The first development Gerbi wants to see is increased subscriptions and advertising revenue for the society's journal, Molecular Biology of the Cell, which is now in its third year of publication. Gerbi says the response from society members to the journal so far has been encouraging, but she sees room for more improvements.
The second focus for Gerbi is an increased dedication to influencing lawmakers in Washington, D.C. She notes that ASCB, along with three other societies (the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Biophysical Society, and the Genetics Society of America), has recently hired former Maine congressman Peter Ciros for what Gerbi calls a "congressional educational effort."
"For the last several years, we've given oral testimony both for the House and Senate [appropriations] hearings, specifically targeting our remarks to the NIH [National Institutes of Health] budget and the importance of basic biological research and training," she says.
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