Media monitor
"They know about mice and worms, but not about people." —Ben Barres, MD, PhD, professor of neurobiology, of developmental biology and of neurology and neurological sciences, on the failure of graduate school programs to teach researchers enough about human diseases. Barres will serve as director of the new master's of science in medicine program, training PhD students in bench-to-bedside research. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20
"That's the Holy Grail. We have some hints and have isolated some promising candidates, but we don't have the magic bullet yet." —Stefan Heller, PhD, associate professor of otolaryngology, on the hope of uncovering compounds to stimulate the growth of auditory hair cells, a discovery that could eventually make treating hearing loss as easy as using ear drops. Los Angeles Times, Jan. 16
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-labhearing16jan16,1,5215561.story?ctrack=1&cset=true"We thought he had solved the biggest and most important issue . . . " —Irving Weissman, MD, the Virginia and DK Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, on the discovery that South Korean scientists' published claims of creating new stem cell lines were fraudulent. USA Today, Jan. 17
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/genetics/2006-01-17-stem-cell-rejuvenated_x.htm"We fully recognize the inherent beneficial and very positive attributes of all of this work . . . and don't want to stifle it or curtail it or constrain it for no substantive reason." —David Relman, MD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology and chairman of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, on the importance of synthetic biology research in preparing for defense against terrorist attacks. New York Times, Jan. 17 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/science/17synt.html (registration required)