Updated NRSA Tuition Policy

Last fall, officials at NIH met with members of the biomedical research community to discuss the problem of rising tuition costs associated with training grants. Tuition increases that outpace inflation have caused the tuition payment policy for National Research Service Awards (NRSAs) to become unsustainable. NIH presented the community with three options: capping tuition payments, providing a fixed allowance per trainee for tuition, or maintaining the current system (with fewer trainees funded each year). On August 18, 2006, NIH formally revised the NRSA tuition policy, announcing that beginning in FY 2007, NRSA awards will cover 60% of tuition expenses up to $16,000 for predoctoral students and $4500 for postdoctoral fellows. In addition to capping tuition costs, funds for trainee health insurance were transferred from the tuition and fees category to training related expenses category. Both the APS and FASEB had expressed concerns about preserving trainee benefits while controlling costs in response to the original request for information.

The revised plan will be reevaluated based on data collected over the next 2 years and the agency expects to issue a final policy in July 2010. For more details about the revised policy, go to:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-06-093.html

FASEB Breakthroughs in Bioscience

Breast Cancer, Tamoxifen and beyond: Estrogen and Estrogen Receptors is the latest in FASEB's Breakthroughs in Bioscience series. These materials are developed as part of a broad strategy to advocate for biomedical research funding.

To see the essay online, go to:
http://opa.faseb.org/pdf/Breast_Cancer_Breakthru.pdf

Reaction to stem cell breakthrough

Following this week's article in Nature showing that stem cell lines have been derived from single cells taken from early embryos, reaction has been mixed. While some hail this as an alternative that would avoid ethical and moral issues, others question whether this method simply raises other ethical dilemmas. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/23/AR2006082300936.html