Fatal Occupational Exposure to Trimethylsilyl-Diazomethane
Murphy NG,1 Varney SM,2 Tallon JM,1 Thompson JR,1 Blanc PD.3
1IWK Regional Poison Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada; 2Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center-Denver Health, Denver, CO, USA; 3Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Background: Diazomethane (DM) is a highly explosive, toxic methylating reagent causing severe pulmonary injury. Trimethylsilyl-diazomethane (TSDM) is a less explosive analogue that may not be less toxic. We describe the first documented case of a fatality following TSDM exposure.
Case report: A 46 year-old male pharmaceutical chemist presented to the ED with progressive dyspnea. At noon on the prior day, as part of a chemical analysis, he had mixed 2 mL of acetone with 25 mL of L-Malic acid to which was added TSDM dissolved in n-hexane. After 1 hour this mix was combined with an inert gas and a small amount of methylene chloride under a fume hood that was later reported to be nonfunctioning.
Although he experienced no immediate mucous membrane irritation, 8 hours post-exposure he developed cough, pleuritic chest pain, hemoptysis, and progressive shortness of breath; by 15 hours, he presented to the ED in respiratory distress, hypoxic (PaO2 67), hypercarbic (PaCO2 46), and acidemic (pH 7.26). A chest radiograph showed an acute lung injury pattern. By 23 hours he required intubation.
At 26 hours postexposure he developed profound bradycardia, refractory hypotension, and asystole.
Case discussion: DM inhalation is known to cause fatal pulmonary edema without an immediate irritant prodrome and with a similar time course to this case. Structural modification of DM with an added trimethylsilyl group makes TSDM less explosive, but its propensity for lung injury is unclear. The chemical admixture as described in this case may have liberated nitrogen gas, but this should not have led to pulmonary injury; nitrogen dioxide should not have evolved. The toxicity may stem from residual DM present in the reagent or a direct effect of TSDM, its metabolites or breakdown products, or potential intracellular formaldehyde formation.
Conclusion: The temporal relationship to exposure with inadequate ventilation and clinical effects similar to the analogue toxicant DM support a causal relationship between TSDM and acute lung injury. Additional safety data for this chemical is warranted, including experimental inhalation testing in animals.The conclusion that I draw from this is not that chemists should not use TMS-diazomethane, but that they should exercise due caution with respect to the potentially fatal consequences of inhaling it. Work practices, engineering controls and PPE are all a part of that.
The drug analyst who was fired for misstating her credentials allegedly falsely testified in federal court as recently as August that she has a degree in chemistry and possibly did so in dozens of state court cases as well, opening the door for a flood of new legal challenges related to the Hinton drug lab scandal.The explanation is somewhat tragic, really:
The analyst, Kate Corbett, was fired by the State Police Friday for allegedly asserting that she holds a degree in chemistry from Merrimack College, though investigators determined that her degree is in sociology.
Corbett has not been accused of tampering with evidence, a charge that led to the conviction of Annie Dookhan, the woman at the center of the lab scandal.
But Corbett’s declarations in court that she is an expert with a chemistry degree could potentially derail convictions in those cases, say legal analysts, who say her testimony would be tainted.
However, State Police conducted background checks on the chemists’ education to ensure that the analysts met the agency’s standards for accreditation, and superiors learned of the discrepancies with Corbett’s education.
According to a State Police report obtained by the Globe, Corbett earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Merrimack College in 2001, though she claimed on her resume that she obtained a degree in chemistry in 2003.
A State Police investigation concluded that, in the two years after she first earned the sociology degree, she took enough credits that she believed would satisfy a chemistry degree. However, according to the State Police report, Corbett assumed she had earned a second degree without confirming it with Merrimack College.
Also, according to the report, she would not have qualified for a second degree because she would have had to take an additional set of coursework to meet bachelor of science requirements.I think her dismissal was the right response from an organization that is being seen as less than competent, charitably speaking. It's fairly apparent to me that her management is (yet again) at fault -- she started working for the lab in 2005. If her credentials were important (and it sure sounds like they were), then they should have been examined by her superiors.
I'm [22-28], BS in chemistry, graduated with GPA < 3.0. I've had personal circumstances that prevented me from actually focusing on school during my whole undergrad. I'm at a much better place in life, considering further education.
As of today, I'm at my first "real" job-- [redacted] chemist at [redacted] -- been here almost one year... I do a lot of [synthesis.]
