Education: Pure Knowledge vs. Pure Profit

For universities, corporate research grants are a mixed blessing

Doctor Joseph Davie was caught in a dilemma. Davie, head of the microbiology and immunology department at Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis, was coordinating a joint effort among 15 university laboratories to create hybridomas, cells that produce the protein antibodies that attack viruses and bacteria. He wanted to be sure that any discoveries made in the labs could swiftly be applied in practical medicine. He also hoped to find more money so the project could continue its basic research.

Davie got in...