Choosing Life --- and Healing: Sharpening America's Edge in Biomedical Science
Dear Fellow Texans,
As you may be aware, while the President's budget for FY 2007 includes a substantial increase in overall funding for Science Research and Development, the budget also unfortunately "flattens" the money we taxpayers will devote next year to basic research and development in the critical field of new BioMedical research.
As Eric Berger (the Houston Chronicle science writer who holds a degree in Astronomy from UT and who also hosts the popular Houston Chronicle SciGuy blog) has observed at SciGuy:
United with the billions of dollars private U. S. medical companies spend each year on BioMedical Research and Development, our taxpayer dollars have helped keep America ahead of the world in carrying out our national program of life-saving --- and life-giving! --- BioMedical research in such areas as cancer treatment, the development of advanced medical scanning technologies, heart disease, and care for children and the aged.
Our outstanding Texas medical research centers --- including Baylor College of Medicine, The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The Texas Center for Superconductivity Research at the University of Houston, and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston --- are at the forefront of our nation's BioMedical Research and Development program.
While heartily congratulating the Administration and President Bush on dramatically increasing the FY 2007 budget for over-all Science R&D, we also see the need to provide a greater increase for our national effort in BioMedical Research & Development, with a particular emphasis on funding the research of new investigators under the cutting-edge RO1 grant program.
Our effort is a simple grassroots campaign to ask Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison -- a renowned champion of basic science research in Texas and the nation --- and Representative Tom DeLay of the House Appropriations Committee and the House Science Committee, along with the entire Texas Congressional Delegation, to urge the United States Congress and President Bush to increase funding for the R01 BioMedical Research funding grants!
Please take part in this effort from this blog, by taking the following actions:
1) In the COMMENTS link directly below this message, please post your name, city, and a message supporting increased funding for our nation's R01 BioMedical Research Grants to Senator Hutchison, Representative DeLay and the members of the Texas Congressional Delegation.
WE WILL DELIVER YOUR MESSAGES PERSONALLY TO SENATORS HUTCHISON AND CORNYN, REPRESENTATIVE DELAY, AND TO THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE ENTIRE TEXAS DELEGATION!
2) Use this link to contact Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's nearest office by telephone.
Leave a message with her staff thanking her for championing science in Texas and the nation, and ask her to LEAD THE EFFORT IN WASHINGTON TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR THE R01 GRANTS FOR NEW BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH!
3) Use this link to post a comment at Eric Berger's SciGuy blog and thank him for breaking this story as well as for his continuing coverage of the federal Science Research and Development Budget.
For further Information:
NIH pdf on 2007 Budget
Eric Berger's SciGuy Blog Proposed NSF Budget
Eric Berger's SciGuy Blog: Proposed NASA Budget
Eric Berger: Biomedical R&D Budget 2004
As you may be aware, while the President's budget for FY 2007 includes a substantial increase in overall funding for Science Research and Development, the budget also unfortunately "flattens" the money we taxpayers will devote next year to basic research and development in the critical field of new BioMedical research.
As Eric Berger (the Houston Chronicle science writer who holds a degree in Astronomy from UT and who also hosts the popular Houston Chronicle SciGuy blog) has observed at SciGuy:
" A primary grant the NIH offers to new investigators is the so-called "R01 grant." When funding levels were rising, about 20 percent of research proposals were accepted by the NIH. Now the figure has dropped to 10 percent, and could go still lower. Why is this concerning?
Well, for starters, it typically means the most entrenched, well-accepted research retains funding. While this science is important, it often excludes new ideas outside the mainstream. Many of these ideas may be bunk, but a few are likely to revolutionize science. It's important to fund both kinds of research, and the latter, riskier ideas, suffer in the current environment.
Also at risk are young researchers, with new ideas, who cannot obtain funding to set up labs, hire staff and begin their investigations. Says Rockefeller University President Paul Nurse, "The present policies are set to damage a whole generation of young research workers, and the negative impact on recruitment of the next generation of scientists will be seen for years to come. "
United with the billions of dollars private U. S. medical companies spend each year on BioMedical Research and Development, our taxpayer dollars have helped keep America ahead of the world in carrying out our national program of life-saving --- and life-giving! --- BioMedical research in such areas as cancer treatment, the development of advanced medical scanning technologies, heart disease, and care for children and the aged.
Our outstanding Texas medical research centers --- including Baylor College of Medicine, The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The Texas Center for Superconductivity Research at the University of Houston, and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston --- are at the forefront of our nation's BioMedical Research and Development program.
While heartily congratulating the Administration and President Bush on dramatically increasing the FY 2007 budget for over-all Science R&D, we also see the need to provide a greater increase for our national effort in BioMedical Research & Development, with a particular emphasis on funding the research of new investigators under the cutting-edge RO1 grant program.
Our effort is a simple grassroots campaign to ask Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison -- a renowned champion of basic science research in Texas and the nation --- and Representative Tom DeLay of the House Appropriations Committee and the House Science Committee, along with the entire Texas Congressional Delegation, to urge the United States Congress and President Bush to increase funding for the R01 BioMedical Research funding grants!
Please take part in this effort from this blog, by taking the following actions:
1) In the COMMENTS link directly below this message, please post your name, city, and a message supporting increased funding for our nation's R01 BioMedical Research Grants to Senator Hutchison, Representative DeLay and the members of the Texas Congressional Delegation.
WE WILL DELIVER YOUR MESSAGES PERSONALLY TO SENATORS HUTCHISON AND CORNYN, REPRESENTATIVE DELAY, AND TO THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE ENTIRE TEXAS DELEGATION!
2) Use this link to contact Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's nearest office by telephone.
Leave a message with her staff thanking her for championing science in Texas and the nation, and ask her to LEAD THE EFFORT IN WASHINGTON TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR THE R01 GRANTS FOR NEW BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH!
3) Use this link to post a comment at Eric Berger's SciGuy blog and thank him for breaking this story as well as for his continuing coverage of the federal Science Research and Development Budget.
For further Information:
NIH pdf on 2007 Budget
Eric Berger's SciGuy Blog Proposed NSF Budget
Eric Berger's SciGuy Blog: Proposed NASA Budget
Eric Berger: Biomedical R&D Budget 2004
posted by ttyler5 Editor at 2:24 AM
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