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Thinking Outside the Box
by Maryann Brinley

In a war of scientific words, researcher and educator Marilyn Kozak knows how to win.

Marilyn Kozak, PhD, professor of biochemistry at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Progress in science is only made by asking tough questions and by thinking out of the proverbial box of predictability, according to Aaron Shatkin, PhD, director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM). Being able to stand up to storms of criticism also comes with this kind of territory - a land Marilyn Kozak knows well. One particularly vitriolic scientific battle of wits in print (about protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells and viruses) pitted her against 87 researchers. Yet, debating with her is not always the smartest route to take, Shatkin says, unless you enjoy chocolate cream cheese pies.

"One of the most effective, creative" scientists with whom Shatkin has worked, "she is always steeped in controversy," he says. They've researched together in the lab and have co-authored numerous publications during the course of their long-standing working relationship. So, the appearance of a chocolate cream cheese pie on his desk early one morning at CABM was a surprise that made him smile. It was "a peace offering" from Kozak. "The pie," he laughs, "arrived after we had been disagreeing about something. There is no question that she is extraordinarily solid and able when writing and criticizing data. She's a great editor for my own work."

Kozak admits, "I encounter fierce opposition almost every time I try to publish, including papers that end up becoming Citation Classics." On the ISI Highly Cited web site, Kozak is acknowledged as one of the 250 most cited researchers in the world for published articles within the last 20 years. "Citation is a direct measure of influence of a subject and it is also a strong indicator of scientific contribution, since it is derived from a pattern of interaction among millions of published articles," according to Marie McVeigh of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).

A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her doctorate in microbiology, Kozak was introduced to that subject (and to logic, she adds) as an undergraduate at a small liberal arts college for women. At Hopkins, she was mentored by Dan Nathans, MD, 1978 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology and Medicine. She explains why her life's passion - understanding the mechanism by which cells make proteins - is so important. "Early on, I recognized two important features that have to do with gene punctuation, that is, defining where the protein coding portion of a gene starts. One discovery concerned the actual mechanism; it's known as the ribosome scanning mechanism." The second finding was a particular sequence that helps define the start site, a discovery which came at a time when people had begun cloning and sequencing genes. "My contribution helped them interpret what they were finding."

Recently, she moved away from laboratory-based research to devote more time to teaching and writing. "I really wanted to work on a course properly, which I had never been able to do when teaching had to be squeezed in between experiments." Offered last year for the first time, her course focused on critical analysis. "Students need to understand why some experiments do NOT prove the point, instead of always being shown the big experiments that are 'so right' as to seem inevitable," she explains. Kozak believes that critical thinking skills are also essential in reading and interpreting scientific literature. She worries about the intrusion of politics in science journalism, too.

"I abhor politics," she admits.

Employed by the Peace Corps in the 1960s as an instructor at Nangrahar University School of Medicine in Afghanistan, she recalls traveling to Pakistan, via the famous Khyber Pass, to visit a U.S. Air Force base where Peace Corps volunteers were allowed to see movies and buy hotdogs. "What was a happy R&R outing for us became the escape route for Afghans desperate to flee the subsequent wars. Shortly before leaving Afghanistan, I camped near the caves of the giant Buddhas in Bamian. It is still hard for me to believe that those magnificent structures were so stupidly reduced to rubble. When I was there, the needs for schools, hygiene and clinics were immense but the country was hopeful. What has happened since is heartbreaking for them and us."

Except for that pie, there isn't much about Kozak that surprises Shatkin. "She is one of the most original people I've ever interacted with," he says. And by the way, "Her course is fabulous. One of my grad students took it. When I asked her if I could sign up, she said no. No faculty were allowed."