California Tech, v. 106:29, May 31, 2005

The California Tech PASADENA, CALIFORNIA MAY 31, 2005 VOLUME CVI, NUMBER 29 North House Students Play Super Fashion Pony Dress-Up Dream House By DAVID CHEN Students designed their ideal a South House in that all groups North House last Saturday in the desired central courtvaros. The second workshop discussing ren- models also included accessible ovations to the North Houses. roofs and terraces. During the previous workshop, In fact, the kits were quite thor- the students brainstormed proper- ough, with blocks representing al- ties of an ideal alley. They wanted most all types of rooms included. rooms that could change size. Students placed the entertainment Vertical height is also important and computer rooms, the to allow students to build lofts. RA's apartment, the lounges and dining Besides just constructing lofts, room. The kits included two types the attendees felt that the archi-of dining rooms, one with rectan- tecture should facilitate a wide gular tables like the current ones variety of customizations. and and one with circular ones, North House residents also such as those near Chandler, to want more Diwaie bathrooms, give less of a cafeteria feel. Some including smaller bathrooms, po- lounge blocks included kitchen- tentially even singles, and bath- Cues while other blocks repre- rooms in more private areas. At sented only full-sized kitchens. the same time, many desire more Responding to the request to ac- access to daylight within the commodate visitors, students also house. This would probably re-had to place lockers, although quire wider rooms, to allow more most groups decided not to use window space. them. Most groups also chose to Others requested more connec- place bicycle racks under terraces tions to common spaces, includ- to provide some cover. In addi- ing multi-floor common spaces and direct connections to outdoor tion, they could include a laun-dry room in the house, but most areas from these areas. Finally, groups decided against this. One students noted that they wanted mandatory addition was an el- io dccomirocate vilioe. evator to ensure the entire house Buzz. Yudell, one of the partners would be wheelchair accessible. of the firm planning the North Students, accustomed to the daily House renovations, noted four al- excrelse provideu vy stamrs, ooteu ternatives to consider. Current re- to place the elevator in a corner of The Caltech Chess hosted the quests would reduce room counts the house. third annual Caltech Blitz Chess Mlice would be widening One aspect common to the pro- Championship Friday, May 20th rooms and adding lounge areas. Yet, posals for a central courtyard is in the Page House Dining Hall the Institute has requested multiple entryways. At the same The event was free and open to that the new North Houses hold time, some students expressed the public, with members of the 322 beds, so more than two stories concern over the noise that could Caltech community may be needed. Caltech has even come from the courtyard. To ame-prizes. The event receiving was a suc- requested that the arrangement al- liorate this, one group requested cess- - it attracted thirteen play- low space for the construction of that all bathrooms and commu- ers, most from the Caltech com- a fourth North House. na rooms. such as the entertamm- munity, but some traveling from The primary exercise of this ment room, face the courtyard so as far as Duke University. workshop was to model the house that fewer students would have Six rounds were played, with itself based on the descriptions of to study with hammers ringing each pair of players playing two an ideal alley. Pageboys, Lloy- in their ears. Despite student re- games per round. The games dies and Rudds split up into five quests, parking in the houses is were quick, lasting no longer groups, each with about five stu-dents. not currently in the plan. than ten minutes, quite a contrast Tom Mannion hosted the event, to classical time controls, which Each group received a large kit wisely choosing to hold the work-often result in six hour games. of blocks of different colors and shop indoors and providing lots Fortunately, the tournament was sizes. Longer blocks represented of delicious appetizers and cold well-run by chess club president alleys, and the individual rooms drinks. In addition, his fabulous and veteran player Patrick Hum- and bathrooms were visible on cooking was a great treat. Margo mel, and the entire event was the pieces. Marshak also attended this event. over