Congress Moves to Increase NIH Budget by $2 Billion for FY19
Policy and Advocacy News
Defense, Labor-HHS-Education Minibus Conference Report Filed
Sept. 13, 2018 | United States Senate
The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday announced that a final conference agreement has been reached on the second of three Fiscal Year 2019 (FY2019) minibus appropriations packages. The package, H.R. 6157, includes FY2019 Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bills. The conference report to accompany H.R. 6157 will be made available online. The Senate is expected to vote on the conference report next week.
Appeals Court Sides with Broad in CRISPR Patent Fight
Sept. 10, 2018 | Science
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today declined the appeal of a team of researchers led by the University of California (UC), Berkeley, to overturn an earlier ruling by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Science in the News
Physical Exercise Improves Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease
Sept. 10, 2018 | SciTechDaily
A study by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team finds that neurogenesis — inducing the production of new neurons — in the brain structure in which memories are encoded can improve cognitive function in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Their investigation shows that cognition can be blocked by the hostile inflammatory environment in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and that physical exercise can “clean up” that environment, allowing new nerve cells to survive and thrive and improving cognition in the Alzheimer’s mice.
A Starring Role for Nonhuman Primates in the Stem Cell Story
Sept. 11, 2018 | University of Wisconsin-Madison
“If UW–Madison is the birthplace of human embryonic stem cells,” says Marina Emborg, a professor of medical physics in the School of Medicine and Public Health and director of the Preclinical Parkinson’s Research Program at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, “then the Primate Research Center is the cradle.”
Researchers Reboot Ambitious Effort to Sequence all Vertebrate Genomes, but Challenges Loom
Sept. 13, 2018 | Science
In a bid to garner more visibility and support, researchers eager to sequence the genomes of all vertebrates today officially launched the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), releasing 15 very high quality genomes of 14 species. But the group remains far short of raising the funds it will need to document the genomes of the estimated 66,000 vertebrates living on Earth.
