Recent Noteworthy News

It is a pleasure to report on some of the recent developments related to TASSA. Below are some highlights:

• TASSA has officially heard from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) confirming its tax exempt status as a 501 (c) 3 type charitable organization. This determination has been made effective since August 2006, more than a year ago.

• The recently formed TASSA Nanobiotechnology Task Force has heard the great news that a proposal by Prof. Hur Koser (Yale U.), in which Prof. Selim Unlu (Boston U.) and Prof. Mehmet Sarikaya (U. of Washington) were supporting investigators, is funded by the National Institutes of Health. This is indeed quite an accomplishment in such a short time since all three were speakers on the same panel at TASSA06, met face-to-face with one another for the first time at that conference, and are current members of the Task Force. Our sincere congratulations to all of them!

• Suleyman Demirel University is organizing a symposium next week on 14-16 November in Isparta to which TASSA was invited. TASSA will be represented by Prof. Selim Unlu, the chair of our Nanobiotechnology Task Force.

• TASSA has sent a response letter to Nature magazine regarding a recent news article titled Turkish physicists face accusations of plagiarism, published in the 6 September 2007 issue. More details are posted on our Web site in the Forum area.