in only two and a half hours. After about an hour, the groups The third workshop met Sunday, Hummel used the Swiss pairing presented their models. The most May 29th. system, ensuring that players striking trait is that all modeled would be able to play others at 2005 UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC AWARDS By MALINA CHANG The Green, Froehlich, Haa-gen-Smit, Sigma Xi, Henry Ford II Scholar and Zeigler Awards were presented on May 25, 2005, at a luncheon in the Athenaeum, hosted by Dean of Students Jean-Paul Revel and Associate Dean Barbara Green. Trevor Wilson a junior in Mathematics received the George W. Green Prize. The Green Prize is awarded to an undergraduate student in any class for original research, an original paper or essay or other evidence of creative scholarship beyond the normal re- quirements of specific courses. The Jack E. Froehlich Me- morial Award is for outstand-ing juniors in the top 5% of the class. Patrick Hummel, a junior in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Corinna Zy-gourakis, a junior in Biology, were selected this year. Mithun Diwakar, iullloi 1u Biology, won the Arie J. Haa-gen-Smit Memorial Award, which is given to a chemist or biologist who has shown aca-demic promise and has made recognized contributions to Caltech. Brant Physics, received this year's Sigma Xi award. This award is given to a senior for an out-standing piece of original sci-entific research. Yang Chen, a junior in Elec-trical Engineering and Patrick Hummel, a junior in Applied and Computational Mathemat-ICS are this year's recipients of the Henry Ford Il Scholar Award. This prize is given to the student in Engineering and Applied Science with the best academic record at the end of the third year of undergraduate study. Carlson, senior in Po-Ru Loh, a sophomore in Photo by D. Leb Rocklu Novices, Masters Capture Piece of Fun at Blitz Chess Tournament By D. ZEB ROCKLIN their level, and that all would be able to play until the final round. Caltech's two resident masters, Patrick Hummel and Lugene Yanayt, defended their territory, finishing first and second spectively. Mike Lucas finished third and was the only player to defeat Hummel in even a single game, but was ineligible for priz-Instead, Alexei Dvoretskii and Marat Gataullin split third bidee Talented "novices" An- drei Petcherski and Nikita Pan-asenko finished first and second, respectively. alots 1o bets A full crosstable of the event is available at www.its.caltech.edu/ ~citchess/news.html. All told, the chess club gave away $500 in prizes. The quick games led to excit-ing play, sharp contrast to the image of chess as anesthetic. forgot how high you can get play-competitive chess, noted Gataullin. "I can only compare a blitz game to a diamond-black run in downhill skiing The chess team has enjoyed enormous success, winning the US Amateur Team West Champi-onship. Most recently, the team defeated MIT in a special match for the second time in as many years. The club meets every Fri-day at 8 PM in the Page House Dining Hall. The chess club holds the event every year with a particular eye towards attracting new member-ship. In this respect the event was a success, attracting many new and strong players. While the chess team is strong, regular club meetings are very relaxed and friendly toward the novice. "You won't be expected to play 20 simultaneous chess games your first day," joked Hummel, referring to his own simultaneous exhibitions, which have become a popular fixture of the Prefrosh Weekend Club Fair. rhot uy telt bhivebilt The winners of the 2005 Undergraduate Academic Awards Mathematics has been chosen as this year's winner of the Fredrick J. Zeigler Memorial Award. This award is given to a pure or applied mathemat-ics student in the sophomore or junior year who has shown excellence in scholarship as demonstrated in class activities or in preparation of an original paper or essay in any subject area. 2 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS MAY 31, 2005 ARSONS OR ACCIDENTS: Stepping Out An open letter from BRIAN W. STONE By GALEN LORAM On 6/4/1996 I filed an employment lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's. I was then and still am an employee of the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's. In November of 1996 my seven year old daughter and I were in our car when we got trapped immediately in front of a burning car. We were so boxed in that we could not drive away. Since we were downhill of the burning car, our car almost caught