...I've had some chances to tinker and work with analytical instruments here. I loved it, even though it was only working with IC and GC/MS.
My ideal career would involve studying these instruments, coming up with better methods and improvements to the instrument, and generally be around them 24/7. Would I be able to gain this sort of knowledge/experience via M.S or Ph.D? I was around a few organic, inorganic grad students while in undergrad so I know what their work consists of, but I don't really have a clue on what analytical chemistry grad students do, or what sort of angle they tackle this big umbrella term, "analytical chemistry".Personally, I think WD is eminently eligible for graduate school in analytical chemistry, perhaps a master's program? I would think that WD would need to do some independent study and do well on the chemistry GRE in order to shore up their case. A nice letter from one of WD's analytical colleagues would probably be helpful, or perhaps a letter from an analytical chemistry professor at their old school (one that has reviewed WD's current work experience and has positive comments.)
Annie Dookhan, the drug analyst who tampered with evidence and jeopardized tens of thousands of criminal convictions, was sentenced Friday to three to five years in state prison, closing a sorrowful chapter for the woman at the center of a scandal that continues to plague the state’s criminal justice system. The 36-year-old mother of a disabled child, whose marriage fell apart in the months after the scandal, softly pleaded guilty to 27 counts of misleading investigators, filing false reports, and tampering with evidence. She must also serve two years of probation and undergo mental health counseling, if needed.
After the sentence was handed down, Dookhan struggled to hold back tears as she whispered with her lawyer before being led away in handcuffs by court officers. Two family members, believed to be her parents, watched from the courtroom gallery. Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office prosecuted the case, said in an interview later that the conviction of Dookhan was only one part of an ongoing investigation into the quality of drug testing at the Hinton drug lab, but she said it was needed to bring some accountability for her crimes.
“Certainly one of the victims in this case, and the actions of Annie Dookhan, is the public trust,” Coakley said.
Dookhan’s lawyer, Nicolas A. Gordon, would not comment after Friday’s hearing. He had asked Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol S. Ball to sentence Dookhan to no more than a year in prison. Dookhan admitted to filing false test results and mixing drug samples, and to later lying under oath about her job qualifications, but she said it was only to boost her work performance.
Prosecutors had asked that Dookhan serve 5 to 7 years in prison, but Ball kept to her earlier decision that she would sentence the chemist to 3 to 5 years, finding that, while Dookhan was a “broken person who has been undone by her own ambition,” the consequences of her crimes were still “nothing short of catastrophic.”Considering how many people were sent to prison without proper due process (well into the dozens or hundreds, I suspect), her sentence is comically insufficient. Harry Elston is on record (on Twitter) saying that she should be serving the sum total of time served by the innocent people that she sent to prison; can't say I disagree with him.
Wellington Laboratories Inc. is an internationally known supplier of environmental reference standards for use in environmental analysis and toxicological research (http://www.well-labs.com). The company is comprised of a Reference Standards Division, a Research Division, and an Analytical Division operating in a modern technical facility in Guelph, Ontario. The company’s foundation is in its staff which provide a strong combination of synthetic/organic and environmental/analytical backgrounds. We currently have an opening for a Synthetic Organic Chemist in the Reference Standards Division.M.S./Ph.D., looks to be entry-level. Click here for details.
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) has a position available at the U.S. EPA in Cincinnati. This position is with a government grant specifically for seniors over the age of 55. The position applies knowledge of general methods for organic and inorganic analysis of environmental samples, including chromatographic, electrochemical and wet chemical methods. DUTIES: Operate lab instruments, ensure lab equipment is in working order and properly calibrated, analyze drinking water samples and data record keeping. REQUIRED: To be eligible for this government grant you must be over 55, B.A. /B.S. degree in Chemistry, and 10 years related experience in organic (GC. LC) analytical instrumentation. Word processing and spreadsheet skills are highly desired. Send resume to: see.hr@ncoa.org. No phone calls please.What in the heavens is this about?
 |
| As you can see, the directors don't get paid. |
 |
| Not so for the officers of ACS, which are all firmly in the 1-2%. |
 |
| How their pay is structured, regarding bonuses and regular compensation. |
Still, “the vast majority of us are not getting Parkinson’s, and the vast majority of people who work with pesticides don’t get Parkinson’s,” Goldman says. “So there’s obviously something else at play.”
