Newsbriefs

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Map thief turns himself in to Florida police

     The Sun reported on Friday that the man suspected in the
theft of valuable maps last month from the George Peabody
Library--and other rare books libraries--turned himself in
Tuesday to police in Coral Springs, Fla. 

     Gilbert J. Bland Jr., a 46-year-old Florida rare maps
dealer, was wanted by the University of Virginia police, who
issued three warrants charging him with felony grand larceny in
map thefts from books at the university's library on Dec. 5 and
6.

     Bland's attorney until his arrest, Ira Still, described his
client as "very embarrassed, frightened and upset" about the
Virginia charges. Bland maintains the Peabody theft "was the only
thing that he ever did."

     University spokesman Dennis O'Shea said the General
Counsel's Office is actively preparing to file criminal and civil
complaints against Bland if it is determined it is necessary,
"but we will not do that if it will in any way interfere with the
FBI investigation, which is why we haven't taken action thus
far," he said.
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Bernice A. King to speak at MLK event

     The Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of civil rights
activist Martin Luther King Jr., will be the featured speaker at
this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration event, scheduled
from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23, in the Turner
Auditorium on the East Baltimore campus. Also appearing will be
the Hopkins musical group Unified Voices with additional music
provided by the gospel recording group William Becton & Friends.

     During the ceremony, eight Hopkins employees will be honored
for their significant community service activities, an award that
echoes the same spirit of volunteerism and citizenship that
characterized the life of Martin Luther King. This year's award
winners are Marion D'Lugoff (School of Nursing), Benedict Dorsey
(Homewood Student Financial Services), Nathaniel Grogan (Hopkins
Hospital Security), Armenta M. Jones (School of Public Health
Credit Union), Michael Paradise (Hopkins Hospital), Vernon Rice
(Homewood Facilities Management), Karen Schrader (JHMI) and
Teresa Tufano (Hopkins Hospital). Profiles of the award winners
are scheduled to appear in next week's issue of The Gazette. 

     Seating at the Turner Auditorium is limited to university
and hospital employees. The event will be broadcast live to 218
Maryland Hall on the Homewood campus, the Tilghman Room in the
Turner Building in East Baltimore and the Applied Physics
Laboratory.
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University prepared for next step at Eastern site

     With architectural studies in hand, the university has
determined that the former Eastern High School on 33rd Street is
sound enough to be converted for use as administrative and
academic space. Hopkins officials hope to take control of the
property soon and to begin work in the early part of the year.
Plans call for a complete renovation of the school, built in 1936
but vacant since 1986, and the construction of smaller buildings
to create a 26-acre university complex.

     Other proposed uses for the site include a high school run
by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a 50,000-square-foot "business
incubator center" run by Hopkins affiliate Dome Real Estate, and
as many as 50,000 square feet of office space for administrative,
academic and other university uses.

     University officials estimate the completed project could
pump $200 million into the local economy annually.
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National Merit Scholars keep choosing Hopkins

     A report released last week shows that once again Hopkins is
among the top 10 percent of all colleges and universities
enrolling new National Merit Scholars. Robert Massa, dean of
enrollment management, said the university ranked 35th of 369
colleges and universities this year. Although Hopkins has been
ranked as high as 24th, "it is nevertheless a superior
accomplishment to enroll as many of these scholars [51] as we
did."

     Interestingly, Massa said, of the top 35 colleges and
universities, only three have smaller enrollments than Hopkins,
making our National Merit enrollment one of the top per capita in
the country.
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Genetically engineered cancer vaccine developed

     Researchers at the Oncology Center and the departments of
Pathology and Pharmacology have developed a genetically
engineered vaccine that arms the immune system to destroy
cervical cancer cells. Using the vaccine in mice with cervical
cancers biologically similar to advanced disease in humans, the
researchers eliminated the tumors in the animals with no side
effects. Their findings were reported in the Jan. 1 issue of
Cancer Research.

     Human clinical trials of the vaccine are expected to begin
in about a year in women with advanced cervical cancer who have
failed standard therapy, the scientists said. If the vaccine
works, they anticipate that it eventually will be used for
prevention of the disease, although they caution that many phases
of human testing need to be completed before the vaccine is
widely available.

     "This vaccine is a model for cancer immunotherapy, not just
for cervical cancer, but for other virus-associated cancers and
any cancer that expresses tumor-associated antigens and that
would respond to immune therapy," said T. C. Wu, assistant
professor of pathology and principal investigator of this study.
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