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GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY Chemical genomics network Researchers at U.S. academic, government, and nonprofit institutions could, for the first time, get free access to extensive libraries of small organic molecules, such as those used by large pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery, if all goes according to the National Institute of Health’s (NIH’s) plan to create a nationwide chemical genomics network. The first step of the initiative, which was announced in early June, is to launch a Chemical Genomics Center under the National Human Genome Research Institute. The center plans to have a staff of about 50 scientists (primarily contract employees) and is expected to begin screen-
ing small molecules with high-throughput technology by the end of 2004. In 2005, NIH plans to fund up to 10 additional centers at other locations. “These chemical genomics centers will be coordinated to build a network in the academic research community for identifying a broad range of small molecules with promising properties for biological research,” says Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health, one of the institutes providing leadership for the initiative. According to the plan, data generated by the network will be deposited in a central database called PubChem and will be freely available to the scientific community. NIH plans to manage the data
collection, which could contain up to 1 million compounds. In contrast to pharmaceutical research, which tends to focus on biological targets with known relevance to human disease, the chemical genomics network plans to explore a much broader group of targets across the entire human genome. Although hundreds of thousands of proteins are believed to be encoded by the human genome, fewer than 500 interactions between proteins and small molecules have been characterized. Such data are needed to reveal the function of genes and the roles they play in critical biological pathways. Eventually, the efforts could reveal new targets for therapeutics. a —Britt E. Erickson
PEOPLE
From left to right: Jed Harrison, Mary Kaiser, Ted Kuwana, David Muddiman, André Striegel, Henry White
2004 DAC award recipients Six analytical chemists will receive awards from the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry (DAC). The awards will be presented at the ACS fall meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. D. Jed Harrison, professor of chemistry at the University of Alberta (Canada), will receive the Award in Chemical Instrumentation, sponsored by the Dow Chemical Foundation. Harrison’s research has focused on the application of micro- and nano-fabrication techniques for miniaturized chemical, biochemical, and biological instrumentation and sensor systems. Mary A. Kaiser, research fellow in the DuPont Corporate Center for Analyt262 A
ical Sciences in Wilmington, Del., will receive the Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Analytical Chemistry, sponsored by the Waters Corp. Her current technical interests involve analytical measurements of fluorine-containing compounds. Ted Kuwana, distinguished emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, will receive the J. Calvin Giddings Award for Excellence in Education from the DAC, sponsored by the Dekker Foundation. Although retired from active teaching, he continues as a principal investigator of a National Science Foundation grant to develop the Analytical Sciences Digital Library—a peer-reviewed collection of Web-based
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resources for teachers, students, and practitioners. David C. Muddiman, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and director and founder of the W. M. Keck FTICR Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, will receive the Arthur F. Findeis Award for Outstanding Achievements by a Young Analytical Chemist, sponsored by the Philip Morris Cos. Muddiman’s research interests include the fundamentals and chemical and biological applications of FTICR-MS. André M. Striegel, assistant professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Florida State University, will receive the first annual Award for