That “something,” today’s scientists believe, is genetic susceptibility. Along with Tanner and Kamel, Goldman explored this gene-environment interaction recently by surveying a group of male farmers. The researchers genotyped the participants’ DNA to determine which subjects had mutations in a gene coding for glutathione S-transferase T1. This type of enzyme is responsible for cleansing cells of foreign substances such as pesticides and protecting against oxidative stress.
Men who were exposed to paraquat and who had nonfunctional glutathione S-transferase were 11 times more likely to have Parkinson’s disease than nonexposed men who had functional enzymes (Mov. Disord. 2012, DOI: 10.1002/mds.25216).
Another recent study examined the association of pesticides, Parkinson’s, and mutations to a protein pump called P-glycoprotein. This macromolecule sits on cells lining blood vessels in the brain, defending a person’s gray matter by pushing out molecular intruders.
Agricultural workers in France who were exposed to organochlorine insecticides and who had gene mutations affecting P-glycoprotein’s performance were three to seven times more likely to have Parkinson’s than those who weren’t exposed (Arch. Neurol. 2010, DOI: 10.1001/archneurol.2010.101).I am always looking for the mechanism behind chemical/epidemiological studies. Genetic variation in how we deal with xenobiotics makes sense to me; when I say to my non-chemist friends, "you have a liver and it does its job well", there's something to the thought that well, different people have different livers.
If technology was no barrier, what sort of mobile (or other) technologies would we want for science - either in research or even in education?This is a great question, and one that I’ve wrestled with for a while now. In my personal life, I’m a bit of a Luddite. I don’t own a smartphone (yet) and it wasn’t until earlier this year that I owned a tablet. In my professional life, I still use a pen and paper quite a bit, and it’s been a while since I’ve used an electronic notebook for work.
Director of Device Analytical Development, Allergan (Santa Barbara, CA):
The Director is responsible for leading the Device Analytical Development department of Allergan Device R&D organization to provide high quality analytical support for the development of biomaterials, medical devices and related drug device combination products for global market meeting worldwide regulatory requirements.
Education and Experience: Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry or a related scientific field, plus 10-15+ years experience in physical and chemical measurement methodology development and applications for medical devices and pharmaceuticals in support of product development and characterization.
Interested folks can contact Holly McArthur at hmcarthur -at- beaker/dot/comAnd another one, for the (somewhat) younger crowd
Senior Research Associate, CooperVision (Pleasanton, CA):
Performs research and/or development in collaboration with others to support contact lens and ophthalmic materials projects. GMP/GLP experience a plus.
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science with 5+ years industry experience or Masters of Science with 2+ years industry experience. EXPERIENCE: 2-5 years industry experience depending on level of degreeHere's the ad on LinkedIn. Thanks to those who e-mailed this in!
Then Martin Karplus, a Harvard University chemist, interjected, “ “What understanding of the stock market do you really have?”
Economics – “if one wants to call it a science” – seemed unable to explain the oscillations of the market, he said.
“I see these fluctuations and they make zero sense to me,” Professor Karplus declared. “Maybe they make sense to you.”
Professor Fama dismissed the question as unsophisticated, declaring its premise “factually incorrect.”
The hard scientists, more amused than chastened, turned to mocking the economists.
“You’re asking about a very fundamental question, on what the nature of life is,” James Rothman, a professor of cell biology at Yale University and one of the three newly minted laureates in medicine, told one questioner. “I don’t think there’s anyone here — even the economists – who would have an opinion on that for sure.”It's always interesting for me to see hard scientists dog economics -- I think there's a kernel of truth in there (i.e. economics does seem different than physics or chemistry), but it bothers me in the sense that someone has to think about the intersection of society and money and find some principles in there. Oh, well.
Dear Admitted Aggie PETE Applicant,
The Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University, is pleased that you applied and were admitted to our top ranked petroleum engineering program. If you pursue a degree in petroleum engineering, our program is committed to providing the highest quality education available.
Recent data suggests that some concern about the sustainability of the entry level job market during a time of explosive growth in the number of students studying petroleum engineering in U.S. universities may be prudent.
