ASPET President David Sibley sent a letter this week on behalf of ASPET membership  thanking Congress for their efforts in championing sustained, real growth in medical research funding, and to urge passage of appropriations legislation following the November 8 election.  The letter asserts that current short-term Continuing Resolution providing temporary funding for government programs is o…

  Today NIH issued a notice regarding the adjustment to stipend levels for postdoctoral trainees and fellows supported by Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSAs). This notice reiterates the stipend increases to ensure compliance with the updated minimum salary per the Fair Labor Standards Act. More importantly, the notice indicates the process by which institutions and ind…

  On October 13, President Obama hosted the White House Frontiers Conference, which featured several speakers and exhibits highlighting the future of innovation in science and technology. The President also wrote an accompanying piece for Wired magazine describing his optimism for the future of technology and innovation. Moreover, the White House released a fact sheet highlighting $300 million in …

  Vice President Joe Biden released a report from the Cancer Moonshot Task Force this week. As CQ reports, "the report highlights goals to accelerate the development of cures, including more widespread sharing of data and faster research and approval timelines for new treatments." The report outlines the administration's accomplishments during the last year and the initiative's goals for 2017 and …

  Last week, NIH released an announcement regarding its operations under the Continuing Resolution. As in prior years, this announcement indicates that grants will be funded up to 90 percent of the committed level indicated in the notice of award. Additional details are available on the NIH's site. Last updated: October 11, 2016 

  With a House vote of 342-85 , Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund federal agencies until December 9, avoiding a government shutdown. The Senate had earlier voted 72-26 in favor of a 10 week CR. The CR (HR 5325), is a “clean” funding bill that funds the government at the FY 2017 top-line level of $1.067 trillion minus a 0.5 percent across-the-board that is necessary t…

  With only days left in the fiscal year, ASPET has urged Congress to pass a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open.  Also asserted in the letter is language praising legislators for their investment in biomedical research, which was evident in the appropriations process, where the Senate Committee-approved $34.1 billion for NIH. A short term CR would provide an imm…

A new metric, known as the Relative Citation Ratio (RCR), will allow researchers to measure the influence of a scientific article, regardless of publication and scientific field. While RCR cannot replace expert review, it does overcome many of the issues faced by previous metrics. RCR was developed by scientists with the Office of Portfolio Analysis (OPA), Division of Program Coordination, Pl…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a list of strategies to help scientists make their research more accessible to the broader public. The guidelines, which include tips for researchers, educators, journalists, and other health professionals on writing about topics such as data outcomes, clinical trials, and studies with animal models, were compiled from advice given by experts in the…

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) today issued the following statement on the Senate’s overwhelming passage of the conference report to S. 524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. The House passed the package on July 8, by a vote of 407 to 5. "To the countless Americans in despair and communities that are suffering, help will soon be on the way. …