CATALYTIC REACTIONS

On the NIH Health Disparities Center

I think that one general area of study for the new Health Disparities Center should be the interactions between genetics and environment. For example, are African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Native Americans, Asian-Americans, and European-Americans on the same high-fat diet equally likely to become obese? If not, are there predictive differences in genes affecting things such as steroid metabolism?

—Roland Owens, NIDDK

Upcoming "Faces and Phases of Life" seminars, presented by the Work and Family Life Center (WFLC) and the Employee Assistance Program, include:

Thursday, March 29, 2:00–4:00, 31/6C10. "Estate Planning."

Wednesday, April 4, 12:00–1:30, 31/6C6. "Setting Limits and Delegating."

Tuesday, April 10, 12:00–2:00, 31/6C6. Taking Charge of Your Career.

Thursday, April 19, 12:00–1:30, 31/6C6. "Walking the Gauntlet: Coping with Life."

Tuesday, April 24, 12:00–1:30, 1/151 (note this change from the original location of 31/6C6). "Transitions, Part 2. Keeping the Faith—Midlife Transition Issues and Beyond."

Wednesday, May 2, 12:00–1:30, 31/6C6. "Paying for Care for Older Relatives. Part I: Original Medicare."

Thursday, May 3, 12:30–2:00, NSC Conference Room D, 6001 Executive Boulevard (NOTE: this seminar will not be available via videocast). "The Basics of Balancing Work and Family."

Tuesday, May 8, 12:00–1:30, 31/6C10. "Paying for Care for Older Relatives. Part II: Additional Options."

Wednesday, May 16, 12:00–2:00, 31/6C6. "Preparing KSA Statements for a Federal Career."

Wednesday, May 23, 12:00–1:30, 1/Wilson Hall. "Stop Putting it Off!"

Wednesday, May 30, 11:30–1:30, 31/6C6. "Bringing Balance to Our Fragmented Lives."

All seminars are free. Any changes will be posted at the WFLC website and sent to individuals on the e-mail list. Call WFLC at 301-435-1619 to register, be placed on an e-mail list, or arrange videoconferencing to your location. Most seminars may be watched at the NIH videocasting website, either in real-time or from the archive.

The videocassette may also be rented from the WFLC resource collection—it will be available about two weeks after the workshop.

Sign language interpretation is provided. For other reasonable accommodations, call the WFLC 48 hours before the seminar (301-435-1619, TTY/TDD: 301-480-0690).

PSST

In case you hadn’t noticed, the archives of the online Catalyst are now just about complete: Except for the first year’s issues (1993) and the first two of 1994, they’re all there at the Catalyst website.

CAREGIVER FAIR

The HHS Administration on Aging is holding an "Older Americans Caregiver Fair" Tuesday, May 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Humphrey Building Great Hall (200 Independence Avenue, S.W.) in Washington. Find out about home-delivered meals, transportation, Medicare/Medicaid, daycare and respite care, long-distance care-giving, and more. For more fair information, contact: Irma Tetzloff at 202-619-3268; or Tom Northam at 202-401-9647; or e-mail.

The NIMH Integrative Neural Immune Program is hosting a conference at the Masur Auditorium in Building 10 on the "Science of Mind-Body Interactions: An Exploration of Integrative Mechanisms," March 26–28 (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. the first two days; 9:00 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. the last day).

Other sponsors are NINDS, the OIR, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Eleven other NIH components are co-sponsors.

Conference agenda, speakers, objectives, and other information are available at the conference website.

There is no fee for NIH campus scientists, but advance registration is required—either by fax: 312-641-8555 or by e-mail or online.

CAREER SEMINARS

The NIH Fellows Committee, Office of Research on Women’s Health, and Office of Education are sponsoring a series of seminars on "Scientific Careers in the New Millennium." They are held at Lipsett Amphitheater in Building 10 from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

The next two in line are on:

"Writing," Thursday, March 29
With Nancy Touchette (freelance) and Crispin Taylor (Science NextWave)

"Policy," Thursday, April 12
With Christine Grady (deputy director, NIH Bioethics Department) and Deborah Stine (COSEPUP)

A reception in the Visitor’s Center follows each event.

Reservations are not required, but seating is limited. For more information, contact this party.

The inaugural meeting of the newly established Pharmacogenetics Research Network and Knowledge Base will be held April 25, 2001, in the Lister Hill Auditorium.

Sponsored by NIGMS and several other NIH components, the meeting will feature research presentations as well as panel discussions on both ethical issues and industry relations. There is no charge to attend.

For a printable meeting flyer and a list of speakers, topics, and registrants, visit the NIGMS Pharmacogenetics Research Network homepage, where online registration is available and encouraged. For further details, contact the meeting organizer, Rochelle Long, at 301-594-1826, or e-mail.

The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and the National Institutes of Health are holding a day-long joint symposium April 2, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Clinical Center’s Masur Auditorium. The purpose of the symposium is to initiate an NAI-NIH dialogue at the scientist-to-scientist level that is expected to lead to new collaborative research on cosmic aspects of life (see The NIH Catalyst, May–June 2000, "Astrobiology and the Search for Origins").

This first symposium will focus on
Extremophiles
Biofilms
Oxidative damage and biological forms of iron
Future interactions are certain touch on such areas as remote sensing to the role of water in life.

For more information and a complete agenda and to register online (not mandatory but requested), visit the website.

PEER REVIEW PROGRAM

The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is establishing the Review Internship Program to provide scientists with training and experience in some aspects of scientific research administration. This program is initially limited to NIH intramural scientists interested in gaining first-hand experience with the peer review process; it may be extended in the future to other scientists. Applications are now being accepted for positions that will start August 1, 2001; the application deadline is April 20. Program coordinators are Rona Hirschberg and Anita Miller Sostek.

A forum on the new Review Internship Program will be held April 2 from 1:00–3:30 pm in Building 31, Room 6C-7. General inquiries can be directed to Mary Elizabeth Mason at 301-435-1114.

TTY-TDD users may call Lori Stoller-Cruz, CSR, at (301) 301 594-7891 .

Additional information about the program, application forms, and other requirements can be found on the CSR intranet website.

Alternate formats are available on request.

WHO'S THE FAREEST?

Fellows are invited to submit an abstract of their current research to the eighth annual FARE (Fellows Award for Research Excellence) competition. FARE recognizes outstanding intramural scientific research and is open to postdoctoral IRTAs, visiting fellows, and other fellows with less than five years total postdoctoral experience in the NIH IRP. Pre-IRTAs performing their dissertation research at NIH are also eligible to compete. Visiting fellows and scientists must not have been tenured at their home institute. Questions about eligibility should be addressed to your institute’s scientific director.

Abstracts are evaluated anonymously on scientific merit, originality, experimental design, and overall quality and presentation. Twenty-five percent of the fellows who apply will win an award. Winners will be announced by September 2001 and receive a $1,000 travel award to use for attending and presenting their work at a scientific meeting between October 1, 2001, and September 30, 2002. Fellows are asked to submit their application, including abstract, electronically from May 1 to May 31, 2001 (5:00 p.m., EST), via the NIH Fellows Committee website.

Those who cannot access the electronic application in their laboratory can find additional computers in Bldg. 10 at the NIH Library, the CC Information Technology Center (Room 1C282), and the CyberCafe/Graduate Student Lounge; and in Bldg. 31 at the User Resource Center (Room B2B47).