Basic Research

A cure for cancer? A remedy for aging? It's impossible to know exactly where Carol W. Greider's groundbreaking research on the structure of chromosome ends known as telomeres will ultimately lead, but either is a distinct possibility. No doubt that has much to do with why Ms. Greider of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and two fellow American researchers will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2009. Winning such a prestigious award is not something to be taken lightly, and Baltimoreans should be proud that Ms. Greider, who grew up in Southern California and did much of her initial research in the field there and in Long Island, has chosen to call Johns Hopkins home since 1997.

A cure for cancer? A remedy for aging? It's impossible to know exactly where Carol W. Greider's groundbreaking research on the structure of chromosome ends known as telomeres will ultimately lead, but either is a distinct possibility. No doubt that has much to do with why Ms. Greider of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and two fellow American researchers will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2009. Winning such a prestigious award is not something to be taken lightly, and Baltimoreans should be proud that Ms. Greider, who grew up in Southern California and did much of her initial research in the field there and in Long Island, has chosen to call Johns Hopkins home since 1997.

For years, school systems across the nation dropped the arts to concentrate on getting struggling students to pass tests in reading and math. Yet now, a growing body of brain research suggests that teaching the arts may be good for students across all disciplines. Scientists are now looking at, for instance, whether students at an arts high school who study music or drawing have brains that allow them to focus more intensely or do better in the classroom. Washington County schools Superintendent Betty Morgan would have liked to have had some of that basic research in her hands when she began building a coalition for an arts high school in Hagerstown.

During the George W. Bush years, stem cell advocates fought an uphill battle to expand funding opportunities and engage the National Institutes of Health in this potentially lifesaving research. The political climate improved drastically with the election of President Barack Obama, who lifted the Bush-era restrictions by executive order and freed the NIH do its job in providing comprehensive guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research. In the long run, these actions will add much-needed funding for this basic research.

America's most valuable economic asset, its sharp competitive edge in science and technology, is getting dull. While things are fine today, the key to our future prosperity is at risk. The United States is simply not matching the priority other nations are giving to educating their youth in science and technology and supporting basic research. If we don't move quickly to reinvigorate our science and technology enterprise, we'll fall too far behind and let our leadership slip away. For Maryland, the stakes are especially high.

BOSTON -- Japan, for all its success, continues to struggl with what American science does best: basic research. Now, Japan is trying to do something about that by reaching into the heart of the American scientific community.Mitsubishi Electric Corp., the $20 billion Japanese industrial giant, recently announced plans to open a 100-person basic research laboratory just blocks from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The lab will be devoted to studying the fundamentals of computer science.

Arthur Kornberg talks like a scientist. And the credentials? Only a 1959 Nobel Prize in medicine for work on the use of enzymes to duplicate genetic material in the laboratory, along with a National Medal of Science and (in his words) "about a dozen" honorary degrees.Dr. Kornberg spent most of the last week roaming the Universitof Maryland Baltimore County campus in Catonsville, giving lectures to students, faculty and civic leaders during a brief visiting professorship sponsored by Du Pont.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute will distribute $80 million over the next four years to 30 U.S. medical schools -- including $3.4 million to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine -- to shore up their research facilities, the institute announced today.Officials at the Chevy Chase-based research philanthropy intend the money to help support younger faculty members, pilot studies and communication technology."Academic medical centers across the country are being squeezed by reductions in patient-care revenues and restrictions on government research spending," Dr. Purnell W. Choppin, the institute's president, said in a written statement.

Breaking off a historic alliance between a biotech start-up and a basic research foundation, Human Genome Sciences Inc. and The Institute of Genomics Research (TIGR) yesterday ended a 5-year relationship in which Human Genome tried to invent new drugs based on TIGR's cutting-edge work in determining the basic structure of human genes.The deal saves Human Genome $38.2 million it would have owed TIGR for future research, and gives the nonprofit TIGR the freedom to pursue other funding, and to publish its research more quickly.

The dean of Johns Hopkins medical school said yesterday that university officials will launch a $125 million research institute that will provide bench scientists with badly needed lab space and sophisticated new scientific instruments. "This will give us the ability to help graduate students and the faculty itself to be more innovative," said Dean Edward D. Miller. The institute, he said, will also allow the school to remain competitive with other top academic medical centers in the rapidly advancing fields of genetics and other fields of biology.

