Rescuing Biomedical Research

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An update on capping indirect cost payments on NIH grants

July 14, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

An RBR Writing Program post by Torrey Truszkowski Indirect cost payments, also known as overhead or facilities and administration costs, are a critical part of research grants and pay for the upkeep and administration of research facilities. The Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget proposed a 22 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health, with much of […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: F&A, indirect costs, RBR Writing Program, science funding

Assessing the effect of philanthropic funding on biomedical research

July 13, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

An RBR Writing Program post by Eve Granatosky The National Institutes of Health is the largest funder of basic biomedical research; however, hypercompetition for NIH funds has led many scientists to pursue private, philanthropic sources to fund their research. While new initiatives like the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub garner media attention, more established foundations like the American […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: biomedical research enterprise, hypercompetition, RBR Writing Program, science funding

Expanding support and implementing new teaching strategies to broaden diversity in biomedical research

June 1, 2017 By Chris Pickett

Expanding support and implementing new teaching strategies to broaden diversity in biomedical research

An RBR Writing Program post by Sophia Kaska A sustainable biomedical research enterprise must be diverse along any number of axes, including racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic lines. The 2011 Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads from the National Academies laid out recommendations to improve diversity and inclusion in […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: diversity, graduate students, RBR Writing Program

Prestige matters in academic job placement for STEM Ph.D.s

May 31, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

An RBR Writing Program post by Eve Granatosky One key to improving the sustainability of the biomedical research enterprise is aligning the supply of qualified faculty applicants with the number of available positions. Scientists who choose to pursue an academic career path, whether at a research or teaching-focused institution, are faced with a limited number […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: diversity, RBR Writing Program

New metrics for assessing researcher productivity impress in pilot study

May 17, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

New metrics for assessing researcher productivity impress in pilot study

An RBR Writing Program post by Eve Granatosky In today’s hypercompetitive environment, properly evaluating the productivity and success of researchers is critical for tenure and promotion decisions, grant funding decisions and many other aspects of research and career advancement. Some basic metrics, such as a researcher’s number of peer-reviewed publications or amount of grant funding, […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: biomedical research enterprise, RBR Writing Program

Scientists speak out against Executive Order on immigration

January 31, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

By Swagata Basu On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order banning refugees and immigrants, including green card and travel visa holders, from seven countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Syrian refugees have been banned indefinitely from entering the country placing them further in limbo. At least 18 percent of the entire U.S. […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: foreign scientists, immigration, RBR Writing Program

Collins to remain as NIH director at beginning of Trump administration

January 24, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

By Sonia Hall Francis Collins will continue as director of the National Institutes of Health during part of the Trump administration. Just like all of President Obama’s nominees that cleared the U.S. Senate confirmation process, Collins tendered his resignation as NIH director effective noon on Friday, Jan. 20. However, the announcement that Donald Trump asked […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: NIH, RBR Writing Program

The financial woes of postdoctoral training

January 18, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

By Swagata Basu A recent paper in Nature Biotechnology shows how postdoctoral training in biomedical sciences can affect early career outcomes. Despite a dearth in available academic tenure-track positions in and a drop in National Institutes of Health success rates, there has been sustained growth in the number of biomedical postdocs due to an abundance […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: postdocs, postdoctoral scholars, RBR Writing Program, staff scientists

GRE scores are a poor predictor of graduate student success

January 11, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

GRE scores are a poor predictor of graduate student success

By Brittany Aguilar A new study published today in PLoS ONE from researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill demonstrates that some of the quantitative metrics used by graduate-admissions committees are poor predictors of productivity. Specifically, the authors suggest undergraduate grade-point average and Graduate Record Exam scores do not correlate with some standard metrics […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: biomedical research enterprise, diversity, gender, graduate students, RBR Writing Program

New study shows the GRE is a poor predictor of graduate student success in the biomedical sciences

January 11, 2017 By RBR Writing Program

New study shows the GRE is a poor predictor of graduate student success in the biomedical sciences

By Sonia Hall In a paper published today in PLoS ONE, Moneta-Koehler et al. demonstrated that scores on the Graduate Record Exam are not predictive of success in biomedical graduate school. Taking the GRE is required by nearly every biomedical graduate school, and higher GRE scores have been assumed to be indicative of success in […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: biomedical research enterprise, diversity, gender, graduate students, RBR Writing Program

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Most Recent Input

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Comments by Andrea Repetto

Posted: November 3, 2016

Non-PhD level positions undervalued

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Comments by Andrea Repetto

Posted: November 3, 2016

Reward negative results

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Comments by Holly Hamilton

Posted: September 13, 2016

(1) The training model thus far is that of the medieval apprentice- a trainee is to become a clone of his/her supervisor. (2) Trainees are rarely permitted to conduct work not expressly assigned/approved by supervisor. (3) Training goals for postdocs at a national level are unspecified. (4) All postdocs are trained as if they will become academic research professors.

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