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Category: Biomedical Research

AAU Issues Comments on Draft NIH Stem Cell Guidelines

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The Association of American Universities (AAU) has provided comment on proposed NIH Stem Cell Guidelines (see below).

May 27, 2009

AAU President Robert M. Berdahl yesterday submitted AAU’s comments on proposed guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

The AAU letter praises President Obama’s March 9, 2009 Executive Order removing Bush Administration constraints on stem cell research, commends NIH for issuing draft guidelines for such research promptly, and expresses support of the proposed guidelines. 

The letter also raises several concerns, including the following:

  • It recommends that stem cell lines derived before August 9, 2001, that are currently eligible for NIH funding not be subjected to retroactive consent and approval processes and that they remain eligible for federal funding.
  • It recommends that stem cell lines derived under appropriate guidelines after August 9, 2001, and before the effective date of the new regulations also not be subjected to retroactive consent and approval processes and that they be made eligible for federal funding going forward.
  • It expresses disappointment that the proposed guidelines unnecessarily limit federal support to research on cell lines derived from surplus in vitro fertilization embryos, making lines derived by other methods—such as somatic cell nuclear transfer—ineligible for federal funding.
  • It recommends that NIH rely on institutional assurances and material transfer agreements in regulating the research use and sharing of cell lines, and that review and approval by institutional review boards of such lines or transfers not be required.

AAU Comment of NIH Stem Cell Guidelines

Conflict of Interest Rules Proposed for Medical Research

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A recent report from the Institute of Medicine recommends that researchers and medical faculty members decline all gifts from medical companies and refuse to publish or present material that is ghostwritten for such companies in order to avoid real or perceive conflicts of interest.   The recommendations also suggest broader reporting requirements of researchers’ ties to companies, but does not go so far as to recommend barring all such ties.  Instead, the report suggests that researchers should disclose ties not only to their employers but to other medical organizations. 

Read more about the Institute for Medicine report.

President Obama Makes Remarks to National Academy of Sciences

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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
____________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2009
 
Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, DC
April 27, 2009
 
It is my privilege to address the distinguished members of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as the leaders of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine who have gathered here this morning.
 
I’d like to begin today with a story of a previous visitor who also addressed this august body.
 
In April of 1921, Albert Einstein visited the United States for the first time. His international celebrity was growing as scientists around the world began to understand and accept the vast implications of his theories of special and general relativity. He attended this annual meeting, and after sitting through a series of long speeches by others, he reportedly said, “I have just got a new theory of eternity.” I’ll do my best to heed this cautionary tale.
 
The very founding of this institution stands as a testament to the restless curiosity and boundless hope so essential not just to the scientific enterprise, but to this experiment we call America.
 
A few months after a devastating defeat at Fredericksburg, before Gettysburg would be won and Richmond would fall, before the fate of the Union would be at all certain, President Lincoln signed into law an act creating the National Academy of Sciences.
 
Lincoln refused to accept that our nation’s sole purpose was merely to survive. He created this academy, founded the land grant colleges, and began the work of the transcontinental railroad, believing that we must add “the fuel of interest to the fire of genius in the discovery… of new and useful things.”
 
This is America’s story. Even in the hardest times, and against the toughest odds, we have never given in to pessimism; we have never surrendered our fates to chance; we have endured; we have worked hard; we have sought out new frontiers.
 
Today, of course, we face more complex set of challenges than we ever have before: a medical system that holds the promise of unlocking new cures and treatments – attached to a health care system that holds the potential to bankrupt families and businesses.  A system of energy that powers our economy – but also endangers our planet.  Threats to our security that seek to exploit the very interconnectedness and openness so essential to our prosperity. And challenges in a global marketplace which links the derivative trader on Wall Street to the homeowner on Main Street, the office worker in America to the factory worker in China – a marketplace in which we all share in opportunity, but also in crisis.

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Sebelius Nomination Draws Fire but Advances

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The nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, leaving only a vote of the full Senate. What was once expected to be a rather comfortable confirmation has evolved into a rather partisan debate over President Obama’s intentions in reforming the U.S. health insurance system. Conservatives on the panel sought assurances — which they did not receive — from Governor Sebelius that HHS would not seek a plan that limited consumer choice of doctor, hospital, or coverage options. Despite the reservations expressed by some members, the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination on a largely party line 15-8 vote. Consideration of the nomination by the full Senate could take place later this week.

NIH Short-Term Faculty Recruitment Program Deadline Approaching

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The deadline for submitting letters of intent to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) short-term faculty recruitment program is April 29, 2009. Final applications are due one month later, on May 29. 

NIH plans to obligate up to $100 million in Economic Recovery Act funds for the program by September 30, 2010, contingent on its receiving a sufficient number of “scientifically meritorious applications.”

The program, which was created to address the faculty recruitment crunch caused by the economic recession, is focused on recruiting young faculty members in biomedical research fields.  Awards to institutions will provide “funding to hire, provide appropriate start-up packages, and develop pilot research projects for newly independent investigators.”

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