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NIGMS Welcomes New, But Familiar, Leader

By Alisa Zapp

Dr. Marvin Cassman now owns the shoes he's filled for 3 years. After serving as NIGMS' acting director since 1993, he was appointed permanent director last month.

NIH director Dr. Harold Varmus selected Cassman for the position because of his strong commitment to basic research, his concern for the health of the scientific community, and his long-term involvement with science policy. "Dr. Cassman is an outstanding scientist and scientific program manager whose skills are ideally suited for this position at the helm of NIH's 'basic research institute,'" Varmus said. "Over the years, Dr. Cassman has proven himself to be astute at perceiving trends in biomedical science and innovative in creating new approaches to meet areas of opportunity or need. His expertise in such areas as structural biology, biotechnology, science policy, and technology transfer will be especially valuable at NIGMS and at NIH as a whole."

Dr. Marvin Cassman

Cassman will oversee a $947 million budget that funds more than 3,300 research grants -- about 13 percent of all NIH grants. These support basic biomedical research in areas such as cell biology, biophysics, genetics, developmental biology, pharmacology, physiology, and biological chemistry. The research is not targeted to specific diseases, but rather increases understanding of life processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

Cassman sees his job as one of "continual adjustments" to the changing field of basic biomedical research. Two of the emerging issues he foresees are addressing the needs of new investigators and reaching an understanding of global cellular regulatory mechanisms.

Special Efforts on Behalf of New Investigators

Cassman believes that the funding difficulties faced by many new investigators are a consequence of how federal science funds are distributed and changes in the U.S. economy. He views the structure of federal funding in this country as a reflection of the classic American spirit. "We provide an open door for everyone and then tell them they're in business for themselves. I think this has been extremely successful, but now growth is much less than it was in the past. We have to pay more attention to ensure that new people have the opportunity to get started and to achieve their potential," he said.

Because of his long-term interest in this issue, Cassman was appointed cochair of the NIH working group on new investigators. The group, which will meet for the first time on Sept. 24, will examine data on new investigators and determine whether NIH should devise additional ways to support and encourage these scientists.

Understanding Cellular Systems

"One of the most exciting research areas is cellular regulation," Cassman said. "We're getting all this information about molecular events from structural and molecular biology. Now we need to put together all the interactions of molecular circuitry in order to understand how a cell controls its function in a changing environment. This will require multidisciplinary approaches, including those derived from chemistry and engineering."

As an essential counterpoint to this, Cassman sees the need to develop new ways of managing biological data.

"Our understanding of biology is growing at an incredible rate," he said. "One of the goals for the future is to be able to integrate that knowledge and make it accessible for use."

Positions and Accomplishments

Cassman has served at NIGMS in various capacities over the past 20 years. Since 1989, he has been deputy director of the institute. He organized and directed a new NIGMS program in biophysics and the physiological sciences. He was also chief of a section that focused on the molecular basis of disease.

In the late 1970's, he created and administered an NIGMS Shared Instrumentation Program that funded major equipment used by several biomedical researchers. This program later became a model for an NIH-wide initiative and similar programs in other government agencies.

Last year, he chaired the NIH working group on the Division of Research Grants to examine the structure of how NIH reviews grants. The group's recommendations included the establishment of a new central oversight body, the peer review oversight group; a broadening of study section membership; and the movement of DRG's Information Systems Branch into the Office of the Director. Many of the group's recommendations have been implemented.

Consistent with his strong interest in science policy, Cassman served as a staff member of the House subcommittee on science, research, and technology; and as senior policy analyst in the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Of all his achievements at NIGMS, Cassman is most proud of organizing a research and training program focused on the structural biology of AIDS-related proteins. Established in 1987, this program has supported research that determined the high-resolution structure of HIV reverse transcriptase as well as studies on protease inhibitors and general approaches to modeling for the purpose of drug design.

The potential applications of such research -- as of all fundamental research projects -- are incalculable, Cassman believes. "If there's one thing that the 20th century has taught us, it is that knowledge is power. The more fundamental that knowledge, the more powerful a tool it is to address the problems of biology."

NIGMS' mission is to support biomedical research that enhances such knowledge. Clearly, it is also the passion of the institute's new director.

Brief Biography Before joining NIGMS in 1975, Dr. Marvin Cassman was as an assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and did a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Howard Schachman at the University of California, Berkeley. Cassman's honors include the 1991 Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award and the 1983 NIH Director's Award. He is a member of the Protein Society and the American Chemical Society. When he's not attending meetings, making funding decisions, keeping up on scientific literature, or doing myriad other duties of an ICD director, Cassman can be found hiking, playing racquetball, listening to his extensive collection of opera recordings, or sampling ethnic fare in one of Bethesda's restaurants.