Archive by category | Policy

Voting commences on research prize determined by public poll

It’s an off year in the US election cycle, which means that neither the President nor most members of Congress will face the voters come November. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still cast a ballot this fall. Today, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston announced the finalists for the second annual BRIght Futures Prize, a $100,000 research contest in which the winner is decided by a public poll. Voting is now open through 21 November.  Read more

Rallying for the future of medical research: Q&A with Jon Retzlaff

Rallying for the future of medical research: Q&A with Jon Retzlaff

Less than a month from now, science advocates hope to bring thousands of people together on the Carnegie Library Grounds at Mt. Vernon Square in Washington, DC,  to stand together in the Rally for Medical Research. The move is, in large part, a response to the latest development in the US budget battle, in which the government has implemented massive cuts, known as sequestration, to most federal programs starting 1 March. The sequestration’s $1.6 billion cut to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) translates to over 5 % spending cut to federally-funded medical research. These cuts come at a time when the NIH’s budget has been steadily declining for the past ten years.  Read more

Q&A: How the Brain Activity Map came together—and what its proponents hope to achieve

Q&A: How the Brain Activity Map came together—and what its proponents hope to achieve

It was a single tweet. On 12 February, after US President Barack Obama made a subtle nod to a new neuroscience project in his annual State of the Union address, Francis Collins, director of the country’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), posted on the @NIHDirector Twitter feed: “Obama mentions the #NIH Brain Activity Map in #SOTU.” Instantly, scientists were buzzing with rumors that the Brain Activity Map could be the next moon shot, with a budget and timeline similar to the Human Genome Project.  Read more

Under scrutiny, India’s premier medical research council faces review

Under scrutiny, India’s premier medical research council faces review

BANGALORE — A high-powered panel set up at the request of India’s Ministry of Finance is reviewing the work of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s primary funding and coordinating body for biomedical research, based in New Delhi.  Read more