Molecular genetics given okay

The Board of Trustees applied the classic Three Musketeers adage "All for one and one for all" when they voted recently to raise $l6 million for a new molecular genetics program at the College. During their fall meeting, in November, the Trustees approved construction of a molecular biology laboratory as part of a joint venture between the College and the Medical School.

Molecular genetics is an area of science which has grown rapidly since the landmark work revealing the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in the fifties. Several recent break throughs in the ability of geneticists to isolate and manipulate genes at the molecular level have raised the possibility of producing large quantities of substances which may help in the treatment of currently fatal forms of cancer and other diseases. Genetics also has potential applications in pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

According to Dean of the Faculty Dwight Lahr, Dartmouth must establish a program in molecular genetics in order to remain competitive with other colleges and universities which are initiating or expanding molecular biology programs. For example, Princeton has recently begun a $46-million campaign devoted solely to molecular biology.

With both a medical school and close interaction between the undergraduate biology and general science departments at Dartmouth, Lahr said it was essential to establish a program in molecular biology. "If we didn't do it, we were simply putting our heads in the sand and pretending that a problem that was staring everyone in the face would simply go away," Lahr said. "And that's clearly not going to be the case."

Lahr became involved in the molecular biology proposal two years ago when, as associate dean of the sciences, he coordinated several brown-bag lunches with faculty members who were interested in expanding Dartmouth's science program to include molecular biology. Concerning the widespread interest in the topic, Lahr noted that "molecular genetics techniques turn out to be standard research tools that find application throughout the basic biological and biomedical science areas."

Convinced of the need for further action to promote molecular biology, Lahr appointed a committee of eight professors from the biology and biochemistry departments last year to formulate "a coherent approach to molecular genetics at Dartmouth." After 60 hours of meetings, the group recommended the appointment of eight new molecular biology professors and a fund drive to raise between $20 and $22 million for the program. The Trustee Committee on Educational Affairs later pared the figures down to the four professors and $16 million approved by the full Board.

Further details of the program have not been formally proposed and will not be adopted until the money is raised, according to Provost Agnar Pytte. "We have in mind some possible sources," he said, adding that with luck, the sum will be raised fairly quickly. "Otherwise, unless we get one or two large chunks of money, this will take a long time. But it is something we want to do, whether it takes two years or six years, because we feel that this is terribly important."

Even without the details, the goals of the program are clear in the minds of several people. "This will give Dartmouth a critical mass of knowledge in the rapidly-growing field of molecular genetics," said Professor of Biochemistry Chuck Cole, who chaired the Molecular Genetics Committee. "This mass will play an important role in providing the undergraduate community with a range of options for exposure to molecular genetics, even for those headed into business or law." On the graduate level, Cole envisions a program capable of accommodating from 25 to 40 students. "This would put us into the triple-A, if not major league, of graduate programs in the field," he said.

Like Cole, Lahr mentioned the posi- tive effect the program would have on Dartmouth's "research climate" an important determinant of the quality of instruction in the sciences. "If this is not a place where people are working at the cutting edge, then we're not going to be able to recruit the kind of faculty who would teach excellent undergraduate courses," Lahr said. Evidence of this, he pointed out, was Cole's decision to come to the College a year ago. "He knew there was a groundswell here to increase activity in molecular genetics, and that affected his decision to come to Dartmouth."

Included in the Trustees' $16-million plan is $2 million in renovations for existing science labs in Steele, the chemistry building, and in the Gilman Life Sciences Laboratory. Members of the chemistry department have been proposing safety renovations of the labs for over two years. Charles Braun, the chairman of the chemistry department, was quoted recently in The Dartmouth as saying that the labs in his department are "poor by the standards of any firstrate institution" and have been insufficient for ten years. The safety features in the new molecular genetics lab, Cole said, will be built in accordance with guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health.