LOCAL/S TATE

The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 21, 1999 - 3A

REACH
Vacccine fights
virus m mice
University researchers have created a
new vaccine that protects mice from a
virus that has been linked to cancer in
Sunians and in rodents.
T e results of the research were pub-
lished in yesterday's issue of the Journal
of the National Cancer Institute.
'I he gene was engineered by a team
from the Comprehensive Cancer Center
led by Martin Sanda, a urology surgery
professor, and produces an immune
response to fight the cancer threat.
Mice that received the vac-mTag
vaccine were protected from the deadly
mouse cancer caused by the virus
V40.
The study examined two groups of
mice. One group was vaccinated and
the other received a placebo. The mice
were injected with the cancer-causing
virus three weeks later.
The vaccinated mice had better sur-
vival rates than the control group.
The National Institutes of Health and
the American Cancer Society funded
* e study.
wcientists find slab
of Earth mantle
A slab of the Earth's lithosphere was
recently identified by a University sci-
*entist, whose findings are published in
'today's issue of the Journal of Nature.
The slab, which is 1,550 miles below
the Earth's surface, rests in a bubbling
layer of rock known as the mantle. The
- 50 million-year-old slab is the oldest
sunken slab ever identified.
Geological sciences Prof. Rob Van
der Voo conducted the research with
two scientists from Utrecht University
"ider Voo conducted the research with
%two scientists from Utrecht University
in the Netherlands.
About 150 million years ago, two con-
Mtinental plates collided and pushed the
slab toward the Earth's center. The slab
*as sunk at an average of half an inch per
year for the past 150 million years.
The Earth's crust consists of about
20 plates, which shift across the earth
at a snail's pace, or several inches per
year. When plates converge, one sinks
and the other stays on the Earth's crust.
UAB finds cow
blood proves to
e good substitute
A new blood substitute has been
developed using cow hemoglobin at the
University Alabama-Birmingham,
reported Kaleidoscope, the UAB's stu-
dent newspaper.
After years of clinical trials, Dennis
- Doblar, an anesthesiologist at UAB,
reported the effectiveness of the blood
produced from bovine hemoglobins and
lsaid it does not have adverse effects.
Utah professor
.receives grant
A University of Utah dermatology
professor received a $5.8 million grant
to continue research on gene therapy,
the Daily Utah Chronicle reported.
Prof. Gerald Kruger will use the
five-year grant, which was awarded to
him by the National Institute of Health,
to fund four projects that will explore
how gene therapy can be used to treat
skin cancer, lupus and siriasis.

Gene therapy involves the delivery of
genes to cells in a patient's body. The
genes elicit an immune response from
-decells, sending antibodies to fight dis-
ease.
Boston 'U' to open
*new biology lab
Boston, University is scheduled to
open a new molecular biology labora-
tory next! week in response to an
increase in interest in the department,
the Daily Free Press reported.
The lab will be used to examine mol-
ecules in the cells of living organisms.
The department currently supports 1,200
undergraduates and 150 graduate stu-
dents.
University administrators claim the
* new facilities already have helped
attract four new faculty members to
Boston University.
- Compiledfrom staff reports by
Daily Staff Reporter Gemrd Cohen-
Vrignaud.

Bollinger defends '
More than 50 attend annual Sigma Xi ado

research, education

By Asma Rafq
Daily Staff Reporter
University President Lee Bollinger defended the teaching
quality at the University and other top research schools yes-
terday during his annual address to the University chapter of
Sigma Xi.
The discussion, attended by more than 50 faculty members
and students, was sponsored by Sigma Xi, a national scientific
research society.
"In the public mind, there is great opposition between teach-
ing and research - but this is mythology at its height,"
Bollinger said.
A report released by The Boyer Commission at
StonyBrook State University of New York a year ago
argues that undergraduate education suffers at research
universities. The report asserted that professors balancing
research and teaching duties are less likely to give under-
graduate students quality attention.
But Bollinger refuted the Boyer report.
"It is fundamentally wrong in many wayz, and wrong with
respect to this institution," he said.
Drawing from his experience at the University and at
Dartmouth College, where he served as provost, Bollinger
said he feels students at the University have many advan-
tages not available to students at small liberal arts col-
leges, including access to many faculty recognized as
experts in their fields.
Bollinger said University faculty pay close attention to stu-
dent evaluations and take steps to assess teaching.
"Teaching is absolutely taken into consideration at all stages
of a faculty member's career," he said.

LSA first-year student Ivy Kwong, who is enrolled in a biol-
ogy seminar class, said her exposure to research at the
University has been positive.
After talking to friends at other universities, Kwong said she
realized the uniqueness of her class' semester-long research
project.
"I tell them what we're working on and they're like 'wow, we
didn't think you get to do that stuff unless you're in graduate
school or in a special program,"' Kwong said.
Bollinger warned audience members not to become too com-
fortable with the idea that the University's enormous amount of
funding and spending on research automatically qualifies it as a
top research institution.
"It's a bit like saying that this is an important book because
it's got a lot of pages," he said.
During the past year, the University has allocated $490 mil-
lion for research, a 7.2 percent increase from the previous year's
spending, Bollinger said.
He added that a growing disparity between the amount of
private endowments given to private universities and to pub-
lic universities could threaten the University's ranking as a
top research institution if no steps are taken to remedy the
problem.
The hundreds of members in the local Sigma Xi chapter are
mostly research scientists. But biology Pnof. John Lehman, a
member of the local chapter's governing board, said students
have a lot to gain from society membership, including assis-
tance on how to conduct their own research and knowledge of
grants available to them.
Students seeking membership must be nominated by a
University professor.