Our advice is that you become aware of graduation projections and petroleum industry employment outlook for people with petroleum engineering degrees. For example, between fall 2011 and fall 2012, the number of freshmen in petroleum engineering programs in the U.S. increased from 1,388 to 2,153, a 55% jump in one year. Based on the many inquiries and applications TAMU is receiving for the petroleum engineering major, the number of U.S. students in petroleum engineering will probably continue a strong upward trend, as long as the employment market remains stable. These days, a very large number of people are already studying in petroleum engineering programs (see attachment, showing data made available through the Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE), at a time when: the number of recent graduates, who began their studies several years ago, is already at about historical highs and growing rapidly (see attachment); our program’s board of industry advisors are recommending that we “do not grow” our undergraduate program at this time; and oil and natural gas price projections and expectations of U.S. governmental policy influences are viewed as not particularly encouraging by the U.S. petroleum industry.
We are not trying to discourage you from a career that we think is among the most fascinating, dynamic, challenging careers that exist. However, we also want you to know that the Aggie PETE program is doing the right thing by providing you with information that could end up being important to your future.First, does anyone know if this letter is actually true? It's found in a number of places online, but it all leads back to the blog "Cost of College." I suspect that it IS true, in the sense that if someone was e-mailing around a false letter from a Texas A&M department, they'd be quick to respond and deny authorship.
MIT professor Ofer Sharone hopes to solve a dark problem that few even want to discuss: how to help the long-term unemployed.
More than four years after the last recession ended, long-term unemployment remains near record levels, with 4.1 million Americans out of work for more than six months and still struggling to find jobs. What makes the problem so vexing, Sharone said, is these workers, typically older, have qualifications that should provide the path to employment, namely experience, accomplishment, and college degrees.
“You can’t just say go get an education because these people are often educated.” he said. “It’s scary because there’s not an obvious, easy solution.”
Sharone, however, is daring to try to find one. Later this month, he will launch a project called the Institute for Career Transitions, an organization to help the long-term unemployed, focusing on 40- to 65-year-old workers with college degrees. The institute will begin by pairing them with career counselors or job coaches, free of charge, for three months.
Sharone and his researchers will also try to build a better understanding of long-term unemployment and approaches that might help overcome its challenges and barriers. They will study the moods, health, and levels of depression among participants, examining how long-term unemployment — and repeated disappointments — affect them, their motivation, and ability to get back to work.I think the problem of the long-term unemployed will only become more problematic in the future. Best wishes to Professor Sharone and his project, and best wishes to all of us.
Reading “Chemistry in Nazi Germany” (C&EN, Sept. 16, page 30), I am reminded of my time in the 1980s stationed in Mannheim, West Germany, as a young U.S. Army lieutenant. Right across the river was BASF world headquarters. It was difficult to find out what anyone—chemist or not—from the World War II generation had done during the war. After several years, one local friend admitted to me that his father had been a captain in the Waffen SS.
I would be interested in reading how chemists and other scientists interacted with the government of the former Soviet Union. While in the Army, I was told at times that U.S. troops were in Europe and that NATO had been formed to finish what our parents’ generation had not—meaning defeat the Soviets. Few people in the U.S. seem to know that the Soviet Union set up a prison work-camp system almost as brutal as the Nazi camps. The Soviet prison camps had no gas chambers but rather had limitless Arctic tundra in which to bury prisoners and political dissenters, who were often worked to death. The mortality rate among Soviet prisoners was alleged to be 60%.
As your story notes, it has taken 50 years for the truth about chemists in Nazi Germany to come out. I hope it does not take another 50 years to see how our Soviet adversaries enlisted the help of chemists and other scientists in their cause and for their aggressive military ends. Books such as “The Gulag Archipelago,” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and “Dear America!” by Thomas Sgovio, tell the story of this murderous, decades-long Soviet system, but from the point of view of survivors.
No one has yet examined how the scientific, intellectual leaders within the U.S.S.R. collaborated with the political rulers. I would be glad to see this truth told in the pages of C&EN, however disturbing it may be.
Mark A. BenvenutoI would also be interested in such a story on Soviet organic chemistry and also the Soviet chemical manufacturing industry, but I suspect it would be quite the multi-part series.
Detroit
 |
| Never bought one of those stickers. |
Plenty of finger-pointing remains about how the situation developed so badly. Aides said the president did not believe that anyone had purposely deceived him or his top advisers, but they have concluded that some of the people working in the trenches on the website were not forthcoming about the problems.
