by Philipp Steger

American science journalism: the art of story telling
A young scientist, who has decided she wants to become a science journalist, starts her application essay with the simple, yet emotionally powerful description of an idyllic childhood growing up on a 700 year old farm in the “gentle green hills” of Lower Austria. She gets accepted into one of the country’s most coveted programs for science journalists.

by Jutta Kern

with expert contributions on
Brainpower Austria - Sailing against the prevailing winds by Charlotte Alber and Dan Kolmer
European Programs To Encourage Mobility Of Students And Researchers by Mary Kavanagh
European Researcher’s Mobility Portal - A gateway to new opportunities by Sieglinde Gruber
Helping researchers out: The role and opportunities offered by the European network of mobility centres (ERA-MORE) by Joseph Jamar

by Christian Neumann

In a repeat of past budgets, the FY 2005 budget proposes record funding for federal R&D due to large increases in defense and homeland security R&D; however, with tight constraints on other discretionary spending, most federal R&D programs would see flat funding or cuts, and even favored R&D agencies of past years would see increases barely above the expected rate of inflation of 1.3 percent.

by Philipp Steger

with expert contribution on
GEN-AU – The Austrian Genome Research Program by Maria Bürgermeister and Maria Fiala

“Look, scientists are also human beings,” says Georg Wick, the president of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), emphatically and continues, “The high quality of life in Austria is an added bonus for any scientist.” As he is saying this, we are benefiting from an unexpected interlude of summer and sitting in an outdoor café in the vicinity of Vienna’s Business University where Wick has just talked to business students about his organization’s mission. Wick, a longtime resident of Innsbruck and professor at the University Institute for Pathophysiology there, gives an example of that particular quality of life: “Last Friday I spent at the lab, in the evening I attended a concert with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Anne-Sophie Mutter conducted by André Previn. Saturday morning I worked at the lab again, in the afternoon we went on a ski-tour, then to the Sauna and in the evening to the movies. Sunday morning it was the lab again, then cross-country skiing in Seefeld and the opera in the evening. And between all of that, there was enough time to read the scientific journals.”

by Roland Vogl

and background information on
The Bayh-Dole Act –The Basis for U.S. Technology Transfer by Christian Neumann

This article seeks to provide a brief update on the continuing debate surrounding human gene patents, a subject that has produced considerable controversy in the international scientific community. The article describes the origins of the gene patenting controversy in the context of the general policy goals underlying the patent system. It also discusses the legal criteria supporting the patenting of isolated and purified human genes, as well as the general scope and limitations of gene patents in the U.S. and E.U. The author addresses the often misdirected question of “Who owns one’s genes?” as well, and examines the most controversial issues in the current gene patenting debate: The patentability of diagnostic tests and research tools, and the patenting of partial gene sequences, such as ESTs and SNPs (**).