Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2021

Public Affairs

White House Signs FY21 Federal Budget at 11th Hour   After months of hearings and negotiations, four continuing resolutions (CR) to keep the government funded and open, President Trump finally signed off on the federal budget on December 27, 2020 for fiscal year (FY) 2021 at the last possible moment before the expiration of the final CR. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) received a funding increase of $1.475 billion for a total FY21 funding package of $42.934 billion. NIH will also receive COVID-19 relief funds of $1.25 billion to support research and clinical trials related to the long-term effects of COVID-19. The National Science Foundation received an increase of 2.5 percent over FY20, for a total funding package of $8.487 billion.

President-Elect Biden Names Key Administration Appointees On the cusp of the New Year, President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition is taking a larger focus. Biden has named his top picks for nearly all of the key posts for the incoming Admin- istration. Although there are no guarantees of a swift con- firmation process for any cabinet post, below are some of the nominees for both cabinet posts and White House senior staff positions. • Secretary of the Interior: Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) • Secretary of Energy: Former Governor Jennifer Granholm (MI) • Environmental Protection Agency Administrator: Michael Regan • Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality: Brenda Mallory • Secretary of Health and Human Services: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra • Surgeon General: former Obama Administration Surgeon General Vivek Murthy • Director Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Chief of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, Rochelle Walensky • COVID-19 Equity Task Force Chair: Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith • Chief Medical Advisor to the President, COVID-19: Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci ; Fauci will remain in his role at NIAID • Special Presidential Envoy for Climate: Former Secretary John Kerry • National Climate Advisory: Gina McCarthy

• Deputy Coordinator, COVID-19 Response: Natalie Quillian • COVID-19 Response Coordinator and Counselor to the President: Jeff Zients Around theWorld The State of Research by Samrat Mukhopadhyay, BPS Ambassador, India

When I last wrote my piece in July for the BPS Bulletin , the number of positive COVID-19 cases in India crossed 300,000, and now cases are skyrocketing to over 10 million. While the coronavirus is raging nationwide, the number of daily new cases has been declining steadily over the past

Samrat Mukhopadhyay

three months. Additionally, a new variant has created consid- erable distress although there is no evidence that this new strain is more deadly and infectious than the previous one. Like all other activities, the pandemic has impacted research activities at all our institutions, moderately or severely de- pending on the location. Many of our laboratories are open at reduced occupancy by imposing shifts. This arrangement is bound to diminish the scientific output and is taking a heavy toll on the researchers. But at this point, our top priority is to keep ourselves healthy, and therefore, we must try to recali- brate our expectations.

February 2021

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