NEUROSCIENCE CAREER OUTLOOK: Stunning research advances have 
swelled the ranks of neuroscientists. But tight federal funding 
and wariness on the part of industry about the economy in general 
has made job prospects for these new brain researchers sparse--at 
least in the short term.

TI   : Neuroscience Is A Booming Field--For Neuroscientists With Jobs, 
       That Is
 
Exciting advances in this discipline are attracting far more 
researchers than academic and corporate labs currently can employ
 
 
AU   : SUSAN L-J DICKINSON
 
TY   : NEWS
 
PG   : 1
 
Working neuroscientists can take heart: Their discipline is 
booming. Exciting advances in their field, and a rapidly 
broadening environment for the application of these advances, 
have placed their specialty at or near the forefront of life 
science endeavor during the past decade or so.
 
 
 
Membership in the Society for Neuroscience has nearly doubled 
during recent years. At this year's meeting of the organization--
November 7-12 in Washington, D.C.--attendees will be bombarded 
with a packed agenda of seminars, short courses, speeches, 
workshops, product demonstrations, and a wealth of other events. 
The multiplicity of offerings attests to the high level of 
energy, activity, and fruitful achievement characterizing the 
discipline at this point, midway through the so-called Decade of 
the Brain.
 
 
 
But what about the non-working neuroscientists--the advanced-
degree-holding men and women who will be at the meeting primarily 
to find work? For them, prospects aren't all that bright.
 
 
 
According to trends observed by the society's placement service, 
work-seeking neuroscientists are likely to confront the fact that 
their numbers are dramatically on the increase--but job 
availability is discouragingly on the decline.
 
 
 
Currently, says David Bredt, who graduated from Johns Hopkins 
University this past May with an M.D. and a Ph.D. in 
neuroscience, "the job market is extremely competitive. Many of 
my colleagues have applied to more than 50 places." Ross Gibson, 
director of human resources for Cambridge Neuroscience Inc. in 
Cambridge, Mass., concurs. "We've had no trouble finding people 
we want," he says. "If we advertise nationally, we get up to 200 
applicants per position; 15 to 20 percent of these meet our exact 
qualifications."
 
 
But industry experts say that as neuroscientists spend more time 
copying their resume and interviewing with prospective employers, 
they can take heart in the knowledge that their employment 
prospects are better than those of their scientific colleagues in 
many other fields. Industry watchers say that biotech companies 
are still being founded to cash in on neuroscience breakthroughs, 
pharmaceutical firms are preserving neuro- science as they pare 
down their research and development budgets, and granting 
agencies are making a concerted effort to invest in neuroscience 
during the '90s' "Decade of the Brain" effort.
 
 
 
"Neuroscience is getting lots of publicity and money, so this 
period is probably not as painful for us as for scientists in 
other areas," observes Christine Livingston, a Ph.D. graduate of 
the neuroscience program at the Marine Biomedical Institute in 
the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
 
 
 
"The glory days of two decades ago are past," adds Jim 
Blankenship, president of the Association of Neuroscience 
Departments and Programs and director of the neuroscience program 
at Galveston, referring to a period of expanded hiring of 
scientists in general and neuroscientists in particular. "But the 
job market [for neuroscientists] is reasonably stable; there is 
no reason to panic."
 
 
 
Market Factors
Statistics compiled by the placement service at each of the past 
five Society for Neuroscience meetings reveal a depressing trend 
for those entering the job market (see charts on page 7): The 
number of candidates registering for interviews has increased 
sharply, while the number of position descriptions posted has 
leveled off, and the number of employers registering to interview 
candidates has decreased.
 
 
 
The result is that, while the average number of interviews each 
employer conducts at the meeting has increased, the average 
number of interviews each candidate garners has decreased.
 
 
 
Several factors--involving both the supply of neuroscientists and 
the demand for them--have converged to create this current tight 
market, observers say. 
 
 
 
The most significant of these factors is the sharpness with which 
the supply of neuroscientists has increased: The Society for 
Neuroscience reports that its membership has grown in the past 
five years from 11,690 in 1987 to 20,415 in 1992. A small portion 
of this increase can be attributed to the burgeoning number of 
Ph.D.'s being awarded in neuroscience. Yet it is ironic that one 
of the most valuable assets of neuroscience--its 
interdisciplinary nature--is also the primary reason there are so 
many scientists competing for a few jobs, neuroscientists say.
 
