In his monthly column, ASBMB President Jeremy Berg writes, in part, "Fundamental knowledge is the underpinning of all attempts to develop new and improved therapies. Developing such therapies is tremendously challenging in large part because of holes in our fundamental knowledge of biology, particularly the biology of human populations with all of their associated genetic and environmental heterogeneity. We need the concepts and tools of biochemistry and molecular biology now more than ever to drive improvements in human health as well as other critical fields."

ASBMB Public Affairs Director Benjamin Corb laments that the Tilghman Group’s report on the scientific work force didn’t deliver what the community needed.

Included here are honors for John D. York of Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Stanley Dunn of the University of Western Ontario; John Kopchick of Ohio University; Phillip A. Sharp of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Kenneth Mann of the University of Vermont; and Werner G. Bergen of Auburn University.

Congratulations are in order for the newest crop of annual award winners. Find out who they are, and plan to attend their award lectures at the annual meeting in Boston next year.

We offer our thanks to those who’ve served on the society’s various committees, and we offer a warm welcome to the newest recruits.