Are Microbes Winning? || Ethics as Gray Matter || The Lure of Industry || Fooled by Mother Nature MARCH 2002 Stem Cells to the RWill humanescue embryonic stem cells bring cures for diabetes and other ills? FEATURES 10 Are Stem Cells the Answer? 26 Microbes vs. Humans: Researchers hope to coax human stem cells into Who’s Winning? becoming pancreatic cells to cure diabetes. As microbes learn to avoid our defenses, By Maya Pines scientists try new tactics to defeat them. By Steve Olson 18 Iron Devotion Nancy Andrews takes her fight against iron-re- Choices in Gray lated disorders from lab to patients and back 30 Science is not a morally neutral endeavor, and again. By Nancy Ross-Flanigan undergraduates are learning that ethical The Lure of Industry decisions are rarely a matter of black and white. 22 By Fran Smith Why are a growing number of researchers leaving academic positions for industry? By Steve Mirsky 26 Legionella pneumophila used to be harmless fresh- water dwellers. Once the bacteria found a home in man-made reservoirs, such as air-conditioning systems and plumbing systems, they became a cause of the lethal Legionnaire's disease pneumonia. DEPARTMENTS 2 NOTA BENE 9 Q & A Canada’s Quieter Stem 2 LETTERS Cell Debate March 2002 || Volume 15 Number 1 HHMI TRUSTEES 3 PRESIDENT’S LETTER 34 PERSPECTIVE James A. Baker, III, Esq. Baker & Botts Lesson From September 11 Senior Partner, Seeing the Opportunities Alexander G. Bearn, M.D. Executive Officer, American Philosophical Society Adjunct Professor, The Rockefeller University UP FRONT NEWS AND NOTES Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Cornell University Medical College 36 Frank William Gay 4 Can We Become Resistant Sailing to Victory in the Lab Former President and Chief Executive Officer, summa Corporation and on the Sea James H. Gilliam, Jr., Esq. to Anthrax Toxin? Former Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Beneficial Corporation 37 The Mad Scientist Tells All 6 Town-Gown Partnership Hanna H. Gray, Ph.D., CHAIRMAN President Emeritus and Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Unites Birmingham Professor of History, The University of Chicago 38 Science, Science Everywhere Garnett L. Keith 8 Undergrads Learn to Write Chairman, SeaBridge Investment Advisors, L.L.C. 38 Former Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, The Prudential Clearly About Science New Focus on Evaluation Insurance Company of America and Curriculum Design Jeremy R. Knowles, D.Phil. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Amory Houghton 39 Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Harvard University Taking Advantage of a William R. Lummis, Esq. New Imaging Technique Former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, The Howard Hughes Corporation Anne M. Tatlock 40 Big Payoffs from College Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Students’ Research Fiduciary Trust Company International HHMI OFFICERS 41 Y or Why Not? Thomas R. Cech, Ph.D., President Peter J. Bruns, Ph.D., Vice President for Grants and Special Programs 41 Research Awards Go to David A. Clayton, Ph.D., Vice President and Canadians and Latin Americans Chief Scientific Officer Stephen M. Cohen, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Joan S. Leonard, Esq., Vice President and General Counsel 42 HHMI LAB BOOK Gerald M. Rubin, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of Planning for Janelia Farm Nestor V. Santiago, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer 44 CLOSE-UP Getting Fooled by Mother HHMI BULLETIN STAFF Cori Vanchieri, Editor Nature 22 Maya Pines, Guest Editor, March issue Jim Keeley, Science Editor Jennifer Donovan, Education Editor 46 INSIDE HHMI Patricia Foster, Manager of Publishing 46 A Diplomat’s Touch in Kimberly Blanchard, Editorial Coordinator Baltimore Elizabeth Cowley, Copy Editor Laura Bonetta, fact checking 47 IN MEMORIAM Steven Marcus, story editing A Tribute to Don C. Wiley Kathy Savory, copy editing David Herbick Design, Publication Design 48 NOBEL 2001 Telephone (301) 215 8855 n Fax (301) 215 8863 n www.hhmi.org Celebrating a Centennial The Bulletin is published by the HHMI Office of Communications, Robert A. Potter, Director. © 2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute On the Cover: An embryologist at Boston IVF adds liquid nitrogen to a tank of frozen embryos. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by authors in the HHMI Bulletin do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or © FRED HOSSLER/VISUALS UNLIMITED (LEFT), MICHAEL KLEIN (TOP RIGHT), BILL DENISON (BOTTOM RIGHT) (BOTTOM BILL DENISON RIGHT), KLEIN (TOP MICHAEL UNLIMITED (LEFT), © FRED HOSSLER/VISUALS Photograph by Kathleen Dooher official policies of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. NOTA BENE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Health Research, Inc., at the Wadsworth Logistical Nightmare I Eight hhmi investigators have been Center, received a Scientific Merit Award In “Quantifying Uncertainty” (HHMI Bulletin, elected 2002 fellows of the American from the New York State Department of September 2001), author Laura Spinney Association for the Advancement of