\N\jk\ieYcfkXeXcpj`jf]?<B)0*Z\cccpjXk\fm\i$ \ogi\jj`e^9CBfi9KBkX^^\[n`k_`e[`ZXk\[\g`kfg\j% !G\gk`[\j\hl\eZ\f]k_\;;B$kX^=cX^ 1E$;PB;;;;B$: fi`^\e\%Zfd&fi] =C8>`jXi\^`jk\i\[kiX[\dXibf]J`^dX$8c[i`Z_ ORG-027-TrueORFv12ASBMB.indd 1 8/11/08 11:13:23 AM contents NOVEMBER 2008 ON THE COVER: Promoting science society news education has always been an important 2 From the Editor goal for ASBMB. 3 Letters to the Editor 2 5 President’s Message 7 Washington Update special interest 12 In Memoriam: Roger A. Davis (1945-2008) 14 University of Delaware’s Undergraduate Summer Research Program 16 Exchanging and Publishing Proteomics Data 18 Alzheimer vs. Alzheimer’s— Are You Confused? 19 Reflecting on NIH Director Elias Zerhouni Susan Taylor and Protein Kinase A. 2009 meeting 32 21 The 2009 William C. Rose Award: Sandra Schmid 22 The 2009 Herbert Tabor/ Journal of Biological Chemistry Lectureship: David Davies 23 The 2009 Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education: Rochelle Schwartz-Bloom science focus 32 Susan Taylor: Patron of Protein Kinase A departments Science Goes Straight to Video. 26 8 News from the Hill 10 Member Spotlight 24 Education and Training 26 Sci.Comm podcast summary 28 Minority Affairs Check out this month’s JBC News Podcast where 30 BioBits we interview a Paper of the Week author about an interesting enzyme isolated from a marine virus. resources For this and other ASBMB AudioPhiles podcasts go to: 36 Calendar www.asbmb.org/audio.aspx November 2008 ASBMB Today 1 from the editor A monthly publication of The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ASBMB and Education Officers BY NICOLE KRESGE Gregory A. Petsko President Heidi E. Hamm Past President Mark A. Lemmon Secretary Merle S. Olson Treasurer he Society’s Education and Professional Development Committee (EPD) was Council Members Tformed in 1959. Over the years, the committee has been involved in a variety Dafna Bar-Sagi Alan Hall John D. Scott of activities to promote science education including providing grants to high Joan A. Steitz Ann M. Stock Kevin Struhl James A. Wells Adrian Whitty school teachers so they could spend a summer in a research laboratory, sponsoring Ex-Officio Members numerous sessions and tutorials at the ASBMB annual meeting, hosting gradu- Ellis Bell ate and undergraduate poster competitions at the annual meeting, organizing an Chair, Education and Professional Development Committee undergraduate Honor Society, and providing K-12 and public outreach tools for Laurie S. Kaguni Chair, Meetings Committee ASBMB members. John D. Scott The EPD also launched the ASBMB Undergraduate Affiliate Network (UAN), Chair, Membership Committee George Hill which links groups of students and faculty members from research institutions Chair, Minority Affairs Committee around the nation. By interacting with scientific and educational communities out- Joan W. Conaway James H. Hurley side their own institutions, students and faculty members benefit from increased Co-chairs, 2009 Program Committee research, learning, and networking opportunities. UAN members also have access Ralph A. Bradshaw Chair, Public Affairs Advisory Committee to FASEB career resources, get discounts on annual meeting registration fees, and Toni M. Antalis Chair, Publications Committee receive a subscriptions to ASBMB Today and Enzymatic, the UAN newsletter. To Herbert Tabor learn more about the UAN, visit www.tinyurl.com/5bKz3K. Editor, JBC Ralph A. Bradshaw The EPD published a recommended biochemistry and molecular biology A. L. Burlingame undergraduate curriculum, the first version of which became available 16 years Co-editors, MCP Edward A. Dennis ago. In spite of publishing these goals, ASBMB has never systematically asked Joseph L. Witztum departments how these skills are imparted or what outcomes were expected if Co-editors, JLR they were put into practice. In Nov. 2006, ASBMB received a grant from the ASBMB Today Editorial Advisory Board Alex Toker Teagle Foundation to do just that. Using surveys, interviews, and open discus- Chair sion at the annual meeting, a working group of ASBMB members assessed how Greg P. Bertenshaw Craig E. Cameron A. Stephen Dahms Irwin Fridovich the skills and competencies of the recommended curriculum were incorporated Jonathan Gitlin Richard W. Hanson into programs at a range of institutions. The