Coral gardener of the Maldives

Abdul Azeez Abdul Hakeem is a man with a vision. He is 53 years old, with a degree in agronomy and an idea, if not an obsession: to nurse and propagate corals on a large scale. His motive, however, is not to provide for the international marine aquarium trade but as a safeguard for the livelihood of his country, the Maldives.     

Scientific misconduct and research integrity for the bench scientist

This paper describes the role of the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), a component of the Public Health Service (PHS), in defining scientific misconduct in research supported with PHS funds and in establishing standards for responding to allegations of misconduct. The principal methods by which ORI exercises its responsibilities in this area are defining what types of behaviors undertaken by research investigators constitute misconduct, overseeing institutional efforts to investigate and report misconduct, and recommending to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) PHS administrative actions when misconduct is identified. ORI also takes affirmative steps to promote research integrity through education, training, and other initiatives. The role of the research institution in responding to misconduct and promoting research integrity is complementary and overlapping with ORI's efforts but, as the employer of research investigators and front-line manager of the research, the institution has a greater opportunity to promote the highest standards of integrity in the day-to-day conduct of research. Finally, legal precedent established through civil litigation has played an important role in defining the standards that apply in determining when a breach of research integrity has occurred.     

Patenting for the research scientist: an update

Academic institutional research constantly produces results worthy of patent protection, but coping with the demands of patent law presents considerable challenges to bioscientists working in these institutions. Inventors need, however, to be aware of recent patent office guidelines and court decisions if they are to seek useful intellectual property as a basis for technology transfer to industry.     

Paul Bert, scientist and politician

Paul Bert worked with Claude Bernard, one of the leading physiologists of the 19th century. In his laboratory at the Collège de France in Paris, Paul Bert carried out fascinating experiments in particular on respiratory processes, leading him to publish "La pression barométrique" in 1878. In this book are recalled his discovery of oxygen pressure decrease with altitude, divers diseases, the improved safety protocols in hyperbaric conditions, and the first development of gas anaesthetics for surgery. He was the third President of the Société de Biologie. Paul Bert was also a politician with strong convictions. Minister of Education under Gambetta's short term government, he initiated the fight for social equality and secular education and became one of the most prestigious figures of the developing socialist party. He received many distinctions and was given a state funeral.     

An introduction to cell motility for the physical scientist

Directed, purposeful movement is one of the qualities that we most closely associate with living organisms, and essentially all known forms of life on this planet exhibit some type of self-generated movement or motility. Even organisms that remain sessile most of the time, like flowering plants and trees, are quite busy at the cellular level, with large organelles, including chloroplasts, constantly racing around within cellular boundaries. Directed biological movement requires that the cell be able to convert its abundant stores of chemical energy into mechanical energy. Understanding how this mechanochemical energy transduction takes place and understanding how small biological forces generated at the molecular level are marshaled and organized for large-scale cellular or organismal movements are the focus of the field of cell motility. This tutorial, aimed at readers with a background in physical sciences, surveys the state of current knowledge and recent advances in modeling cell motility.     

Pradeep Burma receives ISPMB visiting scientist award for 2001

Appointments and Awards

Pradeep Burma receives ISPMB visiting scientist award for 2001