Cell Biology: One-way Calcium Channel Pinpointed Within the Cell Neuroscience: Knocking Down Cell Cycle Protein Picks Up Axon Growth Microbiology: Early Step in Protein-folding Revealed by Bacterial Mutant Milestone Symposium 5 Hope, Caution Expressed About Stem Cells Milestone Symposium 4 Speakers Unmask Molecular Players in the Brain Dental Practice: Dentistry's Future Glimpsed at Leadership Forum Green Campus Initiative: Harvard's Longwood Schools Grow Greener Outreach: Medical Team Aids Earthquake Relief in Iran Second-year Show: Students Rollick Along the Low Road in Second-year Show New Books: The Winter Bookshelf   Protein-Protein Interactions Mapped for C. elegans Reading Expressions: A Skill Toward Becoming A Better Doctor? High Intake of Vitamin D Supplement May Cut Risk of Multiple Sclerosis Nuclear-export Inhibitors Found In Cell-based Screen   Appointments to Full Professor HSPH Awarded $20.5m Biodefense Grant Nominations Sought for Dean's Awards to Advance Women FDA Commissioner Speaks at Next Milestone Symposium HSPH Calls for Myrto Lefkopoulou Lecture Award Nominees News Brief Honors and Advances In Memoriam: David Bray James Roberts David Freiman William Montgomery   A Joke as Cover for Sexism and Violence   Medicare Drug Benefit May Unsettle Some Stomachs   Front Page

GREEN CAMPUS INITIATIVE Harvard's Longwood Schools Grow Greener The School of Public Health has purchased Harvard's first renewable energy in the form of wind-generated power as a result of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative's "Go Cold Turkey" energy conservation competition. The competition asked HMS, HSPH, and FAS faculty, staff, and students to reduce energy consumption in November 2003. It is just one facet of environmental conservation under way at Harvard. "Our day-to-day operations have a human health impact through climate change and pollution, and it speaks to something fundamental in the missions of Harvard's Longwood schools." --Jessica Woolliams The HSPH administration challenged the residents of the only HSPH dormitory, Shattuck House, to pledge to reduce their energy use by turning off computers, lights, and appliances and turning down their heat. The dormitory, which houses international students, was chosen because many of the HSPH students also use their residences as home offices, creating a power-depleting environment in need of energy conservation. More than half of the dorm's residents responded, meeting the School's challenge. With the money saved by decreasing electrical costs, HSPH purchased renewable wind power for Shattuck House from Renewable Choice Energy in Colorado. Two percent of the national power grid is derived from wind, according to Jessica Woolliams, the Longwood coordinator of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative. "Our day-to-day operations have a human health impact through climate change and pollution, and it speaks to something fundamental in the missions of Harvard's Longwood schools," Woolliams said. "This is a model that costs nothing: we use the energy savings to buy renewable energy." On a local level, "seemingly trivial personal decisions around energy use are consequential and relevant to the health of patients," said fourth-year medical student Paul Rosenau, who also was involved in the creation of a Longwood branch of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, the Longwood Green Campus Initiative. "More than an economic matter, the visible pursuit of energy conservation and renewable energy helps to promote a grounded, community-relevant sense of professional ethics," he said. There are approximately 8,000 computers at HMS, HSPH, and HSDM, according to Woolliams. If they were left on all the time, the annual cost would exceed $600,000, and roughly 3,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted. This is equivalent to putting 681 cars on the road and would require more than 1,000 acres of trees to absorb the carbon dioxide. Craig Campbell, energy manager of the facilities maintenance company UNICCO at HMS, has overseen efforts to make the School, which annually spends more than $10 million on energy, more efficient. In addition to large, behind-the-scenes technical upgrades, smaller-scale moves toward efficiency also have been undertaken. In 2003, all of the red and silver exit signs on campus were replaced with black and green LED signs. The new signs use one watt of energy; the old signs used 20. And currently, each 150-watt high-pressure sodium light in the Quad parking garage is being replaced with two 28-watt fluorescent bulbs. Changing the habits of the HMS, HSPH, and HSDM community and the Longwood area as a whole is a step toward reducing Harvard's environmental impact. "Climate change and unstable weather patterns represent the greatest threat we face in terms of our health and well-being," said Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at HMS and an HMS instructor in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Longwood Green Campus Initiative is cosponsoring a discussion, titled "Energy Use and Human Health," with the Center for Health and the Global Environment and the Students for Environmental Awareness in Medicine. It will be held Friday, Feb. 20, 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. in Kresge G1 at HSPH as part of the Northeast Climate Conference. RSVP to Jessica Woolliams at jwoollia@hsph.harvard.edu or at 617-384-8860. --Leah Gourley