By DAVID CHEN

MAY 31, 2005

a blitz game to a diamond-blackrun in downhill skiing."

The chess team has enjoyedenormous success, winning theUS Amateur Team West Champi­onship. Most recently, the teamdefeated MIT in a special matchfor the second time in as manyyears. The club meets every Fri­day at 8 PM in the Page HouseDining Hall.

The chess club holds the eventevery year with a particular eyetowards attracting new member­ship. In this respect the eventwas a success, attracting manynew and strong players. Whilethe chess team is strong, regularclub meetings are very relaxedand friendly toward the novice."You won't be expected to play20 simultaneous chess gamesyour first day," joked Hummel,referring to his own simultaneousexhibitions, which have becomea popular fixture of the PrefroshWeekend Club Fair.

By D. ZEB ROCKLIN

their level, and that all would beable to play until the final round.

Caltech's two resident masters,Patrick Hummel and EugeneYanayt, defended their territory,finishing first and second re­spectively. Mike Lucas finishedthird and was the only player todefeat Hummel in even a singlegame, but was ineligible for priz­es. Instead, Alexei Dvoretskiiand Marat Gataullin split thirdplace. Talented "novices" An­drei Petcherski and Nikita Pan­asenko finished first and second,respectively, among novices.A full crosstable of the event isavailable at www.its.caltech.edu/-citchess/news.htmt All told,the chess club gave away $500 inprizes.

The quick games led to excit­ing play, sharp contrast to theimage of chess as anesthetic. "Iforgot how high you can get play­ing competitive chess," notedGataullin. "I can only compare

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

The Caltech Chess hosted thethird annual Caltech Blitz ChessChampionship Friday, May 20th

in the Page House Dining Hall.The event was free and open tothe public, with members of theCaltech community receivingprizes. The event was a suc­cess-it attracted thirteen play­ers, most from the Caltech com­munity, but some traveling fromas far as Duke University.

Six rounds were played, witheach pair of players playing twogames per round. The gameswere quick, lasting no longerthan ten minutes, quite a contrastto classical time controls, whichoften result in six hour games.Fortunately, the tournament waswell-run by chess club presidentand veteran player Patrick Hum­mel, and the entire event wasover in only two and a half hours.Hummel used the Swiss pairingsystem, ensuring that playerswould be able to play others at

a South House in that all groupsdesired central courtyards. Themodels also included accessibleroofs and terraces.

In fact, the kits were quite thor­ough, with blocks representing al­most all types of rooms included.Students placed the entertainmentand computer rooms, the RA'sapartment, the lounges and diningroom. The kits included two typesof dining rooms, one with rectan­gular tables like the current onesand and one with circular ones,such as those near Chandler, togive less of a cafeteria feel. Somelounge blocks included kitchen­ettes while other blocks repre­sented only full-sized kitchens.

Responding to the request to ac­commodate visitors, students alsohad to place lockers, althoughmost groups decided not to usethem. Most groups also chose toplace bicycle racks under terracesto provide some cover. In addi­tion, they could include a laun­dry room in the house, but mostgroups decided against this. Onemandatory addition was an el­evator to ensure the entire housewould be wheelchair accessible.Students, accustomed to the dailyexercise provided by stairs, optedto place the elevator in a comer ofthe house.

One aspect common to the pro­posals for a central courtyard ismultiple entryways. At the sametime, some students expressedconcern over the noise that couldcome from the courtyard. To ame­liorate this, one group requestedthat all bathrooms and commu­nal rooms, such as the entertain­ment room, face the courtyard sothat fewer students would haveto study with hammers ringingin their ears. Despite student re­quests, parking in the houses isnot currently in the plan.

Tom Mannion hosted the event,wisely choosing to hold the work­shop indoors and providing lotsof delicious appetizers and colddrinks. In addition, his fabulouscooking was a great treat. MargoMarshak also attended this event.The third workshop met Sunday,May 29th

•

Students Play

Students designed their idealNorth House last Saturday in thesecond workshop discussing ren­ovations to the North Houses.

