Category Archives: AZBio News

2012 Bioscience Researcher of the Year: Paul Keim, Ph.D.

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The Arizona Bioindustry Association today announced that Paul Keim, Ph.D., the Cowden Endowed Chair of Microbiology at Northern Arizona University (NAU), the Director of Pathogen Genomics at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and research affiliate at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).will receive the awards for 2012 Bioscience Researcher of the Year from AZBio on October 23, 2012 at the 7th Annual AZBio Awards.  Dr. Keim was nominated by members of the Arizona Bioscience Community and selected by an independent, statewide panel of leaders for this recognition of his research and innovation in the field of pathogen genomics and microbiology.Continue reading→

The Big Squeeze: Funding Science on BioCentury This Week

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On BioCentury This Week television, NIH Director Francis Collins said he cannot remember a time when biomedical research “felt such stress,” as NIH is pinned down by shrinking public funding and the threat of budget sequestration.

The newest edition of BioCentury This Week asks how Congress, industry and universities are going to respond to the science funding squeeze.

Join Washington Editor Steve Usdin as he continues BioCentury’s discussion about science in the age of austerity with:

• Dr.   Daniel Ford,   Vice Dean for Clinical Investigation at Johns Hopkins, the leading recipient   of NIH grants last year.
• Dr. Douglas Williams, EVP for R&D at Biogen Idec, which is stepping   into highly visible public-private collaborations in basic science.
• Mike   Castle   of law firm DLA Piper, who pushed for doubling the NIH budget as the member   of Congress from Delaware.

Their broad-ranging conversation focuses on the new ideas that will be needed to squeeze more dollars out of NIH grants for “the actual doing of science.”

Why universities must “find ways to do the same studies or produce the same amount of research for less resources.”

Why academic institutions will have to look for sources of funding outside of NIH, including from patients as well as from industry.

How public-private collaborations are needed to “move discoveries faster down the translational pathway” and to “infuse the clinical trial enterprise with more of a sense of urgency.”

Why the biomedical community must demonstrate the benefits of public funding for science to Congress and taxpayers.

And why even “sequestration lite” still means budgets will take at least two years to recover.

To watch the replay, click here.  http://www.biocenturytv.com/player/1868497608001/1868259145001