fire. And, as we pulled away a stream of flames followed us down the hill. I can only imagine what would have happened if that stream of flames had flowed under our gas tank. I wrote the FBI, and they wrote back that it was not their jurisdic-tion. The judge signed the Statement of Decision for the above lawsuit on 8/29/97. On 6/5/2000 I wrote the County of Los Angeles District Attorney's Office accusing a fellow employee at the Sheriff's of perjury in my above lawsuit. On 6/9/2000 Ms. Valerie Aenlle-Rocha, a Deputy District Attorney with the DA's Office, said that her office asked the Sheriff's Internal Criminal Investigations bureau to investigate the allegations of perjury I submitted to her on 6/5/2000. To date, no one from the Sheriff's Internal Investigations Bureau has contacted me regarding this accusation, despite my letter to the Sheriff's expressing my availability to discuss the matter. On 6/25/2001 I was attacked from behind as I walked home in the City of Pasadena California, necessitating a cast on my wrist Despite the pain, I still managed to make my appointment with a private investigator the following day in San Diego. Being dissatisfied with the Pasadena Police Department's investigation into my above attack I made several calls to them to get them to find my at-tacker. During one of these calls, Pasadena Police Sgt. Villalobos told me that they did not interview Gary Wilson, the only witness to the attack, because Wilson's boss at Kiewit-Washington said that Wilson knew nothing and that he did not want to talk with the Po-lice. On 9/5/2002 I wrote the U.S. Department of Justice to complain about the Pasadena Police Department's investigation into the 6/25/2001 attack. On 9/6/2002 I also wrote the Grand Jury with the same complaint against the Passadena Po-lice. On 9/19/2002 I provided the Pasadena Fire Department with a complaint that someone had entered my Pasadena apartment without my permission and put papers on top of my furnace. On 9/19/2002 I also gave a copy of this complaint to my Pasadena Apartment Management. On 1017/2002 iLLy Pasadena Apartment management gave me thirty day's notice to move out of my Pasadena apartment. This notice made no mention of my having owed any money. On moving day I discovered that I had been sharing my Pasadena apartments locked, two-car ga~ rage with a Los Angeles Police officer, whom I had never seen in uniform. Only he, the apartment's management and I had keys to this garage. Having discovered he was LAPD I wrote them asking them to investigate him, because I had reported to the Pasadena Police several incidents of vandalism to my car that occured while it had been locked up and parked alongside of this officer's Mustang. On 2/19/2003 LAPD Commander McMurray wrote me telling me that they would not question him because he had no connection to the incidents of vandalism to my car. On the morning of 2/24/2003, from the Sheriff's, I faxed the Los Angeles Times a letter expressing my dissatisfaction with the LAPD's failure to question their officer. On the evening of 2/24/2003 the apartment building next door to mine burned. The South Pasadena Fire Department wrongly typed address on their 2/24/2003 Fire Report. On 3/8/2003 I was the victim of a strong-arm robbery in a South Pasadena restaurant after I photographed two men who followed me inside. One of the men had tried to start a fight with me on a previous occasion. I asked the South Pasadena Police Officer who arrived at the scene to send me a Police Report of the incident, to which he replied that, if he wrote a report, I was going to jail. On 3/21/03 I wrote the South Pasadena Police Chief with complaint against him. After three written requests to the South Pasadena Police for a report of the 3/8/2003 incident, I finaly received it on 4/22/2004. On 4/29/04 I wrote the South Pasadena Police Chief explaining that the report of the 3/8/2003 incident was wrong in that it failed to mention the guy who tried to and referred to someone else who was not even present. The guy who was not present at the incident did not even have his driver's license number on the report, so even the South Pasadena PD have no basis to dispute my claim that he was not there on 3/8/2003. The South Pasadena Police never interviewed me regarding my 4/29/04 complaint letter to them despite my having contradicted every- thing that the South Pasadena Police officer had written in his report about the 3/8/2003 incident. I hind it amazing that a Police Chief shows no interest in allegations