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Scientists storm D.C. for funding
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by Cassie Kornblau
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The University of Wisconsin called on Congress Monday to levy support for biomedical research by signing a report on the status of U.S. medical research.
UW — along with eight other leading research institutions — signed the 21-page report on medical research funding that was released at a Capitol Hill press conference Monday.
Leading scientists and medical institutions — including UW — fear that if the current level of funding from the National Institute of Health persists, advances in treatments for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's could be hindered.
"The biomedical research effort in the United States has far exceeded that in any other country, largely due to the steady funding of the NIH research grant program," M. Daniel Lane, a doctor at The John Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in the report. "But we are beginning to lose our competitive edge because of the funding crisis at the NIH. Once the impetus is lost, I fear it will be difficult to reverse."
According to the report, the doubling of the NIH budget between 1998 and 2003 led to progress in areas such as targeting therapies for cancer, tackling epidemics such as obesity and diabetes, preparing for bioterrorism and a repair of spinal cord damage, among other areas.
Now, many research institutions believe the level of funding needs to increase again to help biomedical research.
Jerry Chi-Ping Yin, professor of genetics and psychiatry at UW, said he is looking for an increase in federal funding to help support basic scientific research.
"Research on cancer, translational things on diseases, bacteria, yeast — entire research enterprise relies on this [NIH funding]," Yin said. "We are one of the most productive universities for basic research [and] all the stuff that is published out of here relies on this money."
Yin added that there are two different issues involved with NIH, the first being that Congress needs to increase its funding for NIH. He added that within the structure of NIH, there has been too much emphasis on special programs, rather than grants for basic research.
According to Caroline Arbanas, spokesperson for Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, when NIH doubled the budget, it did not keep pace with inflation.
At the very least, Arbanas said Congress has to provide funding for NIH that stays up with inflation, but added that universities are looking for more robust increases in grants.
"[Washington University is] a big center for genome sequence," Arbanas said. "NIH funding has helped us to determine when there are mistakes in genes and how this leads to disease."
Currently, Arbanas said Washington University is looking at molecular changes in the brain to help find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's. She added that the university researchers are investigating cancer tumors and how it compares to human DNA.
"For all the institutions who participated in the report and went to Washington shows how committed they are to basic research," Arbanas said. "We have to make Congress understand how important this is to patients with diseases."
Yin added UW is a top caliber university when it comes to research, and the support of this report indicates how much federal funding comes through.
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