At the same time, the White House trusted its own policy and political teams rather than bringing in outsiders with more experience putting in place something as technically challenging as HealthCare.gov and the infrastructure to support it.
Officials at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services repeatedly expressed doubts that the computer systems for the federal exchange would be ready on time, but they said that neither they nor their contractors had recommended a delay in opening the exchange. Political and policy teams at the White House insisted on pushing ahead without delay, they said.As someone who "works in the trenches" (and foresees a lifetime of trench-work), I found that comment singularly enraging when I read that last Saturday. I had to take a minute to walk around the house and cool myself off. It wasn't a political thing; it reminded me of many project management foul-ups that I've been involved with: unrealistic deadlines, vague goals, hoped-for science with paper chemistry that violates most literature precedent, finally concluded with the classic "You didn't tell me!"
Yes, there is inappropriate boostering of the need for more STEM education that isn't supported by the job market. You only need to look at stagnant salaries to prove that. You will never get me disagreeing with that (at least until it miraculously isn't true)
However, there is a hierarchy of thought as to what is an appropriate STEM career. A few years back, we all pushed against the idea that a STEM education was for becoming a STEM academic researcher only (if you can't, then go into industry). We now are (mostly) over that and see industry roles as another valid decision for a STEM graduate.
My issue was with the following (sarcastic) statement "Because after spending 2 years in the lab, there's nothing a B.S. chemist or a biologist wants to do more than marketing or medical-device sales". I would respond "why not?". Some of them actually do, and we should actually be happy that a STEM education sets you up for more careers than a pure research role. I don't see a difference between the prejudice in that statement and these variations...\
"Because after spending 2 years in the lab, there's nothing a B.S. chemist or a biologist wants to do more than scientific journalism"
"Because after spending 2 years in the lab, there's nothing a B.S. chemist or a biologist wants to do more than become a science educator"
"Because after spending X years in the lab, there's nothing a graduate chemist or a biologist wants to do more than work in industry"
"Because after spending X years in the lab, there's nothing a graduate chemist or a biologist wants to do more than become editor of a scientific journal" (tell that to Stu Cantrill)
My point is that if you need a STEM education to do the job, it is a STEM job. I doesn't have to be a research job to be a STEM job. A STEM education isn't a vocational training. We are just exposing the next layer of prejudice here.
Some people want to be researchers, some don't and actually want something different where they are still needed for their STEM education. But don't assume that everyone wants to be a researcher, and if they don't it is because they couldn't. Just as we thankfully now don't assume that everyone wants to be an academic.
I think the common assumption here is that you don't need a STEM education to do STEM sales or marketing - that anyone can do them. I wouldn't include a retail store manager as a STEM career, although I think a STEM education would certainly benefit you in that role. But you do need a STEM education for (some) sales and marketing positions, which is why I see it as prejudice and am pushing back. Everyone in my team, myself, and my boss, has a lab/science education or background - many have advanced degrees. I am unusual in not really having chosen this as a career path, many did. I don't hire people with marketing or MBA degrees into my marketing team - unless they have it as an extra. I hire people with science degrees.Philip says much the same things in the comments here.
Permanently in a temporary position?I know you're out there, folks -- tell your stories!
C&EN is working on an employment story looking at the rise of short-term and temporary position in the pharmaceutical industry. As a consequence, more chemists are getting stuck in a series of short-term contract positions with no end in sight. If you are in this situation and would be willing to share your experiences with C&EN (anonymously, if necessary), please e-mail Linda Wang at l_wang -at- acs/dot/org
Key Responsibilities:"I'm sorry, sir, that doesn't align with my goals."
- Promote the use of the Analytical Work Process, and Environmental, Health &Safety and Operating Document Management System procedures and practices and compliance related activities such as cGMP.
- Screen complicated service requests for value and alignment with goals....
Job description: The President of ACSH acts as the primary spokesperson for the organization and determines the overall direction and execution of the organization’s mission, operations and strategic plan. The successful candidate will have an advanced degree (Ph.D., M.D., J.D.). He or she should have a strong interest in public health, science and medicine.
Desired Skills and Experience: The successful candidate will possess an advanced degree, have excellent writing and presentation skills, a strong interest in public health, science and medicine. An established record of managerial experience is required. Some fundraising experience a plus.
