<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER  No. 1930 -- 10/15/2008 >>>>>

The U.S. mainstream media and big business constantly bombards us with the
message that we need to produce more advanced degreed engineers and
scientists. Their propaganda is undercut upon examining how this nation
treats the PhDs it already has. Take Douglas Prasher for example: He was a
research scientist that made some crucial discoveries that led to a Nobel
Prize in chemistry. Now the only job he can get is driving a courtesy van
for a car dealership -- which pays $10 an hour.

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http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081011/NEWS/810110
328

Shuttle driver reflects on Nobel snub

By Aaron Gouveia
agouveia@capecodonline.com
October 11, 2008 6:00 AM
Twenty years ago, Douglas Prasher was one of the driving forces behind
research that earned a Nobel Prize in chemistry this week. But today, he's
just driving.

Prasher, 57, works as a courtesy shuttle operator at a Huntsville, Ala.,
Toyota dealership. While his former colleagues will fly to Stockholm in
December to accept the Nobel Prize and a $1.4 million check, the former
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist will be earning $10 an hour
while trying to put two of his children through college.

"It's a cutthroat world out there," Prasher said during a phone interview
yesterday.

Despite his contributions to the groundbreaking research, a Nobel Prize can
only be shared among three people.

In 1961, Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole
discovered the green fluorescent protein that gives the Aequoria Victoria
jellyfish its glow. In the 1980s, Prasher began working with the protein,
designated as GFP, after hypothesizing the gene responsible for the
protein's fluorescent properties could be used to help view formerly
invisible molecular functions.

After the American Cancer Society gave Prasher a $220,000 grant in 1988, he
set about isolating and copying the GFP gene.

That caught the attention of Martin Chalfie, another of the Nobel Prize
winners announced this week. The Columbia University researcher said
yesterday that the organism he was working with at the time was
transparent, and he hoped Prasher's work on the luminescent jellyfish
protein would provide a way for him to see its molecular functions.

Four years later, as Prasher's grant dried up and he was no longer able to
continue his own research, he voluntarily gave samples of the GFP gene to
Chalfie.

The cloned gene was also given to Roger Tsien, the third Nobel Prize
winner, who has been in the forefront of fluorescent protein research ever
since.

"(Prasher's) work was critical and essential for the work we did in our
lab," Chalfie said. "They could've easily given the prize to Douglas and
the other two and left me out."

But instead of focusing on his hard luck, Prasher said he is happy for his
former colleagues. While it was perfectly within his rights not to share
the cloned gene with others, Prasher said he felt an obligation to give his
research a chance to turn into something significant, even if he was no
longer a part of it.

"When you're using public funds, I personally believe you have an
obligation to share," Prasher said. "I put my heart and soul into it, but
if I kept that stuff, it wasn't gonna go anyplace."

David Mark Welch, assistant scientist of evolutionary biology at MBL, said
this sort of situation is a natural byproduct of working in an industry
where competition for grant money can be intense. Some grants have 100
applications but will only fund 10 requests, Welch said. That means
competition -- even from fellow colleagues at the same institution -- can
be fierce and scientists often feel the need to keep all unpublished
research a secret.

Welch praised Prasher's actions and said many researchers are finding it
easier to obtain larger grants if they collaborate instead of alienate.
"You have to put aside any sort of personal desires to be better than
everyone else because if your grant isn't funded, you're in trouble," he
said.

Prasher knows that trouble all too well.

After stints at a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory and working for
NASA in Huntsville, Prasher was out of work for a year before he took a job
at the car dealership.

Prasher said he has suffered from health problems and depression, some of
which stems from being out of science for so long. But his sense of humor
remains intact.

"If Marty and Roger want to show me some gratitude, they can always send
some cash," Prasher said. "I'm accepting gifts and donations."

Prasher hopes the Nobel Prize exposure will lead to a job offer in his
field, ideally back to Falmouth, where he said he lived happily for 14
years.

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http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=2215

Genius Behind the Wheel

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 10/14/2008

He looks like a regular guy with a regular job driving a shuttle van.

However, Douglas Prasher is a genius credited with helping to make one of
the most important scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century.

Three scientists just won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry thanks to Prasher's
groundbreaking research, though there was no mention made in part of him
when the award was announced last week and he won't get any of the $1.4
million prize money.

"You know, that's life," says Prasher.

Prasher's extraordinary story began when he was studying biochemistry at
the University of Georgia. He isolated the gene that causes jellyfish to
glow in the dark.

Prasher had a hunch that his discovery could one day be used to track the
growth of tumors in cancer patients. So, when his grant ran out, he turned
his findings over to other scientists, who completed his work and just won
the Nobel Prize!

Two American scientists from Columbia University and UC San Diego and a
third U.S. based researcher from Japan celebrated the announcement with
toasts of champagne and national attention.

INSIDE EDITION caught up with Dr. Roger Tsien of UC San Diego, by phone,
and he agrees, they couldn't have done it without Douglas Prasher.

"Doug Prasher had a very important role and I think it's a shame that Doug
has not been recently in a position to do science that would use his
talents."

Prasher has fallen on tough times. He was laid off from his job at NASA,
and couldn't find another job as a scientist. In order to support his
family, he took a job driving a courtesy van at a Toyota dealership in
Huntsville for $10 per hour. 

"It's hard to get real excited about what I'm doing now...it just doesn't
pay," he says.

Prasher's boss is happy to have him. His passengers can hardly believe they
have a genius driving their van.

As for Douglas Prasher, even though he didn't win the Nobel Prize, he's
looking on the bright side. "If I was a part of it, and I'd have to go to
Stockholm and get all dressed up...I hate getting dressed up," says the
unassuming man behind the wheel of a shuttle van.


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