of a false police report. On 3/17/2003 my car failed to start. After checking the engine compartment, I observed sparks descending down the accelerator rod. While inside my apartment, calling for a tow truck, I heard what proved to be my car completely engulfed in flames. The fire completely destroyed my car. On 9/13/2003 I photographed a guy who was following me around inside of a South Pasadena Chevron station. I also photographed the license plate on the car he in which he left. As I walked away, he drove along side of me and said, "We're out to get you". That same day, I provided the South Pasadena Police with both of these pictures and reported his threat to Mila. The South Pasadena Police would not let me make a criminal report of this 9/13/2003 incident, but they did take my report of it on 12/1/2003. The South Pasadena Police never contacted me again about any of the above incidents despite the fact that the report that they took on 12/1/03 showed an association between the guy who threatened me on 9/13/2003 and the guy who tried to put my eye out on 3/8/2003. Since June of 1994, when I first informed the Sheriff's that I might seek relief in the courts, I have been under perpetual surveillance. and white trucks have recently started tailgating me persistently. The above are just some of the incidents to which I have been subject. I maintain that all of the above fires were arsons, not accidents, made against me in retaliation for my suing the Sherift's and for reporting perjury to the District Attorney's Office. It is hypocritical that the governell sellences former Caltech student to several years in prison for arson while ignoring my allegations. -Brian W. Stone 05/23/05 I have never understood why, to enjoy the wonders of the city whenever Beckman Auditorium around us. The public events stuff hosts an event, almost no students above can be a great escape, but attend. I was at the performance venturing even further can be well of the Capitol Steps, a hilariously worth the leg work. Go and see a awesome musical political satire concert at any of the there thirty- group who come every year to something concert venues to see Caltech, a couple weeks ago. It any of the many bands who are stunned me to see a total of twelve always coming through town. Go other students, not counting ush- to a club and dance for a night; ers, three of whom were there it proves amazingly cathartic. We because I had bought four tickets have three really great indepen- and invited them along. Incred- dent coffee-shops in Pasadena ibly good seats in the fourth row that are great places to go and cost as little as $5, an amazing hang out, read, work, chat with deal. The key is to go early in the friends or just enjoy our beauti- year, in June or July, to the ticket ful weather: Zephyr, Zona Rosa office. If you ask them what will and Equator. If classical music be good, the friendly and helpful is your preference, you have the folks in the ticket office are happy Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the to help you. But if you like poli- Hollywood Bowl, and so many tics at all, I strongly encourage For CHOiCe you to go right now and buy tickets for next year's performance. If The beach is 30 minutes away at 4am; the mountains are 40 it lives up to even an echo of the minutes away at any time of day; standard of the last two years, it the desert an hour and a halt, and will be sweet. Take advantage of Mexico is just four hours south. this and the fact that if you buy It constantly amazes me when I tickets to three or four shows at talk to people who have been off once, you get priority ticketing campus only twice in a term. I re- And I'm not even their paid shill member back when I did that first On the same track, one of the term of freshman year and was keys to enjoying Caltech is to get unhappy to the point of having away from Caltech, not in that started on a transfer application. permanent sense, but in the sense Ironically, one of the best things that Caltech is tiny. And at times about getting off campus is it re- a bit claustrophobic. minds you why and how much Escaping from the houses every you like Caltech. But you do have so often can be really refreshing, to see the rest of the world to re- a great chance to meet some other member what vou ike about 1 interesting folks, a terrific chance here. The grass is always greener Grass Too Green on This Side put out my eye with a karate blow By Jacob Leonard King Nearly every week day, ert. Besides the misplaced cost for an