During the previous workshop,the students brainstormed proper­ties of an ideal alley. They wantedrooms that could change size.Vertical height is also importantto allow students to build lofts.Besides just constructing lofts,the attendees felt that the archi­tecture should facilitate a widevariety of customizations.

North House residents alsowant more private bathrooms,including smaller bathrooms, po­tentially even singles, and bath­rooms in more private areas. Atthe same time, many desire moreaccess to daylight within thehouse. This would probably re­quire wider rooms, to allow morewindow space.

Others requested more connec­tions to common spaces, includ­ing multi-floor common spacesand direct connections to outdoorareas from these areas. Finally,students noted that they wantedto accommodate visitors.

Buzz Yudell, one of the partnersof the firm planning the NorthHouse renovations, noted four al­ternatives to consider. Current re­quests would reduce room countssince we would be wideningrooms and adding lounge areas.Yet, the Institute has requestedthat the new North Houses hold322 beds, so more than two storiesmay be needed. Caltech has evenrequested that the arrangement al­low space for the construction ofa fourth North House.

The primary exercise of thisworkshop was to model the houseitself based on the descriptions ofan ideal alley. Pageboys, Lloy­dies and Rudds split up into fivegroups, each with about five stu­dents.

Each group received a large kitof blocks of different colors andsizes. Longer blocks representedalleys, and the individual roomsand bathrooms were visible onthe pieces.

After about an hour, the groupspresented their models. The moststriking trait is that all modeled

VOLUME CVI, NUMBER 29

or junior year who has shownexcellence in scholarship asdemonstrated in class activitiesor in preparation of an originalpaper or essay in any subjectarea.

y oe n ge

The winners of th~ 2005 Undergraduate Academic Awards

Mathematics has been chosenas this year's winner of theFredrick J. Zeigler MemorialAward. This award is given toa pure or applied mathemat­ics student in the sophomore

Physics, received this year'sSigma Xi award. This awardis given to a senior for an out­standing piece of original sci­entific research.

Yang Chen, a junior in Elec­trical Engineering and PatrickHummel, a junior in Appliedand Computational Mathemat­ics are this year's recipientsof the Henry Ford n ScholarAward. This prize is given tothe student in Engineeri]}g andApplied Science with the bestacademic record at the end ofthe third year of undergraduatestudy.

Po-Ru Loh, a sophomore in

By MALINA CHANG

quirements of specific courses.The Jack E. Froehlich Me­

morial Award is for outstand­ing juniors in the top 5% of theclass. Patrick Hummel, a juniorin Applied and ComputationalMathematics and Corinna Zy­gourakis, a junior in Biology,were selected this year.

Mithun Diwakar, junior inBiology, won the Arie J. Haa­gen-Smit Memorial Award,which is given to a chemist orbiologist who has shown aca­demic promise and has maderecognized contributions toCaltech.

Brant Carlson, senior in

2005

The Green, Froehlich, Haa­gen-Srnit, Sigma Xi, HenryFord II Scholar and ZeiglerAwards were presented on May25, 2005, at a luncheon in theAthenaeum, hosted by Deanof Students Jean-Paul Reveland Associate Dean BarbaraGreen.

Trevor Wilson .a junior inMathematics received theGeorge W. Green Prize. TheGreen Prize is awarded to anundergraduate student in anyclass for original research, anoriginal paper or essay or otherevidence of creative scholar­ship beyond the normal re-

ert. Besides the misplaced costof this venture, conservation­ists must question the ethicsof wasting a subsidized com­modity rare to and necessaryfor the entirety of SouthernCalifornia. On the other hand,the dominant drought-resistantplants which do populate theareas surrounding the sevenHovses are cheap, ugly ferns.Instead of investing in moreattractive desert flowers andwhatnots, the Institute annu­ally replaces the grass,less of condition, and to en­courage the new growth with

fertilizer mere feetfrom students' rooms.

Alex Sheive Rohert MorellLayout Manager Circulation

Adam Craig Lisa TranEditor Business Manager

VOLUME CVI, NUMBER 29

Caltech 40-58, Pasadena, CA 91 125editorial desk; (626) 395-6153

advertising desk; (626) 395-6154editorial e-mail: tech@tech.caltech.edu

The Tech is puhlished weekly except duringvacation and examination periods by the As­sociated Students of the California Instituteof Technology, Inc. The opinions expressedherein are strietly those of the authors andadvertisers.

