President Obama Nominates New NIH Director

Posted on July 8, 2009October 17, 2012

Today, President Barack Obama nominated Francis S. Collins as the new Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins served as Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at NIH from 1993-2008. He is a physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. with Honors from the University of North Carolina. Prior to coming to NIH, he spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Collins must now be confirmed by the Senate.

If confirmed, Collins will head a $31 billion agency with roughly 18,000 employees. NIH is on course to receive a modest increase (1.4%) in funding in FY10, over FY09, because of significant funding ($10.4 billion) provided in the Recovery Act. NIH continues to serve as the University of Washington’s largest source of federal grant funding.

White House Press Release

DoD Announces New DARPA Director

Posted on July 7, 2009October 17, 2012

Yesterday, July 6th, the Department of Defense announced the appointment of Regina E. Dugan as the new Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dr. Dugan has held several positions in industry, most recently as president and chief executive officer of RedXDefense, a company that develops defense against explosive threats. She worked at DARPA from January 1996 to May 2000. Dugan earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Virginia Tech.

Secretary Chu Delivers Testimony on Need for Comprehensive Clean Energy Legislation

Posted on July 7, 2009October 17, 2012

As many are aware, prior to the July 4th Congressional recess, the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive clear energy bill. Consideration of clean energy legislation now rests in the Senate, where it is expected that a bill of some sort will emerge before the August Congressional recess. Today, Secretary Chu delivered the following testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Statement of Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy Before the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, Washington, D.C.

July 7, 2009

Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Inhofe, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on moving America toward a clean energy economy.

We face many serious and immediate challenges. American families and businesses are struggling in a recession and an increasingly competitive global economy. We have become deeply dependent on a single energy source to power our cars, trucks and airplanes, and spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year to import nearly 60 percent of the oil we use. We face an unprecedented threat to our very way of life from climate change.

To solve these challenges, the Administration and Congress need to work together to spur a revolution in clean energy technologies. The President and I applauded the historic action by the House to pass a clean energy bill, and we look forward to working with the Senate to pass comprehensive energy legislation. Continue reading “Secretary Chu Delivers Testimony on Need for Comprehensive Clean Energy Legislation”

DoE Announces New Grant Program for Young Faculty

Posted on July 7, 2009October 17, 2012

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a new grant solicitation focused on providing support for early-career investigators. The program is the result of a AAAS report entitled Advancing Research in Science Education recommendation, which states that two essential keys to scientific achievement in the U.S. are funding early-career scientists as well as high-risk high-impact research. DoE has addressed the latter with funding for its new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Both the new grant program outlined below and ARPA-E are funding through the Recovery Act.

Solicitation Description: The Office of Science of the Department of Energy hereby invites grant applications for support under the Early Career Research Program in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); High Energy Physics (HEP), and Nuclear Physics (NP). The purpose of this program is to support the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and to stimulate research careers in the areas supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Letter of Intent Due Date: 08/03/2009 by 04:30 PM Eastern Time
Application Due Date: 09/01/2009

Full DoE Grant Announcement

NIH Issues New Stem Cell Research Guidelines

Posted on July 7, 2009October 17, 2012

Yesterday, July 6th, the National Institutes of Health issued new guidelines for the use of embryonic stem cells in research. The new guidelines reflect feedback received during a public comment period. Several higher education associations have praised NIH for addressing concerns with the initial draft guidelines.

SUMMARY: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is hereby publishing final “National Institutes of Health Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research” (Guidelines).

On March 9, 2009, President Barack H. Obama issued Executive Order 13505: Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells. The Executive Order states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of NIH, may support and conduct responsible, scientifically worthy human stem cell research, including human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, to the extent permitted by law.

These Guidelines implement Executive Order 13505, as it pertains to extramural NIH-funded stem cell research, establish policy and procedures under which the NIH will fund such research, and helps ensure that NIH-funded research in this area is ethically responsible, scientifically worthy, and conducted in accordance with applicable law. Internal NIH policies and procedures, consistent with Executive Order 13505 and these Guidelines, will govern the conduct of intramural NIH stem cell research.

EFFECTIVE DATE: These Guidelines are effective on July 7, 2009.

SUMMARY OF PUBLIC COMMENTS ON DRAFT GUIDELINES: On April 23, 2009 the NIH published draft Guidelines for research involving hESCs in the Federal Register for public comment, 74 Fed. Reg. 18578 (April 23, 2009). The comment period ended on May 26, 2009.

The NIH received approximately 49,000 comments from patient advocacy groups, scientists and scientific societies, academic institutions, medical organizations, religious organizations, and private citizens. The NIH also received comments from members of Congress. This Notice presents the final Guidelines together with the NIH response to public comments that addressed provisions of the Guidelines.

Full NIH Guidelines on Embryonic Stem Cell Research