arbitrary half hour be-of this venture, conservation- tween 9 and 10AM, a hybrid ists must question the ethics of oversized lawnmower and of wasting a subsidized com- undersized SUV plows along modity rare to and necessary to ensure that the grass south for the entirety of Southern of Marks House is of uniform California. On the other hand, length. Most Techers remain the dominant drought-resistant indifterent to whether this plants which do populate the property holds for their own areas surrounding the seven hair, much more so for the Hovses are cheap, ugly ferns. wide patches of turf crammed Instead of investing in more between paved walkways. attractive desert flowers and To offset the continuous lay- whatnots, the Institute annu- ered removal of grass, Caltech ally replaces the grass, regard- buys an absurdly large quan- less of condition, and to en- tity of water to spray daily on courage the new growth with this grass so that it continues pungent fertilizer mere feet to grow despite living in a des-from students' rooms. Techer self-amusement technique was: outanc hamsters in cardboard tubes. AIEEEI Is it supposed to do that? How could you be so The California Tech Caneen 40-Jo. rasadena, Cave (626) 395-6154 editorial e-mail: tech@tech.caltech.edu VOLUME CVI, NUMBER 29 Adam Craig Lisa Tran raitor Business Manage Ow! Gah. Another day of sleep deprivation. I shall now demonstrate my superior knowledge of music and fearlessness by playing The Ride on this implement) Um. MEEP! Thud! I'm a little teapot. Alex Sheive Layout Manager Robert Morell wirculaton The Tech is published weekly except during by the As lents of the California Institut ein are strictly those of the and submissions are wecome: mail submissions to tech@tech.caltech.edu name, by Friday of the week before public tion. Sorry the Tech does not accept anon i mous contribution he ectors reserve rigal to ecl and abridge all submissions fo any reason. All written work remains property oi lis adino alladvertising should be submitted electroni do si camera-ready art, but the Tech car ertising inquries should be direc he vertising inquires please send mail to "Subscriptions Spank Me By JEFFREY PHILLIPS "Laugh now, because clowns have been on double secret probation since the beginning of this semester" - Dean Wormer, Animal House. Since the beginning of recorded histo-ry, college students have engaged in endless high jinks against the stodgy, inflexible administration. [More precise:] The list of prohibitions at a normal college reads like an itinerary of mayhem. The administration matches deeds to punishments like a scoring guide: everyone knows how serious each infraction is and thereby how exciting it must be. Students are at war with the taskmasters, mocking security and pranking the administration without mercy. This is not the case at Tech. We live with very few rules, policing and partially enforcing ourselves under an honor code. The taboos we have are not meant to be bro-ken; there is neither fun nor honor in cheating, theft and violence. Yet, students and administrators should have a playfully adversarial relationship, because getting in trouble is fun. We Techers need a spanking now and then. We fuck the cardinal rules and expulsion answers our grievous sin, but we also need little rules to fudge. I have heard that Ruddock has a list of pranks that earn frosh points to draw them out of their rooms and away from their homework sets after rotation, but a vital catalyst is missing. The list of provocative activities needs an accompanying list of threats against them from the administra-tion. As a frosh and even now as a junior I am irrationally drawn to the unreasonably forbidden, the dangerous, the risky. A gambling man hungers for high stakes, and only the administration can provide those stakes. The Deans' letter CUIRCCALIm ing activities on Ditch Day was a good start. I demand a similar guide to life in general at Caltech. Tell us that if we go through the steam tunnels we will be Bad Boys. Tell us not to break into specific locations. Challenge our nerdy machismo by saying the locks are impregnable. Let us have a little fun by being the Dean Wormer of our school once in a while. Put us on double secret probation, and give us some excitement. Fire Up Gourmel N THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY MAY 31, 2005 G.L.O.M. - Greg's Life of Misery I'm George Lucas, author of Star Wars. How was Episode III? Yet somehow.. Bling Bling 3 Spaghetti "n Bacon By LAURA FISHMAN ½ lb. spaghetti 2 