Letters and submissions are welcome; e­mail submissions to tech@tech,caltech,edu asplain-text attachments, including the author'sname, by Friday of the week before publica­tion. Sorry the Tech does not accept anony­mous contributions, The editors reserve theright to edit and abridge all submissions forany reason, All written work remains propertyof its author.The advertising deadline is five p,m. Friday;

alladvertising should be submitted electroni­cally or as camera-ready art, but the Tech canalso do simple typesetting and arrangement.All advertising inquiries should be directedto the business manager at business@tech,caltech.edu. For subscription information,please send mail to "Subscriptions."

lro>nic:ally, oneoff campus is it re­

minds you why and how muchyou like Caltech. But you do haveto see the rest of the world to re­member what you like about ithere. The grass is always greener.

Nearly every week day,for an arbitrary half hour be­tween 9 and lOAM, a hybridof oversized lawnmower andundersized SUV plows alongto ensure that the grass southof Marks House is of uniformlength. Most Techers remainindifferent to whether thisproperty holds for their own

much more so for thewide patches of turf crammedbetween paved walkways.

To offset the continuous lay­ered removal of grass, Caltechbuys an absurdly large quan-

of water to spray onthis grass so that it continuesto grow despite in a des-

By GALEN LORAM

I have never understood why, to enjoy the wonders of the citywhenever Beckman Auditorium around us. The public events stuffhosts an event, almost no students above can be a great escape, butattend. I was at the performance venturing even further can be wellof the Capitol Steps, a hilariously worth the leg work. Go and see aawesome musical political satire concert at any of the there thirty­group who come every year to something concert venues to seeCaltech, a couple weeks ago. It any of the many bands who arestunned me to see a total of twelve always coming through town. Goother students, not counting ush- to a club and dance for a night;ers, three of whom were there it proves amazingly cathartic. Webecause I had bought four tickets have three really great indepen­and invited them along. Incred- dent coffee-shops in Pasadenaibly good seats in the fourth row that are great places to go andcost as little as $5, an amazing hang out, read, work, chat withdeal. The key is to early in the friends or just our beauti-year, in June or to the ticket ful weather: Zona Rosaoffice. If you ask what will and Equator. musicbe good, the and is your preference, have thefolks in the ticket are Chandler theto But if like and so manytics at I strcmgJly ellcoura:geyou to goets for next Ifit lives up to even an echo of thestandard of two years, it

be sweet. Take ofand the that

tickets to threeonce,And not even

On the sameto enj10yillg

away from not inpelt1TIam~nt sense, but in the sense

Caltech is tiny. And at timesa bit claustrophobic.

Escaping from the houses everyso often can be really refreshing,a great chance to meet some otherinteresting folks, a terrific chance

By Jacob Leonard King

Onwho was foJllo'willg

of a South Pa:;adenaron station. also phot(lgraplledthe license on carwhich he As I walkedhe drove side of me

"We're out to get you". Thatsame I provided the SouthPasadena Police with both of thesepictures and reported his threat tome. The South Pasadena Policewould not let me make a criminalreport of this 9113/2003 incident,but they did take my report of iton 121112003. The South PasadenaPolice never contacted me againabout any of the above incidentsdespite the fact that the report thatthey took on 12/1103 showed anassociation between the guy whothreatened me on 911312003 andthe guy who tried to put my eyeout on 3/812003.

Since June of 1994, when I firstinformed the Sheriff's that I mightseek relief in the courts, I havebeen under perpetual surveillance,and white trucks have recentlystarted tailgating me persistently.

The above are just some of theincidents to which I have beensubject.

