Psychiatry: Deciphering the Adolescent Brain Medicine: Strategy Is Developed to Fortify DNA Vaccine Against AIDS Virus Social Medicine: Conference Takes Global Measure of Mental Illness Research Administration: New Office Protects All Research Subjects Diversity: Program Probes Barriers to Benefits for Gays, Lesbians, Presents 2nd Annual Diversity Awards No Home Run, But Batter on Base Against Lou Gehrig's Disease Study Makes Sweet Discovery of Bitter Taste Receptors Mutation Bias Maintains Length of Genetic Repeats MRI May Predict Alzheimer's Disease HMS Faculty Council: Faculty Growth, Library Discussed In Memoriam: Sharon Clayborne New Appointments to Full Professor A View from the Inner City: Tolerance Is Not Enough Front Page

RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION New Office Protects All Research Subjects In November 1907, the Harvard Faculty of Medicine, newly ensconced in its stately marble Quadrangle, formed a committee on animals, investing it with the powers to issue orders and regulations for proper care and feeding and to stop experimental work deemed improper or unnecessary. Although its membership has seen some turnover in 92 years, the Harvard Medical Area Standing Committee on Animals still carries out its mandate with diligence, says Carolyn Connelly, director of the Office for Research Subject Protection (ORSP). The creation of this new office last October, to oversee the animal committee as well as the HMS/HSDM Committee on Human Studies, reflects a heightened awareness and scrutiny—from government regulators, professional associations, and the public—of the use of both human and animal subjects in biomedical research. Biosafety concerns over transgenic, knockout, and similarly manipulated animals, along with the animal rights movement, have raised the profile of these issues in recent years. Carolyn Connelly is director of the Office for Research Subject Protection. Photo by Steve Gilbert Breadth of the Shield ORSP oversees animal and human studies at HMS and HSDM, and any affiliated-hospital studies that receive funding through HMS, as well as all animal studies at HSPH, the Harvard Institutes of Medicine, the New England Regional Primate Research Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital. For each of these—the current total is about 700 studies with animals and 230 with humans—ORSP's mission is to ensure that all subjects are protected from unnecessary harm. This is done in part by assuring compliance with federal regulations, notably the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 and the 1974 National Research Act that established institutional review board oversight of human studies. Training researchers and laboratory workers in both regulatory compliance and ethical sensitivity is an important part of ORSP's work, says Connelly, a PhD scientist who spent 20 years in cardiovascular physiology research before joining HMS as animal and human studies coordinator in 1994. Because turnover among lab personnel is high, quarterly training sessions for humane animal care and use will be supplemented with Web-based training that new workers can take immediately. ORSP is part of an 11-member consortium of Boston institutions developing the Internet training program. Human-subjects research training is tailored to individual departments' needs and includes a wide-ranging training program to be held in fall 2000. Federal law requires a minimum standard of care and treatment for lab animals, but HMS strives to maintain a maximum standard, Connelly says. The committee has spent hours, for instance, discussing the acceptable level of distress for a single mouse. Protecting animal welfare also means making sure researchers use the proper number and kind of animals for each type of study. "We're here to help researchers continue the high-quality research at the School," Connelly says. "One thing that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle is that we're not here just to enforce the laws, but also to make changes necessary for better science." —Tom Reynolds