slices of bacon 1 tbsp tomato paste I tsp Italian seasoning or dried basil if desired Buy ingredients: All ingredients but the seasoning available at the C-store. Bacon is in the fridge in the north-I west corner, tomato paste I is on the west side of the northern most island and I spaghetti is on the east side of the same island. Always wash your I hands before preparing food. Prepare Dish: Cook • spaghetti according to the instructions on the pack-age. While spaghetti is chop bacon. Cut each strip in half the long way and then into 1½ I inch slices the other way. • Make sure all pieces are separated. When spaghetti is done. heat bacon while Stir ring over high heat until lit begins to brown 3-5 " minutes). ing, Stir in season- then add spaghetti I and stir for about a min-jute. Then stir in tomato paste, be coat all the pasta with I the tomato paste. Cook I a few more minutes, then serve. Pasta will darken I slightly due to cooking I and tomato paste, but do not allow it to brown and get crispy. When you're done, be kind to your housemates and clean up the mess you made. JODID By Ning Bao, Nathan Lau, and Angela Shih Story by: Issae Garcia-Munoz Art by: Chelsea Sharon This is so excHing! Sneakin nio a mystenbus underware sirate s Care with rotling took is bur my trusty nilja headban my trusty ninja hair spikes, my rusty niff glasses, my trust ninja shoulder hook, my trust ninja underpants, ny... B. -BALLE We Love Coquettish Kahlitech Bread Life By ADAM CRAIG Flick with The School The Stack 2005 On Ditch Day you can tell which Seniors are bitter. Red BrickPizza Fire-Roasted Gourmet Fizza™ EGG DONOR NEEDED for pediatrician and her husband; 1500+ SAT pretty, healthy, responsible, healthy family history, preferably from an accomplished family $20,000+ Contact: helpcouple@adelphia.net (818) 445-6431 The Art of Dining By JACOB KING On night at Carrow's, while a fresh- USMC base after a brawl sparked by synergy of fire and vegetable remind- man of both Dabney and Ricketts his expansion of Marine into "My ass ed me of another tavorite restaurant Hovse affiliation filled the top space rides in Navy equipment." To avoid President Thai, and its delectable Pra- of the pepper shaker with salt and re- similar banishment, I paused until the Ram, a dish of spinach in an unusual placed the salt with Sweet'N Low so waitress disappeared into the kitchen peanut sauce. Although not particu- that the next diner would be able to and then sparked the lighter, turning larly spicy, it provides a welcome al- enjoy sweetened eggs or fries, I was the cup into a small fireball for the ternative to my usual order of Panang busy discreetly filling my empty wa- next five seconds. I should also men- curry. Its subtle flavor and slippery ter glass with butane from a Bic light- non lat ins wes much tunner al the texture are even tantilizing enough to er. At this point, I recalled a friend time due to the missing bit of another compel me to stop writing this article of mine who had previously been plant in which Caltech should invest do viaci soile thrown out of a Denny's adjacent to a to replace the monotonous grass. This 4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS MAY 31, 2005 Dr. Kohn Talks T-Cells to Caltech Biotech Club By DAVID CHEN The Caltech Biotechnology Club invited Dr. Donald Kohn of the Childrens' Hospital Los Angeles to discuss current clinical research in gene therapy this past Wednesday, May 25. Sophomore Xin Ye introduced the speaker as one of the leading clinical researchers in gene therapy. Dr. Kohn began by describing Severe Combined Im- mune Deficiency, a rare but fatal disease found in one in 500,000 babies. Without medication, these babies die within a year of birth. Thus, CHLA draws patients from the entire West Coast and usually treats one child at a time. SCID essentially means that the body is not producing T and B cells, vital to its immune function, in sufficient number. Initially the Immunoglobulin G from newborn's mothers protects them from disease. None the less, it is possible to diagnose these newborns by analyzing their T cells. The traditional approach to this problem has been to transplant bone marrow, which occurred for the first time in 1968. A transplant from a matched sibling has a 90% chance of curing this disease. But, such a sibling is often unavailable, so transplants usually use the par- ents' bone marrow To perform this operation, the doctor must first deplete the parents' bone marrow of T cells to prevent them from attacking the new host. One fortunate