tokyo deans plan flexible future for students

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304 NATURE | VOL 421 | 23 JANUARY 2003 | www.nature.com/nature

Transgenic salmon still out in the cold in United StatesHannah Hoag, WashingtonApproval for the commercial farming oftransgenic salmon in the United Statesremains at least 18 months off, say officialsat Aqua Bounty Farms in Waltham,Massachusetts, the only company that hasfiled for approval to produce them.

The progress of the application, made by Aqua Bounty Farms in November 1996,has been watched avidly by advocates oftransgenic technology — includingresearchers hoping to develop their owngenetically modified fish — who had hopedthat the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) would have given its approval by now (see Nature 406, 10–12; 2000).

Critics of the technology point to theunknown risks posed by a possible escape ofthe fish from their farms, perhaps leading to competition with wild fish for food, theintroduction of transgenes into wild fish,and even possible collapse of wild fishpopulations.

Joseph McGonigle, vice-president of

Aqua Bounty Farms, says that he doesn’texpect the FDA to approve the applicationuntil late 2004. The company plans tosubmit a second application, for transgenictrout, in about a year’s time.

McGonigle says that the delay is placingthe company under financial strain.“Money’s an issue now,” he says. “We’ve beenliving on venture capital for years.”

But a report issued last week by the non-profit Pew Initiative on Food andBiotechnology questioned the FDA’s abilityto regulate transgenic fish properly. It saysthat the FDA lacks the expertise to evaluateenvironmental risks. The report also callsfor greater transparency and publicinvolvement in the review process.

Aqua Bounty’s Atlantic salmon carry agene construct of the growth-hormone gene from Pacific chinook salmon, and apromoter sequence from the ocean pout forthe production of antifreeze proteins. Theygrow twice as fast as most farmed salmonbut consume less food. The company is

working with the Harvard Center for RiskAnalysis to perform an environmental-impact assessment, which it will use tosupport its application.

Meanwhile, Chinese researchers havebeen working with fast-growing transgeniccarp since the late 1980s, and Cuba isconsidering commercialization of tilapiathat were first bred there in 1993. The Cubanresearchers say it will be three years beforethey know the regulatory fate of their tilapia.

Mario Estrada, leader of the aquatic-organism project at the Center for GeneticEngineering and Biotechnology in Havana,says that most of the food-safety studies aredone, including an experiment in whichtilapia were eaten by volunteers.

Researchers elsewhere are working withtransgenes that will resist bacterial or viralinfection. “Disease is one of the biggestissues in raising fish in aquaculture,” saysBill Muir, a professor of genetics at PurdueUniversity in West Lafayette, Indiana. ■

➧ http://pewagbiotech.org/research/fish

other universities. “The innovation at thenation’s top institution is likely to become amodel for the Japanese university system,”says Masamichi Ishii, a senior research fellowat the National Institute of Science and Tech-nology Policy in Tokyo. ■

Keiko Kandachi, TokyoUndergraduates at the University of Tokyowill have unprecedented freedom to switchbetween the sciences and the humanities,under a reform package that is due to takeeffect in three years’ time. The move, whichwill be announced in March, is seen as aharbinger of change in Japan’s notoriouslyinflexible higher-education system.

At the moment, it is difficult for studentsat Japan’s most prestigious university tochange their academic course after admit-tance. But the university’s deans recentlyagreed to reforms that will allow scienceundergraduates to transfer to law, for exam-ple, at the end of their second year of study.Each department will accept a certain per-centage of students from any academic track,based on their grades in their first two years.

The idea is to give students enough lee-way to do what really interests them, explainsAtsushi Koma, the university’s vice-presi-dent. It is also aimed at meeting a growingdemand for graduates who are well-versed inboth sciences and the humanities to work inbusiness, law, government and academia.

Under the plan, each department willrequire students to have attended prerequi-site classes before transferring. The universitypromises to notify students of these require-ments early enough for them to make asmooth transfer and graduate within the regular time frame.

In a bid to give students more freedom of

choice, the university will introduce severalassociated measures, including a lectureseries about new developments in the sci-ences and humanities, to help students toidentify their true interests. The universitywill also introduce a financial-aid plan foroutstanding students.

Koma says that in his experience as achemistry professor, current restrictions sti-fle students by forcing them to perseverewith topics they don’t like. He adds that evenstudents that move on to postgraduate workoften lack a real passion for their subjectarea, and so avoid challenging choices ofsubject for their theses. The reforms willencourage students to take classes in moresubjects, so they find out what intriguesthem, Koma says.

But Masakata Ogawa, a professor of science and technology education at Kobe University, says that students will need muchbetter career-planning advice than they get at the moment if they are to take advantage of a more flexible course structure.

Students are also voicing scepticismabout the change. “Before the universityintroduces the reforms, I want it to make surethat each professor is more committed toteaching,” says one science student, who didnot want to be identified. “Some professorsseem to focus on research and lack the energyneeded to teach undergraduates.”

But education experts say that the initia-tive will probably lead the way for Japan’s

Tokyo deans plan flexible future for students

Officials at the University of Tokyo hope reformswill ignite some passion in the student body.

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© 2003 Nature Publishing Group