Biophysical Society Bulletin | November 2023

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Apply Now for the BPS Congressional Fellowship Program

Have you ever considered applying your scientific knowledge and expertise to the process of developing policy? Did you know that BPS sponsors a year-long Congressional Fellowship in which we provide support for you to spend a year working in a Congressional office and focus your science expertise in the arena of policy? BPS is currently accepting applications for the 2024–2025 fellowship year (https:/www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/congres sional-fellowship). For details about the program, contact Leann Fox at fellows@biophysics.org or (240) 290-5606. Applications close on December 8, 2023.

Federal Government Shutdown Averted, but Funding Concerns Remain In what may be the most surprising turn of events this year, Congress stunned everyone by averting what appeared to be a certain impending government shutdown on Saturday, Sep tember 30—just hours before fiscal year funding for 2023 was to run out. While providing a 45-day reprieve until an other federal shutdown deadline, it is still a long way off from any semblance of a starting point for negotiations between the House and Senate for Fiscal Year 2024. This leaves any agency funding scientific research able to continue reviewing grant applications and maintaining business as usual, with the notable exception of funding any new projects. Whichever way the leadup to the budget deadline plays out, scientific researchers relying on federal grants will feel a financial pinch, either through direct cuts as proposed by the House of Representatives, which could revert spending back to 2022 levels, or through more moderate means as pro posed by the Senate, which closely resembles 2023 funding with some minor adjustments within agencies. Ultimately, however, as interest rates remain high and costs increase for lab equipment, staff, and other expenses, even maintaining current levels for another year amounts to a cut for research ers as they are asked to make the same dollars go farther.

only data needed for anticipated publications and keep their notebooks and other raw data unless there is an NIH audit. The new rules go into effect on March 2, 2024. NIH has de veloped an FAQ on the Grants and Funding webpage (https:/ grants.nih.gov/faqs#/subawards.htm?anchor=4304) to answer additional questions for grantees. USAID Ends DEEP VZN Program In September, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shuttered the $125 million program aimed at iden tifying viruses in animals that might harm humans, known as Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses (DEEP VZN). DEEP VZN was a follow-on to a USAID global surveillance program called “PREDICT” that ran from 2009 to 2020 and grew out of USAID’s efforts to combat avian influenza. A statement from USAID explained that the decision to end DEEP VZN was derived from the agency aligning resources within the National Biodefense Strategy to better utilize global health security resources. Around the World South Korea Calls for Refocused Science Investment and Cuts Basic Research The South Korean government has announced a dramatic change in direction for research spending for 2024. It has proposed to cut research spending by 10.9% and to shift resources into more high-risk research in an effort to build a biotech innovation ecosystem, similar to that in the United States. This new direction is a drastic change to the resourc es and investments that have helped transition South Korea into a global research powerhouse. Government investment combined with strong private support drove South Korean

NIH Reaffirms Requirements for Foreign Lab Partner Notebooks

On September 15, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) finalized a new policy for subaward/consortium written agreements (https:/grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/ NOT-OD-23-182.html) that formalizes the mandate requiring partners abroad to share lab notebooks and access to other raw data with their main grant recipient in the United States on an annual basis. Normally, researchers give collaborators

November 2023

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