Call for UK science office to return to ‘centre of government’

london

A panel of environmental experts has called on the British government to move the Office of Science and Technology (OST), transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry under the previous Conservative government, back to the Cabinet Office. The call comes from the government's panel of advisers on sustainable development, which says that the importance of technology to society means that the OST needs to be at “the centre of government”.

The recommendation appears in the panel's annual report, published today (5 February). Sir Crispin Tickell, chancellor of the University of Kent and the panel's convenor, says that such a move would reinvigorate the Technology Foresight exercise, for which the OST is responsible, and whose results are “uneven”.

Euro lab takes the lead in capitalizing on research

munich

The Heidelberg-based European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) has become the first international research organization to take a stake in a venture capital company in exchange for intellectual property based on its research. Following the setting up of the laboratory's Technology Transfer Company, EMBL has accepted 10 per cent of the shares in Lion, a local start-up genomics company, in exchange for rights to its Arakis sequencing system.

Fotis Kafatos, the laboratory's director-general, says that “organizations like ours have the responsibility not only to be innovative, but also to facilitate the use of our discoveries for the benefit of society”.

German ombudsman to watch out for fraud

munich

The University of Konstanz last week became the first university in Germany to appoint an ombudsman for science. The move is in line with the recommendations of a committee of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the German science council, set up last year to suggest ways of encouraging good scientific practice after a serious case of alleged scientific fraud (see Nature 390, 652; 1997).

Rudolf Klein, a 62-year-old professor of physics, has been appointed to the position for two years. According to the university, his role will primarily be one of ‘confidant’ for young scientists uncertain how to act over suspected scientific misconduct in their laboratories.

Controversial tumour therapy set for trials

amsterdam

A new European facility that will test a radiotherapy treatment for brain tumours was inaugurated by the research commissioner, Edith Cresson, last week at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Petten, the Netherlands. The facility will use the centre's High Flux Reactor. The opening follows a decade of sensitive negotiations with the 15 participating countries.

The treatment, Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, is based on the principle that a neutron beam will selectively destroy tumour cells pre-loaded with boron injected into the bloodstream of patients. But the treatment remains controversial. Previous trials have been relatively unsuccessful, and many experts remain sceptical about the ECU11.4 million (US$12.3 million) project, funded by the European Commission.

US scientists plea for caution on cloning law

washington

The 52,000-member Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology has urged the US Congress to ensure that any legislation on cloning should not be permanent, and should be narrowly drawn (see page 523). But it has not taken a position on whether the cloning of human embryos for research purposes should be outlawed. Last September the federation adopted a voluntary moratorium on human cloning (see Nature 389, 319; 1997).

In a separate move, 55 medical and patient advocacy groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association for Cancer Research and the American College of Medical Genetics, have written to members of Congress asking that any legislation should do “no harm to biomedical research”.

British drugs companies in mega-merger plan

london

The British-based pharmaceutical companies GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline Beecham have announced plans to merge, creating what the two companies describe in a joint statement as “the largest research and development organization in the global healthcare industry”.

The new company — expected to be called Glaxo SmithKline — will have a market value of more than £100 billion (US$150 billion), and a combined worldwide workforce of 110,000. But heavy job losses are expected, particularly among scientists working in areas of research where the two companies' efforts overlap.

Green light for sales of leprosy vaccine in India

new delhi

The Indian government has authorized the sale of what is claimed to be the world's first leprosy vaccine. It took two decades to develop, and will be made by Cadilla Pharmaceuticals of Ahmadabad. No major side effects were noticed after clinical trials using 80,000 doses.

India has 60 per cent of the world's 1.15 million leprosy cases. Treatment usually entails a three-year course of multiple drugs, with varied results. A course of treatment with the vaccine will last between six months and a year, and will cost US$1.25. The vaccine will be available from June.

Challenge ahead for boss of Euro research centre

amsterdam

Herbert Allgeier has been nominated as the new director-general of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), which comprises seven institutes in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Spain. Allgeier, an engineer, currently directs the commission's advanced communication technology programme and coordinates its air and space activities, a position he will retain.

In his new appointment, announced last week, Allgeier will have to respond to increasing pressure, particularly from the European Parliament, to reorganize the way in which the JRC's institutes are run and to increase the quantity and quality of their scientific output.

Setting sail to study underwater volcano

seattle

Oregon State University is to send a research ship to investigate an underwater volcano, Axial Seamount, that has been erupting off the Oregon coast for the past week. Chris Fox, a geologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says the eruption has not been seen. But he says it is likely that rivers of red-hot lava are flowing out of the volcano, along with giant plumes of scalding, mineral-rich water carrying microbes that thrive beneath the ocean floor. The volcano is 4,500 feet high. Its peak is nearly 4,000 feet below the ocean surface.