Send resume and cover letter to Dr. Josh Bloom, bloomj -at- acsh/dot/orgI like ACSH a lot, since they counter a lot of nonsense out there about chemophobia, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, so I'm happy to help them with this search. It's also a chance (any time you have a leadership opening) to make a good organization better.
The College of Chemistry at Sichuan University (SCU) is actively recruiting high level faculty candidates from home and abroad. We offer a generous start-up package, laboratory space, and competitive salaries (specifics are negotiable). We are currently hiring multiple faculties in the following two positions:
1. Multiple faculty positions at the Full Professor level with research emphasis in Organic Chemistry (Physical Organic Chemistry), Physical Chemistry (Catalytic Chemistry) and Radiochemistry.
Requirements:
Strong research background and exceptional accomplishments.
Less than 40 years old.
Ability to direct a nationally-funded major research program.
2. Multiple faculty positions at Assistant, Associate and Full Professor levels with research emphasis in Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry.
Requirements:What I love about the Chinese and hiring is their rather blunt requirements. While I think age discrimination is undesirable and wrong, I think it's better to get our biases out up front than have them hidden by other, prettier language.
Ph.D or equivalent degree in relevant area.
Less than 60 years old.
Extensive teaching experience at the university level.
Native English speaker (required).
STEM majors, no matter where they work, in STEM fields or out, do better than other types of majors and tend to move into management pretty quickly," says Anthony Carnevale, a research professor and director of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, which has published papers that point to a shortage of STEM grads. "Having experience in technical matters helps them land good non-STEM jobs. They might work in places like marketing or medical-device sales, where their technical backgrounds helped them get in."
So, even if there were no STEM worker shortage, it still might be a good idea to graduate more science and tech majors?
"That's about it," says Mr. Carnevale. "You have to produce STEM workers like crazy just to have enough of them in the work force. Unemployment rates for grads in those fields are lower than the overall national average for college graduates"—3.4 percent for computer and math grads, compared with an aggregate figure of 4 percent for all college grads, according to the Department of Commerce—so "STEM is still a place you go where you have a pretty good shot. But we don't want to overdo it. You don't want to pump a bunch of people out there who, in the end, have nothing to do."Because after spending 2 years in the lab, there's nothing a B.S. chemist or a biologist wants to do more than marketing or medical-device sales.
"There's no question that to keep our innovative edge, we need more people coming into technology fields," says Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, an advocacy group that receives the bulk of its funding from tech companies. It urges the federal government to widen the so-called STEM pipeline from school to work.
The wage issue shouldn't be used to discredit the idea of a worker shortage, Mr. Atkinson believes: "Companies can go overseas for workers, so wage growth in the U.S. is more limited." There will be work in IT for people with the right set of skills, he says, adding that lower wages probably won't keep them from accepting jobs.[stunned silence]
He also makes less modest proposals—ones that echo the United States' longtime love affair with machines and material progress. That includes a desire to funnel college students into what he calls "more useful" majors.
"We should be making some value judgments on what kind of people we'll need for the nation to move forward," Mr. Atkinson says. "The distribution of degrees right now is entirely up to students. Shouldn't we be steering them into degree types that are of more value to society, such as computer science or engineering? The American tradition is one of hard-core pragmatism. We're at risk of losing that, and we're in trouble now in regards to competitiveness."You know, I don't typically say things like this, but if Atkinson actually said this,
Concerning actions ACS members can take to further science education in general and chemistry education below the college level in particular (C&EN, Aug. 19, page 2): When I retired in 2004, one of my daughters-in-law told me that I must sign up as a substitute teacher. She teaches English in one of Maryland’s rural counties and is troubled by the rare times she has to take time off for illness or out-of-classroom assignments. It is apparently common for high school teachers to worry about the caliber of substitute teachers who cover for them.
I took her advice to heart and contacted the Montgomery County, Md., school administration. They were almost desperate for substitute teachers, and anybody who could be cleared by the county police was given a four-hour training session and put on a list of available substitutes. The school system has a computer-run assignment program, such that a teacher who needs a substitute enters a website and generates a job number and a computer-based search. I signed up to substitute teach only for physics, chemistry, and higher mathematics in the three high schools I can get to in less than 20 minutes. I soon achieved a good reputation in those schools, and the science and math teachers there would telephone me directly if they planned to be away. The computer program also has a priority function, which put me as first to be called.
Montgomery County pays me $16.63 per hour as a substitute teacher, so a few days a month teaching barely meets restaurant bills for me and my wife, but she appreciates having the days free of my being around the house.
