Research funding
terrasig | July 30, 2008Unlike the blogosphere and some unhinged stakeholders, I've been quietly watching the PZ Myers crackergate episode unfold. My concerns have been less theological than educational, primarily because I am the beneficiary of an arm of the University of Florida public higher education system.
I've been beating my head against the wall as to why the leadership and student government of the University of Central Florida in Orlando would be taking such drastic action against Webster Cook. Cook is the student who took a consecrated communion wafer uneaten from a Sunday 29 June Catholic service at…
terrasig | June 14, 2008As promised awhile back, my blogging frequency has dropped off a bit as I tend to some more time-consuming details in my meatspace existence.
I've also missed some fabulous posts around the blogosphere. I wanted to direct Terra Sig readers to a moving yet data-driven essay by Professor PZ Myers at the University of Minnesota at Morris, better known as the blogger who writes Pharyngula. PZ is a terrific writer but this post is particularly excellent.
I'll be back shortly with something meaningful.
terrasig | June 6, 2008This one's for the molecular and cell biology and pharmaceutical chemistry crowd: what's on your current wishlist?
If you had a US$250,000 equipment budget, what would you buy to outfit the lab?
Assume that your department has all the big ticket items like real-time PCR, confocal microscopy, flow cytometer, histology gadgetry, >500MHz NMR, MALDI-TOF, LCs, etc.
And, no, not for scientist salaries - instrumentation/capital equipment only.
I just want to know if there are any newfangled whizbang thingamabobs out there that I haven't seen in the last year or two, perhaps along the lines of the…
terrasig | May 31, 2008Our quick post yesterday cited Jonathan Alter's Newsweek essay this week on the sad state of cancer research funding in the context of Hamilton Jordan's recent death and Ted Kennedy's recent glioblastoma diagnosis. Like many areas of US federal research funding, cancer research support has been flat under the Bush administration and, in fact, declined in real dollars since 2004.
But when one hears a federally-funded researcher like me whining about this situation, one might think I am solely acting in a self-serving fashion, caring only about the preservation of my career and that of my…
terrasig | May 10, 2008Effective science communication and science advocacy in the public arena has been much discussed in the science blogosphere. But is ranting on science and medical blogs the most effective way to promote science, especially in the United States?
I've had some discussions with other scientists, including blog colleague PhysioProf, who submit that the best way for scientists to advocate for science policy is to become politicians themselves. To this end, I read with great interest this morning of an AP story written last night by Seth Borenstein, "A Crash Course in True Political Science":…
terrasig | May 8, 2008Alison McCook has a lengthy article now up on The Scientist website that illustrates how NIH grant funding shortfalls are coming home to roost, with soft money faculty first to be jettisoned.
In 2007, more than 4,000 NIH-funded researchers were denied grant renewals. For some, that means they have to close up shop.
The article itself is well-done, chronicling the experience of Alan Schneyer, a well-established and productive reproductive endocrinology researcher formerly at Massachusetts General Hospital, whose research program was shut down after three tries for a competing renewal of his…
When medical experimental therapeutics gets co-opted as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
terrasig | May 8, 2008Sorry to get to this so late but I wanted to weigh on an excellent post from my cancer blogging colleague, Orac, the other day on the investigation of CAM therapies in cancer. The post covers a lot of ground, as expected from any of Orac's exhaustive missives, but I wanted to focus on the comparison and contracts between NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine within the National Cancer Institute (NCI-OCCAM).
I am on record as a strong critic of NCCAM but a supporter of NCI's OCCAM in that the…
terrasig | March 29, 2008A paper in last month's issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery reported that US drug approvals during 2007 were the lowest number since 1983. (17 new molecular entities and 2 biologicals; see this figure for 1996-2007 data.) The review cites increased regulatory action as a factor in this reduction, especially following high-profile post-marketing safety issues with blockbuster drugs like Vioxx or Avandia. But other commentators have noted other problems such as the science of drug discovery in pharma being overridden by managers or the reluctance to develop agents for diseases that afflict…
terrasig | February 15, 2008Apologies that I've been a bit preoccupied to put up my own content last night and today. In the meantime, I must direct you to an excellent ethics discussion by the always insightful Prof Janet Stemwedel on the research program led by Dr Edythe London, the UCLA researcher who has been terrorized personally by the Animal Liberation Front.
Janet's thoughtful analysis of this situation exemplifies why she is one of the leading bioethics commentators on the web today. I share Janet's concern that the public has been unusually silent in response to the attacks on Dr London.
terrasig | February 14, 2008It seems that everyone in the sci/med blogosphere is offering Valentine's posts reflecting their areas of professional interest. So, here's mine:
Your humble Pharmboy came of age with glam, punk, and New Wave music but thanks to PharmMom, RN, and her then-college-aged ER co-workers, I have a soft spot for 70s soft-rocking singer-songwriters. Yes, Jim Croce, John Denver, James Taylor, and Dan Fogelberg.