I maintain that all of the abovefires were arsons, not accidents,made against me in retaliation formy suing the Sheriff's and for re­porting perjury to the District At­torney's Office. It is hypocriticalthat the government sentences aformer Caltech student to severalyears in prison for arson while ig­

my allegations.W. Stone 05123/05

and referred to someone else whowas not even present. The guywho was not present at the inci­dent did not even have his driver'slicense number on the report, soeven the South Pasadena PD haveno basis to dispute my claim thathe was not there on 3/8/2003. TheSouth Pasadena Police never inter­viewed me regarding my 4/29/04complaint letter to them despitemy having contradicted every­thing that the South Pasadena Po­lice officer had written in his re­port about the 3/812003 incident. Ifind it amazing that a Police Chiefshows no interest in allegations ofa false police report.

On 3/1712003 my car failed tostart. After checking the enginecompartment, I observed sparksde:scending down the acceleratorrod. inside my ap,mrnerlt,

a tow heardto be

Pasadena Fire Department witha complaint that someone hadentered my Pasadena apartmentwithout my permission and putpapers on top of my furnace.

On 9/1912002 I also gave a copyof this complaint to my PasadenaApartment Management.

On 101712002 my PasadenaApartment management gave methirty day's notice to move out ofmy Pasadena apartment.

This notice made no mentionof my having owed any money.On moving day I discovered thatI had been sharing my Pasadenaapartment's locked, two-car ga­rage with a Los Angeles Policeofficer, whom I had never seen inuniform. the apartment'smanagement and I had keys to thisgarage. discovered he wasLAPD I wrote them themto because I had

to the Pasadena Policeseveral incidents of vandalism tomy car that occured while it hadbeen lockedside of this At',IiN''''C IVlustan,g.

On 211912003 LAPD Command-er wrote me methat would not himbecause had no connection tothe incidents of vandalism to mycar.

On the morning of 2/24/2003,from the Sheriff's, I faxed the LosAngeles Times a letter express­ing my dissatisfaction with theLAPD's failure to question theirofficer.

On the evening of 2124/2003 theapartment building next door tomine burned. The South PasadenaFire Department wrongly typedmy address on their 2/2412003Fire Report.

On 3/812003 I was the victim ofa strong-arm robbery in a SouthPasadena restaurant after I photo­graphed two men who followed meinside. One of the men had tried tostart a fight with me on a previousoccasion. I asked the South Pasa­dena Police Officer who arrivedat the scene to send me a PoliceReport of the incident, to which hereplied that, if he wrote a report, Iwas going to jaiL

On 3121103 I wrote the SouthPasadena Police Chief with acomplaint against him. Afterthree written requests to the SouthPasadena Police for a report ofthe 3/8/2003 incident, I finaly re­ceived it on 4/2212004.

On 4129/04 I wrote the SouthPasadena Police Chief explainingthat the report of the 3/812003 in­cident was wrong in that it failedto mention the guy who tried toput out my eye with a karate blowOn 9/1912002 I provided the

2

An open letter from BRIAN W. STONE

Teeher self-amusement1-",,,",,,,,;.,,,,,. #53:hannstE~rs in car'dbclard

On 6/4/1996 I filed an employ­ment lawsuit against the County ofLos Angeles Sheriff's. I was thenand still am an employee of theCounty of Los Angeles Sheriff's.In November of 1996 my sevenyear old daughter and I were inour car when we got trapped im­mediately in front of a burningcar. We were so boxed in that wecould not drive away. Since wewere downhill of the burning car,our car almost caught fire. And, aswe pulled away a stream of flamesfonowed us down the hill. I can

imagine what would havehappened if that stream of flameshad flowed under our gas tank.I wrote the FBI, and they wroteback that it was not their jurisdic­tion. The judge signed the State­ment of Decision for the abovelawsuit on 8129/97.

On 6/512000 I wrote theof Los District Attornev'sOffice a feHow employee

the ofabove lawsuit.

On 6/912000 Ms. Valerie AenUe-a District A nnn,<",v

with the said that heroffice asked the Sheriff's Inter-

Criminal Bu-reau to in'testigateof I on

To no one from theSheriff's InternalBureau has contacted me regard­ing this accusation, despite my let­ter to the Sheriff's expressing myavailability to discuss the matter.

