The US federal agency tasked with tackling cancer has laid out a plan to double the number of cancer research projects it funds, prioritizing first-time grants to young researchers and emphasizing genomic approaches to understanding the disease.
These goals are attainable, according to linkurl:John Niederhuber,;http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/directorscorner/jen director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), thanks to an infusion of government funding from an increased annual budget and recently awarded stimulus funds. But since stimulus funds must be spent within two years, Niederhuber said during a speech at the American Association for Cancer Research conference in Denver, the NCI is weighing grant awards carefully. "It falls to NCI to carefully calculate and thoughtfully assume the risks of initially funding some four-year grants with economic stimulus money, knowing that we will need to find additional resources for the out years," Niederhuber said, according to a linkurl:transcript;http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/AACRspeech2009QandA of his speech. "I believe it falls, as...
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