So it was with great interest and nostalgia that I opened this e-mail a few days ago from the Prostate Cancer Foundation:
Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the…
terrasig | February 6, 2008I received a special missive this morning from the Foundation for Biomedical Research that reported the home of UCLA nicotine researcher, Dr Edie London, was vandalized/terrorized by a fire set to a "device" on her front porch. The story now appears at the Los Angeles Times:
London, a professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral sciences and of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, uses lab monkeys in her research on nicotine addiction.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller confirmed that officials with the Joint Terrorism Task Force were investigating the…
terrasig | February 5, 2008For those looking for some new material here, I wanted to say that I spent my energy on the first post of the week for a piece over at the ScienceBlogs editor's blog, Page 3.14.
Readers may recall that I sang the praises of the DrugMonkey blog here a few weeks ago on the occasion of their first anniversary in the blogosphere at their old site. With their joining the Sb network, new ScienceBlogs community manager, Virginia Hughes, asked me to write a welcome/introductory post to recognize my new colleagues, DrugMonkey and PhysioProf. (Ginny is an awesome blogger in her own right, here and at…
terrasig | January 25, 2008When Duke genetics researcher Dr Marcy C Speer died of breast cancer last August at age 47, a huge void was left in the community of her friends, her university, and her field. As Director of the Center for Human Genetics at Duke University Medical Center, Dr Speer was tremendously successful as a scientist, collaborator, and role model. Among her many accomplishments and recognitions was her appointment and service to NIH's Genetics of Health and Human Disease study section.
NIH's Center for Scientific Review, or CSR, is the entity charged with all aspects of the peer-review of some 80,000…
terrasig | January 24, 2008This just in from NIH tonight - the new director is a serious, well-credentialed physician-scientist and administrator. What will this mean for NCCAM and the funding process for alternative medicine-related projects? Discuss amongst yourselves:
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., has named Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., to be the director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). An accomplished researcher and physician, Dr. Briggs brings a focus on translational research to the study of complementary and alternative medicine (…
terrasig | January 18, 2008My wine co-blogger and dear scientific colleague, Erleichda, and I had hoped to bring you an account of the wines enjoyed at our recent meetup. Erleichda and I have recently had the good fortune of regaining support for our scientific interactions and had a face-to-face conference of the principals for planning and reviewing our collaborative studies. As you would (and should) expect, getting the two of us together would also include the enjoyment of various wines and culinary delights.
However, circumstances beyond our control led to our group being treated to an evening at an…
terrasig | January 18, 2008We're a little bit late here in wishing the DrugMonkey blog a happy 1st blogiversary. Contributors DrugMonkey, BikeMonkey, and PhysioProf have had a very productive year of offering valuable career advice for graduate and postgraduate trainees in the biomedical sciences, general discussions on NIH grant funding, and various topics in neuroscience.
The sci/med blogosphere is populated quite heavily by graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows. This situation is perhaps easy to explain in that most of these trainees are of an age that is comfortable with social networking…
terrasig | January 12, 2008The word on the e-streets is that DrugMonkey co-blogger, PhysioProf, has hung out a new shingle at. . .PhysioProf, the blog. (So as not to confuse the issues, DrugMonkey is the lead blogger at DrugMonkey the blog. . .does that make sense?).
But we get the best of both worlds: PhysioProf will still be continuing his more academic gig at DrugMonkey.
PhysioProf has been a thoughtful commenter 'round these parts and has been a strength over at DM, especially with regard to academic research, funding, career development, and general issues such as how not to screw up one's own faculty interview…
terrasig | December 10, 2007Yes! "A Call for a Presidential Debate on Science & Technology."
Imagine a presidential debate focused solely on issues of science and technology as they relate to medicine, international competitiveness, terrorism, public health, embryonic stem cell research, bioethics of genotyping and other molecular diagnostics, research policy/funding and job creation, or minimization of health disparities, among others.
Science Debate 2008 is a grassroots initiative spearheaded by a growing number of scientists and other concerned citizens. The signatories to our "Call for a Presidential Debate on…
terrasig | December 8, 2007I can't do any better than this today:
I finally got around to reading yesterday's Cancer Research Blog Carnival that I cited and was completely entranced by Matthew Zachary's essay in The Huffington Post about his long battle with medulloblastoma. It was posted originally in July and provides outstanding insights on the life of a cancer survivor.
While many oncologists are all too familiar with cases like Matthew's, this is required reading for anyone involved in cancer research, especially us basic scientists whose research is sometimes funded by organizations working toward "The Cure."
Aw…
terrasig | October 11, 2007[Aufmerksamkeit! Begrüßen Sie deutsche Freunde und Leser des Focus Wissenschafts-Community. Glückwünsche zu Profs Ertl und Grünberg auf dieser enormen Ehre!]
I'm intentionally being dramatic but an interesting discussion emerged in the comment thread of my post on the work of Germany's Gerhard Ertl being recognized with this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry. One reader had a perception that the work of an American contributor to surface chemistry was being ignored. Dr Gerald Harbison followed up on this notion at his own blog, The Right Wing Professor.
Indeed, the three scientists that…