 
 
"Scientists are converging from all different backgrounds into 
this field: pharmacology, molecular biology, protein 
biochemistry, immunology, and physiology," says Ted Dawson, an 
M.D./Ph.D. who has just garnered a joint assistant professorship 
in the departments of neurology and neuroscience at Johns 
Hopkins. "Neuroscience is probably the most interdisciplinary of 
any of the biomedical sciences," concurs U. Texas' Blankenship.
 
 
 
"Molecular biologists are finding that just being able to clone 
genes is no longer that unusual or marketable a skill. So they 
are starting to focus, and the developments in neuroscience are 
probably more exciting, more plentiful, and more rapidly moving 
than in any other field of biomedical research," says Solomon 
Snyder, director of the neuroscience program at Johns Hopkins.
 
 
 
"So many people are entering the field," he adds, "that NIH 
[National Institutes of Health] funding for neuroscience is being 
overwhelmed."
 
 
Academic Dilemma
Indeed, heightened competition for grant money--almost a 
prerequisite for staying in an academic department or obtaining 
permanent appointment--is making the academic sector of the job 
market tightest for neuroscientists. "Everyone is scared about 
the grant situation," says Blankenship, and a brief glance at 
some statistics from NIH reveals why. 
 
 
 
The success rate of grant applications to the National Institute 
of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the source of 
nearly one-third of the $1.9 billion NIH granted to Decade of the 
Brain projects during fiscal year 1993, has plummeted, from 39.6 
percent five years ago to 21.9 percent in 1993. One reason is 
that the number of applications is up, from 1,583 in 1991 to an 
estimated 1,802 this year. And Constance Atwell, NINDS director 
of extramural programs, notes that the institute's annual budget 
increase is not keeping pace with either this increase in the 
number of applications or the average size of grant awards.
 
 
According to students as well as professors of neuroscience, this 
situation is creating a lot of stress in academic labs throughout 
the country. And Bredt, who will be moving to the University of 
California, San Francisco, in January as an assistant professor 
of neuroscience, says that getting a job doesn't necessarily 
relieve the pressure: "Unless your research is successful and you 
are lucky enough to have it be of interest to a granting agency, 
then you can't even stay in a department."
 
 
 
"You are much more marketable in looking for a job if you have a 
grant," Livingston agrees. She received her Ph.D. from the 
University of Texas, Galveston, in 1987, and it was only three 
months ago, after two postdoctoral fellowships, that she returned 
to a position on the same campus as assistant professor in the 
department of humanities and basic sciences. In her words, an 
assistant professorship in a liberal arts department is an 
"unorthodox position" for a scientist who wants to do serious 
work in the lab. She spends much of her time teaching 
undergraduate students, and has limited start-up funds and lab 
space for her own work. She says that some friends advised her 
against taking this position, cautioning that teaching 
responsibilities would swallow up her research time. Others felt 
that she was selling out.
 
 
 
"But [the job market for neuroscientists] was a pretty 
threatening environment," she says. "And I was in a very scary 
position, especially as a single parent and the sole provider for 
my family." 
 
 
 
Now, Livingston says, she is finding her position challenging and 
interesting. And she is confident that, with colleagues and 
collaborations still in place on campus from her graduate school 
days, her research won't suffer. Moreover, bad as her experience 
has been, she agrees that in another field of research it could 
well have been worse. "[Undergraduate] biology departments love 
to have neuroscientists on their faculty," she says. "Big strides 
have been made in neuroscience . . . and they want to milk the 
field."
 
 
 
With a job market that, at best, can be described as stable, why 
do many neuroscientists feel fortunate? "Neuroscience is exciting 
right now," says Dawson.
 
 
 
Indeed, recent advances in molecular biology are enabling 
scientists to clone receptor proteins and identify subreceptors 
that no one knew existed a decade ago. Developments in 
neurophysiology are allowing scientists to record activity of a 
single ion channel. The gene for Huntington's disease has been 
identified, and it is now known that amyotrophic lateral 
sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) is caused by the loss of 
a simple enzyme. 
 
