HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- This city of rocket scientists and biotechnology entrepreneurs prides itself on having one of the highest per-capita numbers of Ph.D.s in the country.

 On Saturday, it was still reeling from the news that one of them, a neurobiologist with a Harvard doctorate named Amy Bishop, had opened fire in a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, according to the authorities, killing three fellow professors and wounding three more people.

As of Saturday morning, the authorities said, Ms. Bishop had been charged with one count of first-degree murder and more charges were expected.

The shootings opened a window into the pressure-cooker world of biotechnology start-ups, where scientists often depend on their association with academia for a leg up. Ms. Bishop was part of a startup that had won an early round of funding in a highly competitive environment, but people who knew her said she had learned shortly before the shooting that she had been denied tenure at the university.