Category Archives: NIH

It Sure Looks Like There’s a PhD Glut, Especially If You’re a Young PhD

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

And especially if you’re interested in traditional industry or academia. Comrade PhysioProf, however, declares: There is a big fucken snivel-fest going on over at DrugMonkey about how terrible it is for universities to increase the number of PhDs they award … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Jobs, NIH | 9 Comments

Dear Republicans, If You’re Worried About NIH’s NCATS Taking Money Away From Basic Sciences…

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

…the Mad Biologist has a suggestion. Before we get to that, some background. NCATS is a new NIH center with the following mission: Currently, many costly, time-consuming bottlenecks exist in the translational pipeline. Working in partnership with the public and … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Funding, NIH

If You Care About Medical Research, Please Sign This Petition

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

Scripps Research Institute immunologist Kerri Mowen has put together a petition calling for an increase in the NIH budget. I’ve dealt with the macroeconomic benefits of NIH funding before, and Mowen makes a similar argument: I think we should be … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH

The NCCAM Scam

Posted on December 10, 2011 by

For those who don’t know, NCCAM is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and it’s as impressive as you might think (boldface mine): “Some of these treatments were just distinctly made up out of people’s imaginations,” said Dr. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullshit As a Load Bearing Structure, Fucking Morons, Funding, NIH | 4 Comments

Science and Job Creation: The Human Genome Project

Posted on November 17, 2011 by

In total, the Human Genome Project (‘HGP’) cost $3.8 billion. Sounds expensive until we realize that it ultimately led to $796 billion of economic impact. Here’s the total effect from 1988 to 2010: Direct effects are the jobs and economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Funding, Genomics, NIH

Let’s Add $1 Billion to the NIH Budget

Posted on October 21, 2011 by

Drugmonkey points us to a letter by Reps Markey (D-MA) and Bilbray (R-CA): We urge you to join the following bipartisan letter supporting the proposed level of funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the FY 2012 Labor-HHS … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH | 1 Comment

The Macroeconomic Effects of Scientific Research

Posted on August 15, 2011 by

One hospital system alone brings in hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Posted in Boston, Economics, Funding, NIH

NIH, NSF, and DOE Could Get Clobbered Thanks to Fiscal ‘Austerity’

Posted on July 28, 2011 by

This is why all the concern about the fake crisis of the U.S. budget deficit is so harmful–it has real effects on people’s lives, including scientists.
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Posted in Funding, NIH, NSF | 6 Comments

The Economic Impact of Genomics-and Research As a Whole

Posted on May 19, 2011 by

The cost multiplier of NIH-funded research.
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Posted in Economics, Funding, Genomics, NIH | 4 Comments

NIH Inches Towards a Research Center Model

Posted on May 9, 2011 by

When every lab group has to reinvent the wheel, there are no efficiencies of scale–and more importantly, no ‘efficiencies of expertise.’ So NIH is either going to require collaborative, focused centers or the continuing exploitation of scientific labor.
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Posted in Funding, NIH | 4 Comments