Signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
February 2003
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Draft guidelines ease restrictions on use of genome sequence data
Researchers working on large-scale publicly funded genome-sequencing projects must release their data as soon as possible, without imposing restrictions on the use of the information, say guidelines from two of the main funders of such work.
Nature (27 February 2003)
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Mixed results win HIV vaccine a guarded response
Statisticians are urging caution over intriguing results from clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, which suggest that some ethnic groups may benefit from the drug.
Nature (27 February 2003)
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Canada boosts spending on science
The farewell budget from Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, announced on 18 February, contains substantial spending hikes in many areas, including science.
Nature (27 February 2003)
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Europe draws up plans for funding agency
The future of science in the European Union began to take shape last week, as plans for a new basic-research funding agency gained momentum.
Nature (27 February 2003)
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Error reports threaten to unravel databases of mitochondrial DNA
More than half of all published studies of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences contain mistakes, according to a geneticist at the University of Cambridge.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Nobel laureate slams misconduct smear
It's like a murder without a body. An alleged case of scientific misconduct has hit the headlines in Germany and Switzerland, even though no published scientific paper has been implicated.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Researchers fear that future as Congress settles 2003 budget
Four-and-a-half months into the financial year, US research agencies finally know how much money they can spend this year.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Journals tighten up on biosecurity
Last week's joint statement on the handling of sensitive biological information from a group of journal editors and authors has received a mixed response from researchers and security experts.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Paper retracted as co-author admits forgery
In a case more befitting Sherlock Holmes, London's Imperial College is investigating how several cardiology researchers found themselves authors of a paper that they knew little or nothing about.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Dolly's death leaves researchers woolly on clone ageing issue
The fate of Dolly the sheep is now certain: with the post mortem complete, her body will be stuffed and put on display at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, UK. But her death has drawn attention to how little is known about the health problems that other clones may or may not suffer.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Windfall spurs rare Israeli–Palestinian research effort
Most collaborations between Israeli and Palestinian scientists have fallen victim to the upsurge of violence that has disrupted the region in recent years. But one surviving partnership — an investigation of the hereditary basis of deafness among people in the region — last month received a welcome boost.
Nature (20 February 2003)
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Biologists wary that cash up front could mean cuts later
A new way of allocating grants at the US National Institutes of Health could leave the agency vulnerable to budget cuts, biology researchers have warned.
Nature (13 February 2003)
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Cancer fears cast doubts on future of gene therapy
A once-promising gene-therapy treatment should be used only as a last resort, advisers to the US National Institutes of Health said this week.
Nature (13 February 2003)
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Hints of age bias spur calls for grant reforms
The older you are, the more funding you get, according to figures released earlier this year by Japan's highest science and technology body, the Council for Science and Technology Policy.
Nature (13 February 2003)
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Fury at plan to split historic biology archive
The auction of an historic archive of molecular-biology documents, planned for the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the DNA double helix, is drawing fire from scientists.
Nature (6 February 2003)
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Science feels the pinch as Bush budget targets defence
American science is set to be squeezed next year, after President Bush proposed a budget aimed at holding down total spending while shifting emphasis to military and homeland-security needs.
Nature (6 February 2003)
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US scientific panels Bush-whacked
In recent months, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has dismantled and re-assembled several of its scientific advisory panels and there are increasing signs that the administration is selecting new committee members based on their political ideology.
Nature Medicine (February 2003)
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Europe dithers over stem cell patents
The European Commission may restrict the scope of stem cell technology patents, to encourage faster development of stem cell–based therapeutics while placating ethically motivated campaigners.
Nature Medicine (February 2003)
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Finding a funding niche
In mid-December 2002, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, a small private organization in New York, held an invitation-only "think tank" to decide how best to fund AIDS research without stepping on the toes of the National Institutes of Health.
Nature Medicine (February 2003)
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New Stanford institute sparks cloning quarrel
The creation of Stanford University's privately funded institute to incorporate basic stem cell research into clinical medicine has set off a public squabble between President Bush's Council on Bioethics, the press and the institute's newly appointed director, Irving Weissman.
Nature Medicine (February 2003)
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Cash crunch quells antibody litigation
Companies battling for the antibody library business have reached a series of settlements, freeing themselves from the damaging patent disputes in which they have been locked for several years.
Nature Biotechnology (February 2003)
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Lymphoma market turf war imminent, pending Bexxar approval
The field of cancer radioimmunotherapy received a big boost in December when a US Food and Drug Administration advisory committee certified Corixa's Bexxar as effective against relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Nature Biotechnology (February 2003)
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US policy on data disclosure debated
A meeting on "Scientific Openness and National Security" covered in January in Washington, DC heightened concerns over the threat of bioterrorism and the need to monitor national security more intensively.
Nature Biotechnology (February 2003)
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India set to embrace GM rice
India's apex body of agricultural scientists has given the go-ahead for the widespread introduction of genetically modified varieties of rice, lifting the gloom in the biotech industry cast by government indecision over GM mustard.
Nature Biotechnology (February 2003)
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News in brief
Congolese health officials confirm Ebola outbreak…
| ...as bird flu sparks alarm in Hong Kong
| Wallaby hops into running for genome sequence
| Neuroscientists cruise for research-centre funding
| NIH aims to characterize embryonic stem-cell lines
| Bush promises US cash for international battle against AIDS
| Report exposes errors in cancer 'breakthrough'
| London medic makes short trip to head Wellcome Trust
| European scientists plan jamboree in 2004
| Court annuls Elan appeal
| Pfizer strikes two big deals
| US EPO decision reversed
| Goodman will head US CBER
| US, France suspend gene therapy trials
News Features
The beat goes on
Four years ago, scientists claimed they would grow a functioning heart in the lab within a decade. That now looks like wishful thinking, but tissue engineers haven't given up on their grand vision.
Nature (27 February 2003)
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Epigenetics and disease: Altered states
Changes to the genome that don't affect DNA sequence may help to explain differences between genetically identical twins. Might these 'epigenetic' phenomena also underlie common diseases?
Nature (13 February 2003)
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