News of the Week New NRC structure Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences & Education Chairman: Julian Wolpert Executive director: David A. Goslin Commission on Engineering & Technical Systems Chairman: H. Guyford Stever Executive director: David C. Hazen Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Resources Cochairmen: Robert M. White Herbert Friedman Executive director (acting): Raphael G. Kasper Transportation Research Board Chairman: Darrell V. Manning Executive director: Thomas B. Deen Office of International Affairs Executive director: Victor Rabinowitch Office of Scientific & Engineering Personnel Executive director: William C. Kelly
about because of budget squeezes. And although the academy makes no mention of its finances, some observers in Washington believe that academy president Frank Press and his executive officer, Philip Smith, saw some sources of federal funds
drying up under President Reagan's austere science policy. What's left for Press and Smith to do won't be entirely pleasant. The original, controversial proposal made by academy vice president James Ebert, director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, was to eliminate the Assembly of Life Sciences and fold its medical activities into the Institute of Medicine. At the same time, a new Commission on Biology & Agriculture would take shape to focus on various environmental and food and fiber problems looming on the horizon. Unrelated to these developments is a change in the Committee on Science & Public Engineering Policy. There, Micah Naftalin will be replaced as executive director, but his successor has not been named yet. The person said to be on the inside track is Alan Hoffman of Congress' Office of Technology Assessment. Hoffman formerly worked with Smith and Press during their days at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, where Press was Presidential Science Adviser and Smith his chief aide. "We honestly don't know how this is going to shake out," says one NAS staffer. "What I do know is that there are a hell of a lot of people moving around. There isn't anyone here who isn't indirectly being affected. The surprising thing is that it all had to be done so fast." D
Monoclonal antibodies a\ proved for lab test use Approval for use of monoclonal antibodies in a diagnostic test device for monitoring human cancer has been granted to Abbott Laboratories by the Food & Drug Administration. This marks the first time FDA has approved monoclonal antibodies for use in certain laboratory devices, according to the North Chicago drug firm. Abbott has been marketing its device, which uses conventional antibodies for following carcinoembryonic antigens (CEA), since 1980. However, Abbott does not intend to market the device with monoclonal antibodies until other improvements are incorporated, a company representative says. The company also plans during the next several years to improve other diagnostic kits it now markets, the representative adds. Monoclonal antibodies represent one type of the new biotechnologies currently receiving a great deal of 8 C&EN April 19, 1982
attention. Such antibodies, which may be produced either in vitro in cultured cells or in small animals, such as mice, usually are highly specific and can recognize a particular antigen, or foreign molecule, that may characterize certain cells. In this Abbott diagnostic kit, for example, the particular antigen that's recognized is characteristically made by some kinds of tumor cells. Its presence in the blood generally indicates that tumor cells, typically those found either in lungs, breast, or colon, are present in the body. Thus, the CEA laboratory kit is used for following patients who are receiving cancer therapy, and the test gives one index of how effective that therapy is. Such tests, however, are by no means yet considered foolproof. Nor are they available for all kinds of cancer. Many companies are working on monoclonal antibodies for use in similar tests and also for use in diag-
nostic tests for other diseases, such as hepatitis and other virus-caused diseases.* Abbott says that use of monoclonal antibodies in such devices will make them more reliable and also will make them more economical to produce. D
Science policy deputy head appointed The White House has pulled a surprise on the science policy community in Washington by quietly appointing a number-two man to Presidential Science Adviser George A. Keyworth, who also heads the Office of Science & Technology Policy. He is Ronald B. Frankum, 47, former deputy director of the Office of Policy Development where he coordinated the work of the various Cabinet councils in their formulation of policy. No announcement has been made as yet by the White House, since it is still deciding whether to submit Frankum's name for Senate approval or simply to insert him in the slot as an existing member of the White House staff. The act that created OSTP specifies appointment of a Senate-approved deputy director, but the White House legally can get around that in Frankum's case. Sentiment, though, is that his name will be sent to Capitol Hill out of Keyworth's wish to remain on good terms with Congress. Frankum's appointment is a bit of a surprise because, first, he is not a scientist but a lawyer/public administrator, and, second, because OSTP hasn't had a deputy director since the Nixon Administration. Frankum, however, is no stranger to science policy. During the late 1960s he served as science adviser to Reagan, who was then governor of California. And he taught science policy while he was professor of law at San Diego State University. Frankum tells C&EN that he is occupying one of the most exciting jobs in Washington during one of the most* crucial stages of America's technological history. He sees the decline of the U.S. lead in global science and technology as serious but believes that the country is on the verge of a technological renaissance. He is a strategic planner, believes research and development are central to the policy process today, and is a convert to the need for serious forecasting at the government level. D
