Biophysical Society Newsletter - May 2015

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BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 11
MAY 2015
Special Issue: Electron Cryomicroscopy
Biophysical Journal
Editors: Edward H. Egelman
and Andreas Engel
Call for Papers
Deadline for submission: July 1, 2015
For more information, go to
NIGMS Recommits to Investi-
gators in Its Strategic Plan
The National Institute of General Medical Scienc-
es (NIGMS) released a strategic plan (2015-2020)
outlining its priorities over the next five years. The
plan is broad in nature, allowing the Institute flex-
ibility to take advantage of opportunities as they
arise but providing a framework to follow.
The plan lays out objectives and strategies to meet
those objectives, with a strong commitment to
investing in researchers and the workforce.
The objectives are:
• Maximize investments in investigator-initiated
biomedical research to drive fundamental sci-
entific discoveries that advance understanding
of human health and disease.
• Support the development of a highly skilled,
creative, and diverse biomedical research
workforce.
• Support the development of and access to
essential research tools, resources, and capa-
bilities for biomedical research.
• Advance understanding of fundamental
biomedical research and the NIGMS role in
supporting it.
To see the full report go to
nigms.nih.gov/strategicplan/NIGMS-strategic-
plan.pdf.
House Passes Secret
Science Bill
On March 17, the House of Representatives ap-
proved the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015
(H.R. 1030), legislation that seeks to disallow
the use of research findings to create policy at the
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
The Biophysical Society, along with 34 other asso-
ciations and universities, wrote to members of the
House of Representatives on March 16 expressing
serious concerns about the possible unintended
consequences of this bill. The letter, organized by
the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, explained the research community’s con-
cerns about key terms in the bill, the difficulty and
high cost of reproducing long-term public health
and other studies, and the uncompensated finan-
cial burden on research grant recipients of sharing
and archiving research results that might be used
in a regulatory action by EPA.
The organizations note that the White House Of-
fice of Science and Technology Policy is working
with federal agencies to establish policies on access
to research data and suggests that Congress “wait
to review the agency policies before imposing new
statutory requirements.”
The Senate has not indicated whether it will con-
sider the bill. The President, on the other hand, as
indicated he will veto the bill if it comes to him for
signature.