Policy & Advocacy

The comments below were offered by long-time GSA member Nina Fedoroff at a public meeting on updating the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology held on October 30, 2015. In addition to her academic research career, Dr. Fedoroff served as Science & Technology Adviser to Secretaries of State Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton and U.S.…

On the evening of October 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the budget deal negotiated by the current Congressional leadership and President Obama. The bill passed the House on a vote of 266-167, with 79 Republicans—including all members of the Republican House leadership—joining all 187 voting Democrats…

The federal regulatory policy in use today for biotechnology products, known as the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology, was created in 1986 through a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation…

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has issued an action alert encouraging members of the research community to contact their Members of Congress to support passage of spending bills that support research. GSA is one of 27 FASEB member societies. As reported earlier, the federal government is operating under a continuing resolution that…

The Human Gene-Editing Initiative launched earlier this year by the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Medicine held a public meeting to provide an overview of the state of gene editing science in preparation for an international summit to conducted in partnership with the Royal Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.…

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concludes that the continuing growth of federal research regulations and requirements is “diminishing the effectiveness of the nation’s research investment” by forcing investigators to spend more time on administrative and compliance matters, rather than research. Optimizing the Nation’s Investment in Academic Research: A…

On Wednesday afternoon, just before the end of fiscal year 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill on a vote of 277-151. Earlier in the day, the Senate passed the bill on a 78-20 vote. Without this agreement, the U.S. government would have shut-down as the new fiscal year begins on…

While the science behind the synthetic yeast genome project is cutting edge, the ethical questions surrounding it aren’t new. The scientists of the Sc2.0 project have a goal that sounds akin to science fiction – they’re working toward building a completely synthetic yeast genome. This new strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, affectionately named Sc2.0, will be…

The use of fetal tissue has drawn increasing public scrutiny in recent weeks as a result of secret video recordings involving the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Getting less attention is how fetal cells can be essential research tools. A story on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning focused on the research and clinical applications of fetal cells,…

In a message earlier today, NIH Director Francis Collins announced the appointment of Michael S. Lauer, MD, as the new Deputy Director for Extramural Research. In this role, he will oversee the NIH Office for Extramural Research, which “provide the leadership, oversight, tools and guidance needed to administer and manage NIH grants policies and operations.” Dr.…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking applications from exceptional candidates to be the next director of NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM). NLM is the world’s largest biomedical library that maintains and makes available a broad range of print and electronic resources. Current NLM databases include GenBank, PubMed, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Following from the…