results were recently published in a Elizabeth A. Komives Bettie Sue Masters Luke A. O’Neill Duanqing Pei report which can be downloaded from our web site (www.tinyurl.com/6h6772). Carol C. Shoulders Robert D. Wells This coming summer, ASBMB will be sponsoring a meeting for undergraduate ASBMB Today educators. Attendees of the three-and-a-half-day meeting will learn about educa- Nicole Kresge Editor [email protected] tional approaches, materials that they can use in their classrooms, and will also be Nick Zagorski Science Writer provided with plenty of mentoring and networking opportunities. You can read [email protected] more about the meeting in the Education column on p. 24 of this issue. Nancy J. Rodnan Director of Publications [email protected] In conjunction with the Society’s efforts to promote science education, this Barbara Gordon Executive Director issue of ASBMB Today contains several education-related articles. One such article [email protected] offers the reader a glimpse of the University of Delaware’s Undergraduate Summer Magazine design & production: Amy Phifer Research Program. Other education-related articles in this issue include: a look at the For information on advertising contact 2009 ASBMB William C. Rose Award and Exemplary Contributions to Education FASEB AdNet at 800-433-2732 ext. 7157 or 301-634-7157, or E-mail [email protected]. Award winners, an overview of a program that aims to increase the number of minority M.A. students who continue on to the Ph.D., and finally, a discussion on defining a successful postdoctoral fellowship. www.asbmb.org 2 ASBMB Today November 2008 letters to the editor entirely deserved, should not have as a back door attempt to intro- Intelligent been extended by reference to duce “creationism” and “intelligent Stein’s speech writing for Richard design” into school classrooms. Design: Is the Nixon to “demonstrate his faulty The message has the feel of Debate Over? judgment.” Stein is, in addition to “preaching to the converted” and being, as mentioned, an attorney ignores a noticeable increase in To the Editor: and entertainment figure, also a the traction that the creationist I wanted to comment on Gre- very fine and well-respected econo- argument is slowly gaining in the gory A. Petsko’s essay “It Is Alive” in mist, which only shows that you can education boards of some American the August 2008 ASBMB Today. be an idiot about some things while states (and a very tiny minority of I am in complete agreement being very smart about others. privately funded schools in the UK). with the gist of the article, viz. that There is no need to smear the man Biological societies, through their “intelligent design” or “creationism” as an all-around know-nothing, as members, can do more by greater is not science, is malarkey, and it is he is not. involvement in schools and putting very unfortunate that some bod- Political jabs have no legitimate forward the counter arguments to ies politic choose to include it in place in a scientific journal, and state legislature or by simply writing the teaching curriculum. Unfortu- they should have been edited out. to their representatives that crea- nately, the making of bad decisions tionism and intelligent design have is always a risk with democracy, Sincerely, Sandy Shaw, Tonopah, NV no place in a science curriculum. and unless you advocate another Incidentally, the current gov- system to make choices about Response: ernor of the state of Louisiana is a what is taught to people’s children, If ASBMB Today were a scientific biology graduate of Brown Univer- you are stuck with democracy journal, what’s in it would be peer- sity and obtained a Master’s in polit- (e.g. 51 percent trumps 49 percent). reviewed. It’s a magazine, and I write ical science at Oxford University. I am very leery when a scientist an opinion piece. The fun in that Are we to conclude that Oxford is asserts that “the debate is over” and is being able to give my opinions, highly effective at teaching political that there is no further point to leavened, I hope, with a bit of humor, science but Brown is not at teaching open debate about a scientific sub- on pretty much whatever strikes my biology? ject. I agree that intelligent design is fancy. That includes using meta- Aamir Ahmed not science and not open to analysis phors and comparisons.