FASEB head outlines funding goals

linkurl:Mark Lively,;http://www1.wfubmc.edu/biochem/Faculty/Lively.htm a professor of biochemistry at Wake Forest University, took over as the president of the linkurl:Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB);http://www.faseb.org/ on July 1 of this year. In a conversation with The Scientist, Lively outlines some of FASEB's goals for the upcoming year, including the organization's views on what to do when the $10.4 billion in stimulus funds for the NIH runs out.

Image: FASEB

The Scientist: How has the $10.4 billion the NIH received in the recent stimulus package affected scientific research? Mark Lively: Since 2003, [the flat NIH budget] has led to some severe crunches in terms of the abilities of institutions of higher learning and particularly academic medical centers to pursue their goals. That, on top of the economic downturn, has really put our institutions in a very bad way, and people have been losing their jobs. The stimulus is turning that around to some degree. I can attest that here at Wake Forest University, where I'm on the faculty, we already have measurable dollars coming in as a result of grants that have been funded [by] the stimulus money that otherwise might not have received pay. That's going to really improve our capacity to conduct research. What we're worried about is what happens when the stimulus monies have been used, and there's [no] follow up. TS: How does FASEB predict the impending expiration date for the stimulus funds will affect this progress, and how do you propose to approach this problem? ML: There are going to be a large number of grants that are going to get funded [by the stimulus money given to NIH], but instead of the typical funding period which is either four or five years, they're only going to get two. So in 2011, what's going to happen is there's going to be a large number of grants that are going to come back and apply for renewal. If the NIH doesn't receive an increase in its base budget to enable it to respond and fund the competitive renewals, then the pay lines are going to drop again. If there is no increase, the NIH would stand to lose perhaps as many as 7,000 research program grants. We certainly realize that the ability of the government to respond is going to be very hard without some significant turn around of the economy. But in order to take advantage of the substantial capacity [of] NIH research, it's going to take some significant increases in 2011 followed by tapered [increases]. Our target goal here is to dampen the oscillations in the NIH budget -- the up and down roller coaster of allocations that makes it so difficult for institutions to predict how they can grow [and] makes it difficult for the center directors at NIH to predict how they should best spend this money to the benefit of the American public. TS: What are other issues that you feel are important to address this upcoming year? ML: The humane use of animals in research is one long important goal of FASEB. There's an ongoing process to update the guide for the humane use of animals as part of an organization known called ILAR -- the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research at the National Academy -- in conjunction with AAALAC -- Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International -- which is the animal accreditation organization that plays a huge role in ensuring our institutions and facilities that use animals in their research are properly accredited and abide by the guidelines. We're just going to keep our eye on that and make sure we're on top of it. Biosecurity issues are also very important, and that's something we've been working on for the past couple of years, if not longer, in terms of helping to guide the appropriate establishment that make it possible to truly regulate those select agents that are potentially hazardous and potentially misused, but at the same time not stifle the ability to work with those agents and learn more about them. TS: What is your reaction to Obama's plan to double the funding for cancer research over the next eight years? ML: Our position has been for a long time that singling out individual diseases for special increases in funding is not the best way to solve those problems. What we need to do is support basic and clinical research across the board and in a balanced way that is well set up in the NIH system. You can't ever really predict where your results are going to come from. You may think you are supporting cancer research, but the discoveries that that laboratory makes might turn out to play a huge role in diabetes, or vice versa. So our feeling is that it's more appropriate that we fund science across the board and not to set off inter-disease-group wars between diabetes and heart disease and autism and cancer communities. We all have to pull together and realize that it's a balancing act. TS: What was your reaction to the nomination of Francis Collins as the new director of NIH? ML: Francis Collins is an excellent choice. Francis knows both sides of the research business. As leader of the Genome Project, he obviously knows about big science. He stepped into that mammoth project and guided it to successful conclusion. But he also has his own laboratory, and in his laboratory, he is an individual investigator. So he knows what it's like to have a few postdocs and a few students in the laboratory and to publish those results that aren't on the scale of 100 authors like the Genome Project might have been. We're looking forward to working with him. TS: Is there anything else you would like to add about your plans for the upcoming year? ML: FASEB is a federation of societies, so the members are not scientists; the members are the societies themselves. It's why we're such a strong organization, I think. We have the ability to tap such a wide range of scientists. If anything comes up that needs to be addressed, we can mobilize our scientists, we can put together committees where necessary and come up with position papers. It's a great organization, and I'm looking forward to working with this group as their president.
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:New FASEB head takes office;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55817/
[8th July 2009]*linkurl:Science advocacy in an election year;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/54829/
[10th July 2008]*linkurl:New FASEB head focuses on election;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54819/
[3rd July 2008]

FASEB head outlines funding goals

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