conse- quence of SCID is that the child has no T cells, guaranteeing that the child cannot reject the new bone marrow. The transplant from a parent has a 33% success rate, based on 15 such procedures to date. In 1972, researchers discovered for the first time a genetic cause of SCID: a range of adenosine de-aminase gene defects that cause 20% of cases. They first cloned the gene in 1983, and research in gene therapy began in 1990. The defect in the ADA gene prevents production of the enzyme, so one treatment available since 1990 is the PEG-ADA replacement therapy. This is a bi-weekly injection, which is a difficult procedure to perform on a child. The fix is a retrovirus, which can carry a payload of two to four thousand base pairs. In the 1s clinical trial in 1995, the researchers extracted samples from the two patients, one two and one four years old, and replaced them with fixed T cells every month. These T cells lasted around 10 years. Despite tis success, the two patients were or PEG-ADA before treatment and during the entire 10 years. Another concern is that retroviruses integrate the payload at random. Furthermore, the needed Hematopoietic Stem Cells frequently in the non-dividing, GO, phase of their mitosis cycle, but vectors only work if the HSC are dividing. The Children's Hospital's first costs $200,000 to $500,000 per year. In California, this expense comes out of tax dollars. For all its faults, the treatment is rather successtur with 83% surviving for around 10 years, and, although the T cell count is under 10% of the normal range, the children are doing fine. To address the concerns with more conventional treatments, researchers considered using gene therapy to treat the illness. SCID was a logical choice for the first disease to treat with gene therapy, because fixing only a few stem cells may be enough to generate enough T cells to correct SCID. In addition, reports indicate that fixing a lew stem cells can spontaneously cure SCID. The main tool for delivering the trial involved three ADA-SCID patients and demonstrated no adverse side effects but no significant clinical benefits either. Yet, American studies do not allow the patients to go off PEG-ADA, which may affect the results. After designing better vectors in mice and better growth factors, the CHLA planned a second trial with 10 patients on PEG-ADA They applied for approval on Aug 1999 and obtained it Jun 2001. They had four patients participate from Aug 2001-Jan 2002, from whom they discovered that the gene therapy treatment worked better with younger patients. At about the same time, a group in Milan treated 8 kids with more astounding results. They found children from third world coun- tries, however, who never had access to PEG-ADA and who did not receive any during the study They went so far as to administer busulfan, a compound they used to kill the HSC in the children before infusing the correct bone marrow cells. Over the first 6-9 months after treatment, the children regained immune function. This left the other 60% of cases SCID, 40% of which are the X. linked form. Fortunately, a cure recently became available, pro- viding patients with good health for the past couple years. On October 3a, 2002, the US government suspended gene therapy trials after 3 of 10 such patients in France developed T cell leukemia. Two of them were young and received an especially large number of transduced, ol fixed, cells. The vector integrated at a site that turns on adjacent can-cer-causing genes, causing inser-tional oncogenesis Scientists still have high hopes for gene therapy, since bone marrow transplant only provides 60-70% survival with half the patients failing to make protective antibod-ies. In contrast, fixing the HSC for XSCID yielded 81% success with fun immune restoration The CHLA group then underwent a series of holds from September 2002 until now. committees that With independently need to approve the protocols, consent forms, and other paper-work, the group hires two people full-time to handle these papers. Dr. Kohn then described future plans to improve the delivery vec-tors. He described a lentivirus similar to HIV that can enter non-dividing cells and carry a larger payload with less risk of insertion-al oncogenesis. Another delivery method called the sleeping beauty transposon uses two plasmids for site-specific integration Or. Kohn then took questions from the audience. Some members asked about the efficiency of the approval process. He responded that each committee feels that only it