NIAID grant funds Hopkins Center for AIDS Research

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has committed $7.3 million, to be spread over five years, to help fund a collaborative AIDS research effort by researchers at the schools of Medicine, Public Health and Arts and Sciences. The newly funded Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research will focus on four critical aspects of HIV infection: pathogenesis, latent HIV infection, immune restoration and prevention.

The Center for AIDS Research, a research group representing 101 investigators from the three schools, is designed to encourage high-risk innovative research, especially of a cross-disciplinary nature. The Hopkins researchers will disseminate scientific information among investigators, foster collaborative research and bring new investigators into HIV/AIDS research.

The center will be directed by John G. Bartlett, professor and director of the Infectious Diseases Department at the School of Medicine, and co-directed by David Schwartz and Joseph Margolick, both assistant professors in molecular microbiology and immunology at the School of Public Health.

APL-designed artificial bone for training receives a patent

The U.S. Patent Office has issued a patent on an APL invention called Bone Substitute for Training and Testing. The artificial bone, which responds like real bone to drilling and cutting, is used in training and testing by surgeons and medical students. The bone substitute is comprised of an inner core of foamable polymer and an outer shell of a particulate-filled polymer such as an epoxy resin.

NEAR mission discoveries highlighted in 'Science'

Findings from NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission--appearing in a special section of the Sept. 22 issue of the journal Science--confirm that asteroid 433 Eros is a consolidated, primitive sample from the solar system's beginnings.

"We can now say that Eros is an undifferentiated asteroid with homogeneous structure that never separated into a distinct crust, mantle and core," says NEAR project scientist Andrew F. Cheng of the Applied Physics Laboratory, which manages the NEAR mission. "We have definitive mass and density measurements plus spectacular images and movies showing ridges, pits, troughs and grooves that provide fascinating clues about its history."

NEAR is the first in-depth study of an asteroid and is now more than halfway through a yearlong orbit mission that began Feb. 14, 2000. To date, the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft has taken more than 103,300 images and extensive measurements of Eros' composition, structure and landforms. The spacecraft's multispectral imager and now-silent infrared spectrometer have returned a flood of observations revealing heavily cratered expanses abutting relatively smooth areas.

NEAR Shoemaker moves in for a low-altitude flyover of Eros on Oct. 25, coming within 3.7 miles, and will end the mission in February 2001 with a slow, controlled descent to the asteroid's surface. The spacecraft is currently 109 million miles from Earth, circling Eros at just under 5 miles per hour.

For the latest NEAR images, movies and mission news, visit near.jhuapl.edu.

Best-Dressed Sale, fund-raiser for hospital, begins Thursday

The Johns Hopkins Best-Dressed Sale and Boutique 2000 is set to run from Thursday, Oct. 5, through Sunday, Oct. 8, at the Evergreen Carriage House. The 35-year-old tradition brings thousands of shoppers each year seeking high-end wardrobes at a fraction of the original cost.

Available at the sale are designer dresses and shoes, contemporary fashions, classic accessories and assorted vintage clothing. All money raised goes to support The Johns Hopkins Hospital and its patients.

The event is sponsored by the Women's Board of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. To date, more than $10 million has been raised by the board to support the programs at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Hours of the sale are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. For details or directions call 410-955-9431.

Talk on neighborhoods begins JH Social Policy Seminars

The Johns Hopkins Social Policy Seminars launched the 2000- 2001 series Sept. 25 with "Neighborhoods on the Brink: Is There a Point of No Return?" featuring George Galster, professor of economics at Wayne State University.

The seminar at the Johns Hopkins Club attracted a standing-room-only crowd that included leaders of Baltimore foundations, community groups and government, along with students and faculty from JHU.

The social policy seminar series, which is devoted to cutting-edge social policy analysis, is co-hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, the School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Economics and the School of Public Health's Department of Health Policy and Management. There are four seminars in the fall and four in the spring. All seminars, which are open to the public, will be listed in The Gazette calendar.

To hear last week's discussion with Galster, check IPS' new Web site at www/jhu.edu/ips/ or visit VirtuallyLive@Hopkins at www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/audio-video.

For further information, contact Lavinia Edmunds at 410-516-4186.