By Sean Henahan, Access Excellence

Washington, DC (12/19/96) Every December the journal Science names what it considers the top science story of the year, along with nine runners-up. The envelop please...and the winner is... "New Weapons Against HIV".

Scientists have worked long and hard to beat the AIDS virus. With important advances in many fields, from basic science to therapeutics, it is clear that the work is starting to pay off. This year clinical researchers were able to report for the first time that drug treatment with potent new drugs was able to eliminate all signs of the HIV virus in a handful of patients. This, along with finding that natural polypeptide molecules called chemokines can suppress HIV, created unusually optimistic predictions that HIV infection eventually may become a chronic rather than fatal disease.

Access Excellence covered these breakthroughs throughout the year. Here are some links to related stories:

• 7/96 AIDS Treatment Optimism
  
• 7/96 AIDS Vaccine Initiative
  
• 7/96 New HIV Receptor
  
• 5/96 Fusin- Co-Receptor for HIV
  
• 1/96 New Marker for AIDS Studies

Access Excellence also covered these developments in depth:

• 10/96 Interview with Stanley Miller on Exobiology
  
• 8/96 Life on Mars?
  
• 8/96 Archaea: A New Domain
  

"Online Publishing" also gained credit as being among the top ten important scientific developments of the year. The journal Science now offers it's full text online, and many other journals have followed suit. Access Excellence is a pioneer in this area and won recognition of its own when it was nominated for the prestigious The National Information Infrastructure Award.

Mad cows were also much in the news. Prions (short for "protein infective agent"), strange virus-like particles have been identified as the causative agent of scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Most frightening, scientists reported that the bovine form of the disease appears to have infected humans who ate tainted meat.

For detailed resources on this story see the
AE Newsmaker interview with noted researcher Dr. Fred A. Murphy.

Genomic research also made the top ten, specifically for the determination of the complete genetic sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker's yeast. This is the first full sequence of a eukaryote (organisms, such as humans, whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus). The achievement should help scientists unravel the basic genetic toolkit for such common eukaryotic functions as cell division.

For more information on this story see "AE: Complete Yeast Genome Sequenced"

T-cell researchers were also recognized for determining the three-dimensional structure of these critical components of the immune system. This detailed structural knowledge is expected to enhance understanding of the immune system, diseases and to provide new avenues for therapeutic drug design.

For more on the T-cell story see AE: Immune Puzzle Solved and AE: Nobel Prize to Immunologists.

Research leading to a new understanding of embryonic positioning, that is, how each cells knows where to go and what to do to create an organism also made the top ten. Researchers identified new molecules that carry and detect positional signals. Besides unmasking a process basic to life, these findings could lead to better treatment for cancers that arise when such signals go awry.

Death, specifically the process of cellular apoptosis also made the list. Researchers made great headway in decoding this genetic self-destruct program, adding not only to basic science but also to our understanding of diseases in which apoptosis goes wrong.

Advances in laser technology were also recognized. Lasers are used in virtually every area of science from surgery to surveying. New laser materials and designs lit up the field on several fronts -advances that could make lasers even more versatile and economical.

Research identifying what goes on in the center of our own planet also made the final cut. Scientists once thought that Earth's inner core was static, but this year, after 30 years of data-gathering, researchers learned it actually spins faster than the rest of the planet. The work fundamentally changes our understanding of Earth.

The editorial staff at Science also prognosticated on what might be the research areas to watch in 1997. They chose: cancer research; the search for matter's most fundamental particles; programs that breach computer security codes; synthetic carbohydrates that may lead to new drugs; quantum computers; and high-energy x-rays that will enable scientists to peer with more accuracy at the processes of life.