Retired ACS members who want to further elementary and secondary science education can do so easily and with great effect by substitute teaching in their local school systems.
Jacques ReadI don't really think this is a viable employment strategy for out-of-work scientists (surely just 1 or 2 unemployed scientists could cover a district's science substituting needs.) That said, it is an option that isn't talked about much.
Washington, D.C.
Kristen Johnston: I wonder why no drug co has made safe, non-addictive painkiller as successful as treating pain as Opiates are?
HollywoodDebi: if it's not addictive, how will they line their pockets?
David Kroll: Reason no drug co has made a non-addictive painkiller as effective as opiates is because the science is hugely challenging
Kristen Johnston: I honestly doubt that.It was at this point that, watching this, I turned to my wife, pointed out the exchange and said, "Who are people going to believe? The pharmacologist or the actress?"* But David, to his credit, began to really engage her, talking about her addiction to pain pills that she is in recovery from**:
David Kroll: Kristen, no scientist wants people to go through the struggles you've experienced. The field is working very hard on this.
Per-Ola Norrby: I know that AstraZeneca poured billions into pain, unsuccessfully, now stopped trying.
Kristen Johnston: OK, I believe you. Do you mean too diff to actually create the drug, or too diff to fight big pharma?
David Kroll: if a company found a non-addictive painkiller as effective as strong opiates, they'd have a blockbuster
David Kroll: I'd say too difficult to find something as effective without being an opiate and having addiction potential.
David Kroll: So it's not a fight against big pharma. It's a problem that needs both govt funding and big pharma investment
Kristen Johnston: I see. Thank you for clarifying. I appreciate it.Click here for the whole exchange, of which I've excerpted a small part.
"not all those people remained unemployed, and the total headcount of the pharmaceutical industry did not drop that much. Many of those who were laid off were probably hired back by other drug makers. Some folks have probably been laid off more than once. It’s also worth noting that big mergers are one reason for the cuts."This is a vital industry, and one that I'm proud to be a part of. While I think there are definitely glimmers of hope here and there, times are still very hard. Best wishes to all of us.
 |
| Kalydeco (ivacaftor) Credit: MIT Technology Review, Rebecca Schroeder |
 |
| Credit: Fishman, A. et al. Org. Process. Res. Dev., 2000, 77. |
They found the intramolecular cyclopropanation proceeded best when run at low concentration. To accomplish this while maintaining good process throughput, they slowly added the starting material from a dilution feed tank while distilling the solvent from the reaction mixture to maintain a constant volume. In this manner, [(R)-2] was maintained at low concentration during the cyclization reaction while the volume yield of the process was a reasonable 60 g/L... Halogenated hydrocarbons gave the highest selectivity for the desired reaction, while a temperature above 80°C was needed to effect good conversion in a reasonable time. Rarely used as a solvent, dibromomethane was selected as the optimate balance of these factors.This reaction was run at 21 gram scale of diazoacetate with 200 mL of dibromomethane in the original paper [2]; I wonder if scale-up was ever tried? I'd be concerned about maintaining the concentration of the reaction on large scale (apart from the safety concerns with heating a perchlorate salt.)
 |
| Credit: C&EN |
Organix Inc. is an internationally recognized Contract Research Organization situated in the vibrant and exciting area of Boston, Massachusetts.Vibrant! Exciting! (Honestly, that's probably accurate, for people in our field.) 40-48k. Woo!
Qualifications
Bachelor of Science or higher degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or a related field of study.
Two to three years of law firm or industry experience or at a minimum a general understanding of the patent prosecution process. Admission to the USPTO preferred but not required.
Experience with cellular digital data and signal processing a plus.Can't find it? Must be a STEM shortage.
The role of the Aquatic Director is to provide administrative oversight and strategic direction to program areas, swim lessons, and related staff. In addition, aquatic safety and successful risk management procedures must be implemented. The successful candidate will have a strong knowledge in aquatics management to include programming, swim lesson instruction, first/aid and CPR instruction, water chemistry knowledge, and facilities. The ability to assess information quickly, to seek input from others, and to communicate directly and effectively is necessary. A bachelor-s degree, W.S.I. certification (or equivalent) and L.G.I. certification is required. Additional aquatics certifications are preferred.Non-traditional jobs in chemistry indeed.