On 61251200 I I was attackedfrom behind as I walked home inthe City of Pasadena California,neccessitating a cast on my wrist.Despite the pain, I still managedto make my appointment with aprivate investigator the followingday in San Diego. Being dissatis­fied with the Pasadena Police De­partment's investigation into myabove attack I made several callsto them to get them to find my at­tacker. During one of these calls,Pasadena Police Sgt. Villalobostold me that they did not interviewGary Wilson, the only witness tothe attack, because Wilson's bossat Kiewit-Washington said thatWilson knew nothing and that hedid not want to talk with the Po­lice.

On 9/512002 I wrote the U.S.Department of Justice to com­plain about the Pasadena PoliceDepartment's investigation intothe 6/251200 I attack.

On 9/612002 I also wrote theGrand with the same com-

the Passadena Po-

3

synergy of fire and vegetable remind­ed me of another favorite restaurant,President Thai, and its delectable Pra­Ram, adish of spinach in an unusualpeanut sauce. Although not particu­larly spicy, it provides a welcome al­ternative to my usual order of Panangcurry. Its subtle flavor and slipperytexture are even tantilizing enough tocompel me to stop writing this articleto order some.

II By LAURA FISHMAN

I Y2 lb. spaghettiI 2 slices ofbaconI 1 tbsp tomato paste I

1 tsp Italian seasoningI or dned basil ifdesired I

I Buy ingredients: All II ingredients but the sea- II soning are available at I

the C-store. Bacon isI the fridge in the north- II west comer, tomato paste II is on the west side of

northern most island andspaghetti is on east ISIde of the same island. I

I II llU....U" hpfinorp prepar'ing II II II II II II lh II II are I

I II II II II season- I

II ute. stir tomato I

be sure to evenlyI coat the pasta with I

tomato paste. Cook Ia more minutes,

I serve. Pasta darken II slightly to cooking II ana tomato paste, but do I

not allow it to brown andI get crispy. II When you're III be kind to :your house- Iiii mates and clean theI mess made. I

By JACOB KING

ADAM CRAIG

USMC base after a brawl sparked byhis expansion of Marine into "My assrides in Navy equipment." To avoidsimilar banishment, I paused until thewaitress disappeared into the kitchenand then sparked the lighter, turningthe cup into a small fireball for thenext five seconds. I should also men­tion that this was much funnier at thetime due to the missing bit of anotherplant in which Caltech should investto replace the monotonous grass. This

e Art of Dining

Storv Issac ll-areia-MutlillbV: Chelsea Sharol1

On night at Carrow's. while a fresh­man of both Dabney and RickettsHovse affiliation filled the top spaceof the pepper shaker with salt and re­placed the salt with Sweet'N Low sothat the next diner would be able toenjoy sweetened eggs or fries, I wasbusy discreetly filling my empty wa­ter gl~ss with butane from a Bic light­er. At this point, I recalled a friendof mine who had previously beenthrown out of a Denny's adjacent to a

authorof Star Wars.How wasEpisode III?

EGG DONOR NEEDEDfor pediatrician and

lier husband;1500+ SAT pretty, healthy,responsible, bealthy familyhistory, preferably from an

accomplished family$20,000+Contact:

helpcouple@adelphia.net(818) 445-6431

plavtlJlUvadversari-

..Laugh now, because youclowns have been on double se­cret probation since the begin­ning of this semester" -- DeanWormer, Animal House. Sincethe beginning of recorded histo­ry, college students have engagedin endless high jinks against thestodgy, inflexible administration.[More precise:] The list of prohi­bitions at a normal college readslike an itinerary of mayhem. Theadministration matches deeds topunishments like a scoring guide:everyone knows how serious eachinfraction is and thereby how ex­citing it must be. Students are atwar with the taskmasters, mock-

security and the ad-mercy.

This is not the case at Tech. Welive with very fewand partially erlfon~ing our:selvesunder an taboos

have are not meant to be bro-there is nor hon-

fun. We Techersand then. We

cardmal rulesanswers our gri,ew)Usalso need rules

I have heard thathas a list of pranks that earnfrosh points to draw them out oftheir rooms and away from theirhomework sets after rotation, buta vital catalyst is missing. The listof provocative activities needsan accompanying list of threatsagainst them from the administra­tion. As a frosh and even now as ajunior I am irrationally drawn tothe unreasonably forbidden, thedangerous, the risky. A gamblingman hungers for high stakes, andonly the administration can pro­vide those stakes.

