Professional societies unveil consortium on sexual harassment in STEMM
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and 52 other leading academic and professional societies announced the creation the Societies Consortium on Sexual Harassment in STEMM at a panel discussion during the AAAS Annual Meeting on February 15, 2019. “Professional societies have a responsibility to … Read more
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Potential changes to science publishing
An earthquake is slowly rumbling across the international scientific publishing landscape. Depending on the size of the quake, it could have a major impact on the scientific community. On September 4, 2018, 11 national science funding agencies in Europe released a plan, referred to as … Read more
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Restarting the federal government; not like throwing a switch
The 35-day government shut down finally ended on January 25, 2019. Getting the operations of the federal government up and running again, however, has not simply been like turning on a switch. The impact of the shutdown on federal science agencies went beyond those agencies … Read more
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NIH Loses Funds to Unaccompanied Minors Program
On September 5, 2018, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar sent a one-page letter with a nine-page attachment of spreadsheets to the chairs and ranking Democrats of the relevant appropriations committees in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. The letter … Read more
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A good day at the polls for life science
The results of the Congressional elections on Tuesday have a little something to make everyone happy and a little something to make them sad. The life science research community in the United States should feel good about its position coming out of the election. The … Read more
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Opponents Try Fetal Tissue Research Ban Again
For the second year in a row, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to prohibit the use of U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funds for research with fetal tissue. The first attempt was in 2017, during the preparation of the … Read more
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Big Presentation in Historic Location
The location of the meeting was in an out-of-the-way private office at the end of corridors not on the public tours of the Capitol. In fact, the Senate staff member serving as escort had never been to the room before and was not sure of … Read more
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NIGMS Redefines Graduate Training
During his interview with ASCB President Jodi Nunnari,1 Jon Lorsch, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), gave her a hint of the upcoming changes to the NIGMS training program. In describing the changes, Lorsch said “We’re focused on improving the diversity … Read more
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A Good Bill with Bad Implications
Since 2011, Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO) has introduced a bill in each Congress with a very noble goal: to require that appointments to federal agency advisory committees be made without consideration of political involvement or party membership. Unfortunately, the good intentions also could mean … Read more
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Mixed News on International Funding for Science
At the same time that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is benefiting from increases in its budget, the news in other nations is mixed. Researchers in Canada continue to see support from the Trudeau administration. Scientists at government labs in India are not as lucky. … Read more