Schools 4 Online

It’s been implicated as the bacterium that causes ulcers and the majority of stomach cancers, but studies by researchers at Stanford University, UC Davis, and the University of Pittsburgh have found that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) also may play a protective role — against the worldwide killer, tuberculosis (TB).
In an article appearing online in PLoS ONE, Jay Solnick, UC Davis professor of medicine and microbiology, and his co-authors report that H. pylori infection may enhance immunity against tuberculosis, a disease endemic in many parts of the world, and for which there is no effective vaccine.

“Here is a bacterium that we know is sometimes harmful and that is clearly associated with cancer,” Solnick said. “But it’s not that simple.”

Solnick explains that up until the 20th century, when public health improved and antibiotic use was widespread, virtually everyone was infected with H. pylori. That remains the case today in most developing countries, implying that H. pylori may have evolved with its human host because it confers some selective benefit.

“These new findings suggest that one such benefit may that H. pylori provides protection against tuberculosis, and perhaps other infectious diseases as well,” he said.
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Career Center

There are tremendous career opportunities in health and bioscience-related fields available now and in the near future. For more information about the people and the careers, we are building a collection of career guides and interviews. Interviews will include people in a variety of career paths, and at diferent stages in their careers. Our In Their Own Words interviews are with Nobel Prize winners and others who are internationally recognized for their contributions in their respective fields.

* Career Guides
* In Their Own Words
* Career Exploration

Career Guides:
Clinical Laboratory Science

* Career Information

Biotechnology

* Introduction
* On Becoming a Scientist – teacher resources & student activities
* Job Descriptions Part 1 – Research & Development, Quality Control, Clinical Research
* Job Descriptions Part 2 – Manufacturing & Production, Regulatory Affairs, Information Systems, Administration
* Career Profiles: Interviews with people from a wide range of positions in biotech.

In Their Own Words:

* Roger N. Beachy, Ph.D. – Plant Biologist, Scripps Research Institute
* Barry Bloom, Ph.D – Medical Researcher/Immunologist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
* David Golde, M.D. – Head, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City.
* Stephen Hall – science writer based in New York and author of Invisible Frontiers, a book describing the origins of biotechnology
* Neil Holtzman, M.D., M.P.H. – author of Proceed With Caution, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
* Eric Lander, D. Phil. – Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research; and Associate Professor of Biology & Director, Center for Genome Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
* Leon Lederman, Ph.D. – Nobel laureate in physics and leading advocate for reform of science education
* Maxine Singer, Ph.D. – President of the Carnegie Institution in Washington and active researcher at the National Institutes of Health
* James Watson, Ph.D. – co-discoverer of the structure of DNA with Francis Crick.

Career Exploration

* LifeWorks – Explore health and medical science careers
LifeWorks TM is an interactive career exploration web site for middle and high school students. Users can browse for information on more than 100 medical science and health careers by title, education required, interest area, or median salary. The site complements its factual career data by highlighting true stories of successful people illustrating the variety of real-life career pathways, from the carefully planned to the unpredictable.

* The Fun Works … for careers you never knew existed
Designed for students ages 11-15 or in grades 6-9, this interactive site encourages students to explore ways to link what interests them to future careers. Created by Education Development Center with funding from the National Science Foundation

* Exploring Career Information – What Interests You?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupations on this site are categorized according to interests and hobbies common among students. To help students continue their career exploration, each occupational description on the kids’ site links to related information in the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.