 
 
"A whole new category of drugs is being developed to treat 
previously untreatable neurodegenerative diseases," notes Kayla 
Paul, director of international clinical research at Hoffmann-La 
Roche Inc. in Nutley, N.J. And because America's aging population 
is making neurodegenerative diseases more prevalent, industry's 
investment in neuroscience is expanding.
 
 
 
"Since there are new tools and new avenues for therapeutic 
intervention, there is more money being spent in neurology and, 
especially, neuropharmacology," observes Thomas L. Copmann, 
assistant vice president for biotechnology and biologics at the 
Washington, D.C.-based Pharmaceutical Manufac- turers 
Association.
 
 
"The pharmaceutical industry is having a renaissance of interest 
in neuroscience," adds Johns Hopkins' Snyder. "And of course, 
this translates into jobs."
 
 
Commitment To Research
Although recent layoffs and job cuts at major pharmaceutical 
firms have gotten a lot of media attention, several of these 
companies indicate that they are not backing away from their R&D 
commitments in the neuroscience area. Merck & Co. Inc. in 
Whitehouse Station, N.J., reports that it hired 18 people in the 
neurosciences in 1993, and plans to continue this expansion in 
1994, hiring some 10 to 15 more. SmithKline Beecham, 
Philadelphia, won't release hiring numbers, but confirms that it 
has hired some Ph.D. neuroscientists in 1993, and that 
neuroscience continues to be one of its core programs. Warner-
Lambert Co. public relations representative Lisa Wilder reports 
that her Morris Plains, N.J.-based company launched Cognex, the 
first United States Food and Drug Administration-approved drug 
for Alzheimer's disease, in early September. "Cognex is the most 
important drug in the history of our company," she says. 
 
 
"Neuroscience is a big growth area for us."
And the picture at smaller biotech firms that specialize in 
neuroscience is also one of cautious expansion. Neurogen Corp. of 
Branford, Conn., hired 15 researchers (including six Ph.D.'s) 
during the past year, and estimates it will make five to 10 new 
hires in 1994. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y., 
hired 25 new employees in 1993, and projects 1994 new hires will 
number about 50.
 
 
 
Cephalon Inc. of West Chester, Pa., has expanded the ranks of its 
Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s by 20, an increase of 31 percent since last 
December, and plans to continue hiring throughout the coming 
year. Cambridge Neuroscience Inc. hired 10 neuroscientists in 
1993, and has plans to hire six more in 1994. And Raymond Bartes, 
senior vice president of neurobiology at Alkermes Inc., also in 
Cambridge, has hired eight neuroscientists in the last eight 
months, and says that positions are still open at his company.
 
 
 
This expansion is being fueled not only by the normal growth of 
young companies, but also by the unprecedented number of 
promising compounds these neuroscience companies are working on, 
according to analysts in the biotechnology research division of 
Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. As a group, these firms have at 
least 28 neuroscience-generated products (neurotrophic factors, 
neurotrophins, and other neurology products) in development. Many 
of these, according to Merrill Lynch, address previously 
untreatable neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's, ALS, 
Parkinson's disease, stroke, and spinal cord injuries.
 
 
 
Despite this increased activity, all of these companies are 
currently operating under economic and political pressure. 
Consumers and investors are spending less money, and the 
potential results of the current national debate on health care 
have top managers at biomedical corporations concerned.
 
 
Guarded Optimism
"We are in an anomalous situation now," says John Groom, 
president and chief executive officer of San Carlos, Calif.-based 
Athena Neurosciences Inc.
 
 
"We are making good scientific progress in a negative [economic] 
environment. As a result, I am very optimistic about our 
technology, but very pessimistic in terms of how to pay for it."
 
 
Nevertheless, Groom says, there currently  are  openings  for  
Ph.D.'s at Athena--positions that represent  expansion,  not  
just  replacement.
 
 
 
Until some of these issues are resolved, neuroscientists counsel 
their job-seeking colleagues to be patient. Christine Livingston 
recalls the advice of a professor that she has found to be true: 
"Just stick it out and you'll make it."
 
 
Blankenship also urges calm and perseverance. "The short term 
looks a little spooky," he acknowledges. "But openings are there, 
and in the long term, things should cycle back around."
 
 
Susan L-J Dickinson is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.
 
 
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #21, November 1, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)