understands the situation, making it difficult to remove any of them from the process. He also explained that the research is not yet ready for biotech or big pharmaceutical companies, because te umetines are too long to make a return in time for the next fiscal Someone also asked whether other countries had less stringent requirements. Dr. Kohn noted in reply that China approved the first gene therapy product very quickly and has already made it available to its public. After the talk, a delicious dinner was available to the audience. The Biotech Club is an organization of graduate students and undergrad- uates who meet to discuss and listen to lectures in biotechnol-ogy. Xin Ye, Vice President of the club, encourages undergraduates to attend, "The Biotech club is a great opportunity for undergraduates to explore career options in the field." ASCIT Minutes MAY 27TH, 2005 Present: Kelly Lin, Michelle Wyatt, Peter Foley, Warner Leedy, Dima, Todd Gingrich, Parvathy, Ryan Farmer Guests: Jason Yosinski, Kewell, Po-Ru Loh, Daniel Sto- larski, Nicholas Halpern-Man- Scin Call to Order: 12:08:72 in the Po-Ru Loh to ask for multihouse for cial...$100/house, $200 total. (6- Jason and Kewell want more Hawaiian style... Hawaiian guitarist, dancing, food, etc. Planning to include hip-hop, then have live performance, then the future, rumored fall but they could be trying to trick us. funding for new-ARC-old-ARC Meng-Meng $3700, have approached Provost and Bookstore, have to cut pages if don't receive funding by end of next week. (7-0-0) Stolarski wants $30 for Walk of Shame, in addition to what was awarded from Prank Club. (6-0- 1, passes) Formal's tomorrow. Yeee- hawr. Professional photographer, posting thumbnails online, purchase online. Peter wants to be photographed riding dinosaurs. Dima thinks that's pornographic - he approves. Meeting Adjourned: 12:42 pm Adventure. Heh! Heh! Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things. Parvathy "Yoda" Menon SOCIAL EVENTS IN THE LA AREA Brought to you by the ASCIT SEXCOMM (put together by ROCKY VELEZ) Coming up Next Weekend 07:15 PM Travis Tritt - Gibson 08:00 PM Drama At UCI - Se- Coming soon to the LA (tickets on sale now or very very Amphitheatre at Universal City- ussical the Musical - UCI Arts: area. Buy your soon at ticketmaster.com) Walk: Universal City, CA Irvine, CA 07:30 PM Battle of the Bands now!! tickets 08:00 PM Footloose - Califor- Concerts - Key Club: Los Angeles, CA nia Performing Arts Theatre: San (bands with a * have mul- 07:30 PM Comeback Kid - Bernardino, CA Kenny Chesney - STAPLES Center: Fri, 06/17/05 tiple showtimes and/or dates this Chain Reaction: Anaheim, CA 08:00 PM Menopause, the Mu- Neil Diamond STAPLES weekend 07:30 PM Rick Ortiz Presents sical - Coronet Theatre: Los An- Center: Sun, 10/02/05 Fri, 06/03/05 Urbano Movement 2005 - House geles, CA Wicked - a New Musical - Pan- *07:00 PM Bone Thugs N Harmony - House of Blues Sunset of Blues Sunset Strip: Holly- tages Theatre: Thu, 07/28/05 Strip: Hollywood, CA nix Mercury - STAPLES Center: 07:30 PM Martyr Plot - Chain Reaction: Anaheim, CA Green Day - The Home Depot *07:30 PM Pixies - The Wiltern let - Kodak Theatre: Hollywood, LG: Los Angeles, CA 08:00 PM Fischerspooner vs Milwaukee Brewers - Dodger Stadium: Los Angeles, CA House of Blues Anaheim: Ana- 09:00 PM Bloc Party - El Re Theatre: Los Angeles, C heim, CA 08:00 PM Los Angeles Philharmonic Presents : Prairie Home 07:00 PM Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Metrostars - The Home Depot vood Bowl: Sun, 06/12/0 Companion - Hollywood Bowl : Hollywood, CA 10:00 PM SX-10 with Nme vs Milwaukee Brewers - Dodger - Troubadour: West Hollywood, CA - Shrine Auditorium: Los Ange 06:30 PM Murder Mystery Dinner - Lunaria - Murder Mys- Note: There is no guarantee that these tickets will still be on sale at the time of publication. Sat, 06/04/05 06:30 PM The Mars Volta - Greek Theatre: Los Angeles, CA *07:00 PM Bone Thugs N Harmony - House of Blues Anaheim: Anaheim, CA *09:00 PM The Average White Band - Canyon Dinner Theater: Agoura Hills, CA 09:15 PM XEO3 - Viper Room: West Hollywood, CA musicals have multiple dates/ Bash - Key Club: Los Angeles, If you think we missed anything or have any requests for social events, email Dima at dima@caltech.edu or Rocky at rocky@caltech.edu. Have fun!! The California Tech Caltech 40-58 Pasadena, CA 91125 Sun, 06/05/05 06:30 PM Def Leppard & Bryan Adams - Arrowhead Credit Union Park: San Bernardino, CA 07:00 PM Black Eyed Peas - Santa Barbara Bowl: Santa Bar-bara, CA