The Deans' letter concern­ing activities on Ditch Day wasa good start. I demand a similarguide to life in general at Caltech.Tell us that if we go through thesteam tunnels we will be BadBoys. Tell us not to break intospecific locations. Challengeour nerdy machismo by sayingthe locks are impregnable. Letus have a little fun by being theDean Wormer of our school oncein a while. Put us on double se­cret probation, and give us someexcitement.

4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS MAY 31, 2005

The Caltech BiotechnologyClub invited Dr. Donald Kohn ofthe Childrens' Hospital Los An­geles to discuss current clinicalresearch in gene therapy this pastWednesday, May 25.

Sophomore Xin Ye introducedthe speaker as one of the lead­ing clinical researchers in genetherapy. Dr. Kohn began by de­scribing Severe Combined Im­mune Deficiency, a rare but fataldisease found in one in 500,000babies. Without medication, thesebabies die within a year of birth.Thus, CHLA draws patients fromthe entire West Coast and usuallytreats one child at a time. SCIDessentially means that the body isnot producing T and B cells, vitalto its immune function, in suffi­cient number.

Initially the Immunoglobulin Gfrom newborn's mothers protectsthem from disease. None the less,it is possible to diagnose thesenewborns by analyzing their Tcells.

The traditional approach to thisproblem has been to transplantbone marrow, which occurred forthe first time in 1968. A transplantfrom a matched sibling has a 90%chance of curing this disease. But,such a sibling is often unavailable,so transplants usually use the par­ents' bone marrow.

To perform this operation, thedoctor must first deplete the par­ents' bone marrow of T cells toprevent them from attacking thenew host. One fortunate conse­quence of scm is that the child

has no T cells, guaranteeing thatthe child cannot reject the newbone marrow. The transplant froma parent has a 33% success rate,based on 15 such procedures todate.

In 1972, researchers discoveredfor the first time a genetic causeof SCID: a range of adenosine de­aminase gene defects that cause20% of cases. They first clonedthe gene in 1983, and research ingene therapy began in 1990.

The defect in the ADA gene pre­vents production of the enzyme,so one treatment available since1990 is the PEG-ADA replace­ment therapy. This is a bi-weeklyinjection, which is a difficult pro­cedure to perform on a child. Themain concern, however, is that itcosts $200,000 to $500,000 peryear. In California, this expensecomes out of tax dollars. For allits faults, the treatment is rathersuccessful, with 83% survivingfor around 10 years, and, althoughthe T cell count is under 10% ofthe normal range, the children aredoing fine.

To address the concerns withmore conventional treatments, re­searchers considered using genetherapy to treat the illness. scmwas a logical choice for the firstdisease to treat with gene therapy,because fixing only a few stemcells may be enough to generateenough T cells to correct SCID. Inaddition, reports indicate that fix­ing a few stem cells can spontane­ously cure SCID.

The main tool for delivering the

By DAVID CHEN

fix is a retrovirus, which can carrya payload of two to four thousandbase pairs. In the 1st clinical trialin 1995, the researchers extractedsamples from the two patients,one two and one four years old,and replaced them with fixed Tcells every month. These T cellslasted around 10 years. Despite tissuccess, the two patients were onPEG-ADA before treatment andduring the entire 10 years.

Another concern is that retro­viruses integrate the payload atrandom. Furthermore, the neededHematopoietic Stem Cells arefrequently in the non-dividing,GO, phase of their mitosis cycle,but vectors only work if the HSCare dividing.

The Children's Hospital's firsttrial involved three ADA-SCmpatients and demonstrated no ad­verse side effects but no signifi­cant clinical benefits either. Yet,American studies do not allowthe patients to go off PEG-ADA,which may affect the results.

After designing better vectorsin mice and better growth factors,the CHLA planned a second trialwith 10 patients on PEG-ADA.They applied for approval on Aug1999 and obtained it Jun 200l.They had four patients participatefrom Aug 200l-Jan 2002, fromwhom they discovered that thegene therapy treatment workedbetter with younger patients.