DHANI JONES/Daily
University President Lee Bollinger speaks to the Sigma Xi research society
yesterday about research and education at the University in the Chemistry build-


Water dnamages documents

By Adam Brian Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite the Clements Library's tight
security and strict rules about public
access, Mother Nature found her way
into a vaulted basement room wired
with security alarms, which has pre-
served millions of dollars worth of his-
torical artifacts for years.
"Nature plays tricks on you.
Clements Library Director John Dann
said.
Due to large amounts of snowfall
and extreme cold weather that have
hit Ann Arbor during recent weeks,
structural supports in the front of
Clements Library were altered, allow-
ing melting snow into the building,
Dann suspects.
One of the library's map curators
entered the vault Monday morning
and heard dripping water. Unaware
of the leak, Map Curator Mary
Pedley tried to retrieve a rare map,
which turned out to be the library
item with the most damage from the
water leak.
Since Pedley discovered the drip-
ping water early on, only three
works were damaged: a reproduction

atlas of survey charts of London, a
set of five nautical charts of Jamaica
and the West Indies and a large, 5-
by-5-foot 17th Century Dutch map
of Brazil.
"The, atlas was destroyed but is
only a reproduction and is replace-
able," Dann said. "And the nautical
charts weren't damaged extensively at
all."
Although the large Dutch map of
Brazil was damaged by the water, it can
certainly be restored, Dann said.
"The Dutch were the greatest map-
makers of the 17th Century," Dann
said. "The damaged map is not only
geographically important, but may be
only one of three, four, five copies in
the world."
Several water stains were found on
the map and it "can be restored, but
will take an absolute restorer to bring
it back to its original condition,"
Dann said.
He estimated the Dutch map to be
worth $50,000-$100,000.
"If the drip persisted for a week,
there would have been much more dam-
age," Dann said. "The Dutch map
would have been destroyed."

Clements Library staff members
emptied most of the vault soon after the
leak was discovered.
"The biggest concern is we get the
structural condition under control,"
Dann said.
University roofing and masonry offi-
cials plan to assess the Clements
Library's structural situation in the near
future, Dann said.
In the meantime, University workers
shoveled snow from the library's steps
to eliminate any more dripping into the
building.
The Clements Library, located on
South University Avenue, is a rare book
library and holds original sources from
U.S. history.
"It's one of the three or four great-
est libraries in the world for maps
and American cartography," Daiin
said.
Other documents housed in
Clements Library include Christopher
Columbus' 1493 printed announce-
ment of his 1492 voyage, Frederick
Douglas' letters carried by slaves -on
the Underground Railroad and the
written order that started tie
American Revolution.

O"A"NI JOE' LY
Physician Andrew Krapohl speaks on Roe v. Wade in the Michigan Union
Kunzel Room last night.
Panel discusses
repo ductive rights

F;. Ii. e.

By Jody Sin e Kay
Daily Staff Reporter
Tomorrow marks the 26th
anniversary of when the Supreme
Court decided the famous legal case
Roe v Wade. To commemorate the
decision, several local groups have
organized a panel of speakers to dis-
cuss the current debate over repro-
ductive rights last night in the
Michigan Union.
"Since Roe a~ Wade things have
steadily gone downhill," said
Andrew Krapohl, a doctor who per-
forms abortions.
Local chapters of Planned
Parenthood, Medical Students for
Choice, Students for Choice and the
Washtenaw County National
Organization of Women presented a
panel of prominent medical and polit-
ical figures who support the right for
women to have abortions - an option
the groups claim is a vanishing right.
The panel consisted of State Sen.
Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem
Twp.), Krapohl and Nancy
Stanwood, a senior resident Medical
student at University Hospitals.
"It all boils down to the fact that
you need to have a choice for indi-
viduals, a safe choice," Krapohl said.
"I thought it was wonderful to
hear from two generations of doc-

tors,' said Helen Kang, a Medical
first-year student and a member of
Medical Students for Choice.
Both Krapohl and Stanwood
recalled their personal experiences
defending abortion rights.
"I'm not an abortionist, I'm a
physician. For some women this
means performing an abortion,
Stanwood said.
Stanwood said most medical schools
do not place an emphasis on abortion
procedures in their cumculum.
Medical first-year student Steve
Lubitz said medical schools should
place a stronger emphasis on
addressing abortion practices
"It doesn't come up in the currcu-
lum as much as I think it should,"
Lubitz said.
Panelists also discussed other
issues surrounding the abortion rights
debate, including religious and politi-
cal views and the lack of insurance
coverage for abortions..
"We don't have the right as legisla-
tors to impose our own religious dispo-
sition" on others, Smith said.
A few members of the audience
said they did not agree with all of the
opinions of the pro-choice panelists.
"It would have been interesting to
have both sides, but for the most part I
don't think tonight was representative

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