Broad Impacts

05/29/2014

"Recent studies have demonstrated that African American researchers are less likely to receive NIH grant funding than are white researchers. The NIH wants to know if grant-reviewer bias is causing this disparity and wants to improve the overall fairness of peer review. With these aims in mind, the NIH is issuing two challenges for improving the grant review system.

Applicants have until June 30 to submit ideas. First-prize winners for each category receive $10,000; second-prize winners receive $5,000."

Recent studies have demonstrated that African American researchers are less likely to receive NIH grant funding than are white researchers. The NIH wants to know if grant-reviewer bias is causing this disparity and wants to improve the overall fairness of peer review.

04/17/2014

"It's no secret that biology research in the US is facing a number of challenges. After years of rapid growth, the funding for biomedical research has dropped by 25 percent in real dollar terms since 2003, leaving researchers scrambling to keep their labs running. Meanwhile, the system is still training far more graduates than there are faculty positions to fill. But it's tempting to think that taking care of the first by increasing the funding would help take care of the second."

Senior researchers who helped build the system now think it's unsustainable.

03/11/2014

"Less than 40 days after a team led by Haruko Obokata of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, presented two stunning papers claiming a method of using a simple acid-bath method to reprogramme mature mammalian cells back to an embryonic state – so called STAP cells – researchers in Japan, including one of the paper’s co-authors, are calling for them to be retracted."

Previous postAcid-bath stem-cell team releases tip sheetNature News BlogCall for acid-bath stem-cell paper to be retracted10 Mar 2014 | 16:00 GMT | Posted by David Cyranoski | Category: Biology & Biotechnology, Ethics, stem cellsLess than 40 days after a team led by Haruko Obokata of the RIKEN Cente...

02/05/2014

"“I’ll say this. I learned that if you’re going to take a stand, you’re going to make some people really angry — so you’d better believe in what you’re doing, and believe it completely.” For the past 11 years, Dr. Insel, a 62-year-old brain scientist, has run... the National Institute of Mental Health, the world’s leading backer of behavioral health research."

Dr. Thomas R. Insel’s twisted path to his role as director of the National Institute of Mental Health is a tour of where psychiatric science has been, where it’s going and why.

02/04/2014

"Hayes has devoted the past fifteen years to studying atrazine, a widely used herbicide made by Syngenta. The company’s notes reveal that it struggled to make sense of him, and plotted ways to discredit him."

Tyrone Hayes, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has devoted the past fifteen years to studying the herbicide atrazine, which is applied to more than half the corn in the country. During that time scientists around the world have expanded on his findings, suggesting that the herb...

01/27/2014

"Crucial experimental design elements that are all too frequently ignored include blinding, randomization, replication, sample-size calculation and the effect of s*x differences. And some scientists reputedly use a 'secret sauce' to make their experiments work — and withhold details from publication or describe them only vaguely to retain a competitive edge. What hope is there that other scientists will be able to build on such work to further biomedical progress?"

Francis S. Collins and Lawrence A.

01/03/2014

"I'd like to suggest that our Ph.D. programs often do students a disservice in two ways. First, I don't think students are made to understand how hard it is to do research. And how very, very hard it is to do important research."

I recently saw an old friend for the first time in many years. We had been Ph.D. students at the same time, both studying science, although in different areas. She later dropped out of graduate school, went to Harvard Law School and is now a senior lawyer for a major environmental organization. At s...

01/02/2014

"Unfortunately for potential scientists, professors don’t receive any formal training in mentoring – and a disastrous mentoring situation can derail a trainee’s career. Although some professors go out of their way to think about mentoring, and many want to be good mentors, the truth is there are some downright awful ones out there. So what creates a ‘toxic’ mentoring relationship?"

Unfortunately for potential scientists, professors don’t receive any formal training in mentoring – and a disastrous mentoring situation can derail a trainee’s career. Although some professors go ...

12/23/2013

If you're interested in effecting real change in your community, consider applying to be on a citizen advisory board! Applications for Hennepin county advisory board vacancies are due on December 31st.

Appointment process, position descriptions and duties for advisory boards, task forces and committees.

12/10/2013

"Leading academic journals are distorting the scientific process and represent a "tyranny" that must be broken, according to a Nobel prize winner who has declared a boycott on the publications.

Randy Schekman, a US biologist who won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine this year and receives his prize in Stockholm on Tuesday, said his lab would no longer send research papers to the top-tier journals, Nature, Cell and Science."

Randy Schekman says his lab will no longer send papers to Nature, Cell and Science as they distort scientific process

12/10/2013

UMN people might be interested in this event next week.

"Are you frustrated with scientific discoveries being misrepresented by the media? Are you tired of research being looked at as “dispensable” government funding? Do you panic when your family asks you what you are researching? It is important for young investigators to learn the skill of communicating the findings and importance of our research to the public so that we can have continued support and funding. Association of Multicultural Scientists (AMS) invites you to our discussion lead by Michael Osterholm on how to engage non-scientific audiences to accomplish these goals."

RSVP here: http://z.umn.edu/amsEngageNonSci

12/05/2013

"[PETA's] goal is to end animal research regardless of the consequences for human and animal health, regardless of public interests."

As predicted, PETA’s ongoing campaign against scientific research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison continues, escalating this week with a striking advertisement on 100 Metro buses. The ad cal...