At about the same time, a groupin Milan treated 8 kids with moreastounding results. They foundchildren from third world coun-

tries, however, who never hadaccess to PEG-ADA and who didnot receive any during the study.They went so far as to administerbusulfan, a compound they usedto kill the HSC in the childrenbefore infusing the correct bonemarrow cells. Over the first 6-9months after treatment, the chil­dren regained immune function.

This left the other 60% of casesscm, 40% of which are the X­linked form. Fortunately, a curerecently became available, pro­viding patients with good healthfor the past couple years.

On October 3rd , 2002, the USgovernment suspended genetherapy trials after 3 of 10 suchpatients in France developed T­cell leukemia. Two of them wereyoung and received an especiallylarge number of transduced, orfixed, cells. The vector integratedat a site that turns on adjacent can­cer-causing genes, causing inser­tional oncogenesis.

Scientists still have high hopesfor gene therapy, since bone mar­row transplant only provides 60­70% survival with half the patientsfailing to make protective antibod­ies. In contrast, fixing the HSC forxscm yielded 81 % success withfull immune restoration.

The CHLA group then under­went a series of holds from Sep­tember 2002 until now. With 8committees that independentlyneed to approve the protocols,consent forms, and other paper­work, the group hires two peoplefull-time to handle these papers.

Dr. Kohn then described futureplans to improve the delivery vec­tors. He described a lentivirussimilar to HIV that can enter non­dividing cells and carry a largerpayload with less risk of insertion­al oncogenesis. Another deliverymethod called the sleeping beautytransposon uses two plasmids forsite-specific integration.

Dr. Kohn then took questionsfrom the audience. Some mem­bers asked about the efficiency ofthe approval process. He respond­ed that each committee feels thatonly it understands the situation,making it difficult to remove anyof them from the process. He alsoexplained that the research is notyet ready for biotech or big phar­maceutical companies, becausethe timelines are too long to makea return in time for the next fiscalquarter.

Someone also asked whetherother countries had less stringentrequirements. Dr. Kohn noted inreply that China approved the firstgene therapy product very quicklyand has already made it availableto its public.

After the talk, a delicious dinnerwas available to the audience. TheBiotech Club is an organization ofgraduate students and undergrad­uates who meet to discuss andlisten to lectures in biotechnol­ogy. Xin Ye, Vice President oftheclub, encourages undergraduatesto attend, "The Biotech club is agreat opportunity for undergradu­ates to explore career options inthe field."

If you think we missed any­thing or have any requests forsocial events, email Dima atdima@caltech.edu or Rocky atrocky@caltech.edu. Have fun!!

Note: There is no guaranteethat these tickets will still be onsale at the time of publication.

Coming soon to thearea... Buy your ticketsnow!!

Kenny Chesney - STAPLESCenter: Fri, 06/17/05

Neil Diamond - STAPLESCenter: Sun, 10/02/05

Wicked - a New Musical - Pan­tages Theatre: Thu, 07/28/05

Los Angeles Sparks vs. Phoe­nix Mercury - STAPLES Center:Wed, 06/08/05

Green Day - The Home DepotCenter: Sun, 10/09/05

Dave Matthews Band - TheHome Depot Center: Sun,08128/05

Playboy Jazz Festival - Holly­wood Bowl: Sun, 06/12/05Sat, 06/04/05

05:30 PM MTV Movie Awards- Shrine Auditorium: Los Ange­les, CA

06:30 PM Murder MysteryDinner - Lunaria - Murder Mys­tery Dinner: Van Nuis, CA

09:30 PM Behind Closed DoorsBash - Key Club: Los Angeles,CA

OtherFri, 06/03/0508:00 PM Stars of Russian Bal­

let - Kodak Theatre: Hollywood,CA

09:00 PM Bloc Party - El ReyTheatre: Los Angeles, CA

thesedates/

IThe California TechCaltech 40-58

Pasadena, CA 91125

Drama *all ofmusicals have multipletimes this weekend

Fri, 06/03/05

Sat, 06/04/0507:00 PM Los Angeles Galaxy

vs. Metrostars - The Home DepotCenter: Carson, CA

07: 10 PM Los Angeles Dodgersvs Milwaukee Brewers - DodgerStadium: Los Angeles, CA