Sci- Health for his discovery and development writes of the United Kingdom’s 2001 hoof- ence (aaas). Philip A. Beachy, The Johns of a novel method for visualizing large and-mouth disease (HMD) epidemic: Hopkins University School of Medicine; biomolecules. The one-time award recog- “Almost 2.5 million animals were slaughtered Linda B. Buck, Fred Hutchinson Cancer nized the New York State researcher who in 11 weeks, requiring burial pits equivalent to Research Center; Mario R. Capecchi,Uni- made the most important scientific con- 200 Olympic-size swimming pools.” That is versity of Utah; Sean B. Carroll, University tribution during the last quarter of the an average of 12,500 animals per “swimming of Wisconsin–Madison; David Ginsburg, 20th century. pool,” and an enormous number of beasts. University of Michigan Medical School; Ms. Spinney also writes that 2,000 troops Lawrence C. Katz, Duke University Medical I Three hhmi investigators have been and 1,000 police officers were involved in the Center; Joseph S. Takahashi, Northwestern named 2002 fellows of the Biophysical eradication. Does this mean that they shot on University; and Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Society. Joachim Frank, Health Research, average more than 800 animals each? Stanford University, were inducted at the Inc., at the Wadsworth Center; Wayne A. I am curious about these logistics because aaas annual meeting in February. Hendrickson, Columbia University College HMD or foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus Fellows are chosen for their contributions of Physicians and Surgeons; and H. Ronald could well be introduced into the United States to science. Kaback, University of California, Los by terrorists. The disease in the U.K. required Angeles, were honored for their contri- the killing of about 4 million animals; more I Two science teachers from programs butions to expanding the field of bio- than 80% were sheep. The disease in the U.S. supported by hhmi science education physics. would affect mostly cattle and hogs. The U.S. grants were chosen for USA Today’s All- Department of Agriculture’s draft plan for USA Teacher Teams. Betsy Berg, Corvallis I Jeffrey M. Friedman, an hhmi investiga- FMD states that animals should be buried in a High School, was nominated by Oregon tor at The Rockefeller University, received trench 7 feet wide and 9 feet deep. How many State University’s program, and the pro- the 2001 Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for miles long must such a trench be to hold, say, gram at the University of Arizona nomi- Distinguished Achievement in Metabolic one million head of cattle? My calculations nated Cecelia Valenzuela Gee of Davis Research. indicate 500 miles! Bilingual Magnet School. Joseph M. Cummins, D.V.M., Ph.D.N I Stanley J. Korsmeyer, an hhmi investi- Amarillo, TexasN I Günter Blobel, an hhmi investigator at gator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Rockefeller University, was named received the Leukemia & Lymphoma Soci- Laura Spinney responds: The statistics I quoted Academician of the Pontifical Academy of ety’s de Villiers International Achievement came from a Cabinet Office paper published in Sciences by Pope John Paul II. Award & Grant for his research on the role May 2001, at the height of the epidemic. The of apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in paper described one mass burial site in Throck- I Kevin P. Campbell, an hhmi investigator lymphomas and other cancers. morton, Worcestershire, that had the capacity to at the University of Iowa College of Medi- accommodate more than 430,000 sheep (the cine, received the 2001 Elsevier Science I Tian Xu, an hhmi investigator at Yale paper did not give the pit’s dimensions). Of Award at the 6th International Congress of University School of Medicine, was the course, animal carcasses were burned as well; by the World Muscle Society. first recipient of the Tuberous Sclerosis May, 15,000 vehicles had been used for transport- Alliance’s Rothberg Award for Courage in ing the carcasses to burial pits and funeral pyres. I Three hhmi investigators were among Research, for his identification of genes The police officers involved in the eradication four scientists who shared the first Paul associated with tuberous sclerosis, a genet- did not shoot animals; they handled general Marks Prize for Cancer Research. Stephen ic disorder. duties in support of the operation—for example, J. Elledge, Baylor College of Medicine; restricting movement to and from infected areas. William G. Kaelin, Jr., Dana-Farber Cancer I The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Military marksmen were deployed for the rapid Institute and Harvard Medical School; Zoo received the 2001 National Science culling of pigs in open fields—hoof-and-mouth and Xiaodong Wang, University of Texas Board Public Service Award for organiza- disease was particularly virulent in those animals. Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, tions for its education programs, support- received the honor for their contributions ed in part by an hhmi science education Send your letters: Via e-mail to [email protected] or to Let- to cancer research.