INVESTING IN INNOVATION

Investing in Innovation Pays Off

Science and technology are what move our economy forward. Two new studies show the pay off from federal investments in life science innovation is off the charts.

NEUROSCIENCE

A Light Revolution in Neuroscience

Optogenetics opens the door to understanding how specific types of neurons contribute to brain function, but the ethics of using it in humans needs serious consideration.

LIFE SCIENCES

Thrown Back to the 90’s

The misguided human embryonic stem cell research ruling by a U.S. court would discontinue amazing gains made over the past 12 years in regenerative medicine.

LIFE SCIENCES

One Small Step for Embryonic Stem Cells

The Food and Drug Administration approves the first clinical trial for embryonic stem cell treatment in patients with recent spinal cord injuries—creating a much needed regulatory pathway.

The Boons of an NIH Boost

President Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2011 would direct $32.2 billion to the National Institutes of Health. That’s a boost of about 3.2 percent over the baseline budget from the previous year, and last week a coalition of 25 [...]

HEALTH CARE

Better Science, Better Health Care

Programs in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will speed development of new cures and boost comparative effectiveness research.

NIH and FDA Aim to Retool Regulatory Science

The Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration today announced a partnership aimed at speeding new medical treatments from “microscope to market,” as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius put it. The [...]

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

Investing in Recovery and Discovery

NIH funding directly and indirectly contributes to good jobs and is a proven engine of economic growth.

Vaccine Helps Break the Habit

Cocaine is notoriously addictive, and even users committed to kicking the habit have a tremendously hard time cutting the chemical dependency. To help break the cycle, researchers have developed a vaccine aimed at stimulating an immune response that stops the [...]

Collins Reports to Colbert

Joking that he is eager to grow a pair of crab claws, Stephen Colbert asked National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins last night what’s taking so long with stem cell research. In response to the Colbert Report host, Collins [...]

“Scientist In Chief”: $5 Billion in Recovery Funds Support Biomedicine, Create Jobs

“We are very grateful to have a president who respects science,” said Director Francis Collins this morning, addressing staff and leaders of the National Institutes of Health. Collins was introducing the man he referred to as “our scientist in chief,” [...]

Seeding a New Crop of Researchers Grows Controversy

Multiple blue-ribbon reports from the past few years have concluded what hundreds of post-doc researchers know: landing that first NIH grant is a daunting task. So daunting, in fact, that many younger scientists conclude that they’d rather move on to [...]

NIH Is Ready for Your Human Embryonic Stem Cell Line Approval Requests

The National Institutes of Health announced the launch of a new website this morning where researchers can submit approval requests for human embryonic stem cell lines. Accepted lines will be eligible for use in federally funded research. The site is [...]

Big Bucks for Science of All Sizes

Francis Collins took the reigns of the National Institutes of Health as director in August. Shortly thereafter, he invited a Kathy Hudson, a former colleague from the National Human Genome Research Institute, to serve as his chief of staff, a [...]

Two Studies Demonstrate Selective Publication Trends and Gaps in Clinical Trial Reporting

Researchers running clinical trials are required to submit information to the NIH-run ClinicalTrials.gov database. But two recent reports indicate that compliance with this transparency mandate is spotty at best for trials that lead to published biomedical research. What’s more, many [...]

A Peek Inside NIH Peer Review

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides at least $200 million for the 20,894 challenge grant applications the National Institutes of Health recently received. This influx of applications comes on top of the 16,312 regular applications received for the same [...]

SCIENCE POLICY

Science and Values In One Nominee

Jonathan Moreno applauds President Obama’s intended pick for NIH director: Dr. Francis Collins, a researcher and leader who embraces science and ethics.

Money and Methods in Cancer Research

The National Cancer Institute funds a lot of important research aimed at treating cancer, but some experts would characterize very little of it as transformative work. Gina Kolata’s article in the Sunday New York Times describes a system geared towards [...]

NIH Funding is Good for Your Health, and It’s Good for the Economy

Federal funding for biomedical research saves lives. Not only that, but investment in research through the National Institutes of Health stimulates the economy by helping people stay healthy and productive. So says a new report published yesterday in the Proceedings [...]

NIH By the Numbers: Challenge Grants, Stem Cell Comments, and Conflict of Interest Rules

A flood of grant applications for Recovery Act funds, a heap of comments on the proposed stem cell policy, and feedback on how to manage conflicts of interest among researchers—here’s a look at some of the key numbers related to [...]