SportsFri, 06/03/0507:40 PM Los Angeles Dodgers

vs Milwaukee Brewers - DodgerStadium: Los Angeles, CA

Sun, 06/05/0506:30 PM Def Leppard & Bry­

an Adams - Arrowhead CreditUnion Park: San Bernardino, CA

07:00 PM Black Eyed Peas -Santa Barbara Bowl: Santa Bar­bara, CA

Brought to you by the ASCIT SEXCOMM (put together by ROCKY

Coming up Next Weekend 07: 15 PM Travis Tritt - Gibson 08:00 PM Drama At UCI - Se-(tickets on sale now or very very Amphitheatre at Universal City- ussical the Musical - UCI Arts:soon at ticketmaster.com) Walk: Universal City, CA Irvine, CA

07:30 PM Battle of the Bands 08:00 PM Footloose - Califor-- Key Club: Los Angeles, CA nia Performing Arts Theatre: San

07:30 PM Comeback Kid - Bernardino, CAChain Reaction: Anaheim, CA 08:00 PM Menopause, the Mu-

07:30 PM Rick Ortiz Presents sical - Coronet Theatre: Los An­Urbano Movement 2005 - House geles, CAof Blues Sunset Strip: Holly-wood, CA

Sat, 06/04/0506:30 PM The Mars Volta ­

Greek Theatre: Los Angeles, CA*07:00 PM Bone Thugs N Har­

mony - House of Blues Anaheim:Anaheim, CA

*09:00 PM The Average WhiteBand - Canyon Dinner Theater:Agoura Hills, CA

09:15 PM XE03 - Viper Room:West Hollywood, CA

Concerts(bands with a * have mul­

tiple showtimes and/or dates thisweekend)

Fri, 06/03/05*07:00 PM Bone Thugs N Har­

mony - House of Blues SunsetStrip: Hollywood, CA

07: 30 PM Martyr Plot - ChainReaction: Anaheim, CA

*07:30 PM Pixies - The WilternLG: Los Angeles, CA

08:00 PM Fischerspooner ­House of Blues Anaheim: Ana­heim, CA

08:00 PM Los Angeles Phil­harmonic Presents: Prairie HomeCompanion - Hollywood Bowl :Hollywood, CA

10:00 PM SX-lO with Nme- Troubadour: West Hollywood,CA

ASCI

MAY 27TH, 2005

Present: Kelly Lin, MichelleWyatt, Peter Foley, Warner Leedy,Dima, Todd Gingrich, Parvathy,Ryan Farmer

Guests: Jason Yosinski,Kewell, Po-Ru Loh, Daniel Sto­larski, Nicholas Halpern-Man­ners

Call to Order: 12:08:72 in theafternoon

Jason Yosinski, Kewell, andPo-Ru Loh to ask for multihousefunding for Avery/Blacker So­cial. ..$100/house, $200 total. (6­0-0, passes)

Jason and Kewell want moremoney. Averites plan to party itup, Hawaiian style... getting aHawaiian guitarist, dancing, food,etc. Planning to include hip-hop,then have live performance, thenmore. To occur at some point inthe future, rumored fall but theycould be trying to trick us. Re­questing $150 in multihousefunding. (6-0-1, passes)

Meng-Meng requests $200funding for new-ARC-old-ARCdinner. We recommend askingTom Mannion. Tabled.

Meng-Meng requests $300 inTOTEM funding. Already have$3700, have approached Provostand Bookstore, have to cut pagesif don't receive funding by end ofnext week. (7-0-0)

Stolarski wants $30 for Walk ofShame, in addition to what wasawarded from Prank Club. (6-0­1, passes)

Formal's tomorrow. Yeee-hawr. Professional photographer,posting thumbnails online, pur­chase online. Peter wants to bephotographed riding dinosaurs.Dirna thinks that's pornographic- he approves.

Meeting Adj@lH."'ned~ 12:42pm

Adventure. Heh! Excitement.Heh! A Jedi craves not thesethings.

Parvathy "Yoda" Menon