For years, school systems across the nation dropped the arts to concentrate on getting struggling students to pass tests in reading and math. Yet now, a growing body of brain research suggests that teaching the arts may be good for students across all disciplines. Scientists are now looking at, for instance, whether students at an arts high school who study music or drawing have brains that allow them to focus more intensely or do better in the classroom. Washington County schools Superintendent Betty Morgan would have liked to have had some of that basic research in her hands when she began building a coalition for an arts high school in Hagerstown.

Disease is an unrelenting foe. Our nation's commitment to preventing disease and improving health should be equally unrelenting. However, the road to medical discoveries is long. Just as today's discoveries are made using yesterday's investments in medical research, tomorrow's advances depend on the investments we make today. Dr. Angela Brodie, a professor of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has won numerous awards for her discovery of the effectiveness of aromatase inhibitors as a first-line treatment for breast cancer.

America's most valuable economic asset, its sharp competitive edge in science and technology, is getting dull. While things are fine today, the key to our future prosperity is at risk. The United States is simply not matching the priority other nations are giving to educating their youth in science and technology and supporting basic research. If we don't move quickly to reinvigorate our science and technology enterprise, we'll fall too far behind and let our leadership slip away. For Maryland, the stakes are especially high.

NOT ALL TOURISM is a good thing. There is a new, insidious tourism that poses a real and growing threat to the mission and values of American science. In statehouses from Annapolis to Sacramento, legislators and sometimes the general public are taking on a new role. They are inviting themselves into our laboratories to prescribe what kinds of research we should or should not do. Call it scientific tourism. Sometimes they visit to advance a particular line of research or kind of approach.

The dean of Johns Hopkins medical school said yesterday that university officials will launch a $125 million research institute that will provide bench scientists with badly needed lab space and sophisticated new scientific instruments. "This will give us the ability to help graduate students and the faculty itself to be more innovative," said Dean Edward D. Miller. The institute, he said, will also allow the school to remain competitive with other top academic medical centers in the rapidly advancing fields of genetics and other fields of biology.

Breaking off a historic alliance between a biotech start-up and a basic research foundation, Human Genome Sciences Inc. and The Institute of Genomics Research (TIGR) yesterday ended a 5-year relationship in which Human Genome tried to invent new drugs based on TIGR's cutting-edge work in determining the basic structure of human genes.The deal saves Human Genome $38.2 million it would have owed TIGR for future research, and gives the nonprofit TIGR the freedom to pursue other funding, and to publish its research more quickly.

No one expects public service announcements to stem the tide of AIDS. But at least the Clinton administration is getting aggressive about spreading what we do know to be true: Using a condom dramatically reduces the chances of contracting the AIDS virus.It's true that condoms sometimes fail, and certainly abstinence is a much safer policy. But the fact remains that condoms can save many lives that would be put at risk by unprotected sex. The administration's series of public service announcements is a bold departure from previous public education campaigns that tiptoed around the blunt truth about sexual intercourse and AIDS.

The superconducting supercollider, a giant circular particle accelerator 54 miles in circumference under construction near Waxahatchie, Texas, is a classic example of the kind of "big science" project scientists hope will enable them to unlock the deepest secrets of the universe.Whether the machine will live up to its promise is uncertain, however. Even if it does, it will have done so at the cost of other research with more immediate, practical applications. Meanwhile it will have added $8 billion to an already bloated federal budget deficit, and probably much more when all its costs are taken into account.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute will distribute $80 million over the next four years to 30 U.S. medical schools -- including $3.4 million to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine -- to shore up their research facilities, the institute announced today.Officials at the Chevy Chase-based research philanthropy intend the money to help support younger faculty members, pilot studies and communication technology."Academic medical centers across the country are being squeezed by reductions in patient-care revenues and restrictions on government research spending," Dr. Purnell W. Choppin, the institute's president, said in a written statement.

In the laboratory, baby rockfish exposed to levels of toxic chemicals present in a Chesapeake Bay spawning river die -- but out in the river, they survive in record numbers.In the laboratory, underwater grasses dosed with pesticides comparable to what is found in the Chesapeake are weakened severely -- but out in the bay, it just doesn't happen that way.In the laboratory, scientists can't figure out how to infect oysters with the deadly parasitic disease MSX -- but out in the bay, they can't figure out how to stop the infection from spreading.