HIIWWI)||W»ittl SECURITY Funding is targeted to create 10 new tenured faculty positions and 100 positions MacArthur Foundation boosts funds formidcareer scientists and for research to reduce terrorist threats postdoctoral stuCenter that will be set up in HE J O H N D. & CATHERINE dents conducting Washington, D.C., next year. T. MacArthur Foundation international is planning a "smart portal" As envisioned, the center will as part of its new Science, Techbe located in an existing instisecurity research. nology & Security Initiative to
LINKING SCIENTISTS AND POLICYMAKERS
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link scientists and engineers with policymakers. MacArthur's commitment of $50 million over six years is its way of correcting the post-Cold War shortage of independent scientists and engineers able to advise U.S. government and elected officials on risks posed by weapons of mass destruction. The smart portal is a Science, Technology & Security Policy HIV
Small-molecule inhibitor prevents H I V entry into cells
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OST APPROVED HIV DRUGS
CD4
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C&EN
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"Because of the rapid emergence of resistance to currently available anti-HIV drugs, additional safe and effective inhibitors are desperately needed," says Eric O. Freed, chief of the virus-cell interaction section in the HIV Drug Resistance Proby binding to the viral gram at the National envelope glycoprotein Cancer Institute, Fredgpl20 so the virus can't erick, Md. " W h e t h e r dock with the CD4 cell BMS-378806 will turn receptor [Proc. Natl Acad. out to be clinically useSci. USA, published onful will require more line Aug. 20, http://www study, but this compnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/ BMS-378806 pound certainly does expnas.1832214100]. hibit a variety of promBMS-378806 shows ising characteristics." excellent potency against many H I V-l laboratory and clinical isoIn an accompanying comlates and no significant cell toxicmentary, Robin A. Weiss and ity in 14 cell lines. The compound Aine McKnight of the departis orally bioavailable in tests with ment of immunology and molecdogs, rats, and monkeys. It works ular pathology at University Colagainst strains that are resistant lege London write that, although to protease and reverse transcrip"BMS-378806 should be regardtase inhibitors. Resistance to ed as a first-generation molecule," BMS-378806, however, develops it is "a most promising start."— fairly rapidly in cell culture. CELIA HENRY
NO DOCKING HERE
INHIBITOR The small-molecule BMS-378806 binds to the viral cell surface glycoprotein gp120, blocking the protein's interaction with the CD4 receptor.
8
DRUGS
t u t i o n such as the National Academies and will "hook up the needs and interests of policymakers with the expertise in the university and policy community," Kennette M. Benedict explains. Benedict, who directs MacArthur's International Peace & Security program, says talks with members of Congress and their staffs have revealed "an appetite for this kind of information," particularly savored since
the demise of Congress' Office of Technology Assessment. For nearly two years, especially after Sept. 11,2001, MacArthur has been funding security research at nine universities, 17 U.S. policy institutions, and six foreign research centers (list available at C&EN Online) to the tune of about $25 million. These all have been subsumed under the new initiative. But an additional $25 million or more will be spent to renew some existing grants and expand the institutional scope of the initiative. The Monterey Institute of International Studies, for example, is using its MacArthur grant to support a young physicist, Charles Ferguson, as a scientistin-residence, and a recent Ph.D. chemist, Margaret E. Kosal, who is interested in chemical weapons verification issues, says James C. Moltz, associate director of Monterey's Center for Nonproliferation Studies. —LOIS EMBER
2003
inhibit either reverse transcriptase or protease to prevent viral replication. But many researchers are focusing on developing other drugs that prevent the virus from entering a cell in the first place. A multidisciplinary team at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Wallingford, Conn., led by molecular biologist Pin-Fang Lin and chemist Nicholas Meanwell, now report a new compound that prevents viral entry BMS-378806 works
HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
