Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2023

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Applications Are Open for the Biophysical Society 2024–2025 Congressional Fellowship Interested in using your science skills to inform science policy? Does spending a year working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, helping to develop policy sound exciting? The Biophysical Society’s Congressional Fellowship program is your opportu nity to participate directly in the process of lawmaking that impacts how research is funded and regulated. This year-long opportunity provides fellows a chance to utilize their science knowledge to inform the public policy process. Fellows will gain firsthand knowledge and experience on how Congress works and will participate in the esteemed AAAS Science & Technology Fellows Program that provides ongoing training and networking opportunities during the fellowship year and beyond. Visit https:/www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/congressional-fellowship for more details about the program or contact Leann Fox at fellows@biophysics.org or (240) 290-5606. The application deadline is December 8, 2023.

Senate Adjourns with NIH Director Nomination Still in Limbo Nearly three months after President Joe Biden nominated National Cancer Institute Director Monica Bertagnoli to be the next Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), her nomination continues to languish under an objection from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sanders, as Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has vowed to stall all health nominee confirmations until he receives a commitment from Biden to negotiate over Medicare drug pricing. With Congress now in recess until after the Labor Day holiday, NIH is without formal leadership in place during a critical time in the appropriations process that has the House of Representatives looking to cut the NIH’s budget by 6%. NIH Bans the Use of AI for Peer Review On June 23, the NIH issued a formal notice (NOT-OD-23-149; https:/grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT OD-23-149.html) prohibiting NIH scientific peer reviewers from using natural language processors, large language models, or other generative AI technologies for analyzing and formulating peer review critiques for grant applications and research and development contract proposals. Meanwhile, the National Science Foundation has formed an internal working group to look at whether there might be appropriate uses of AI as part of the merit review process, and if so, what “guardrails” may be needed. For the funding agencies, confi dentiality tops the list of concerns, alongside the tendency for AI-generated content to be error prone.

University of Washington Postdocs and Staff Scientists Ratify New Contract Agreement Postdocs and staff scientists at the University of Washington voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying the agreement reached in early June with university administrators. The postdoc contract, which runs through January 2025, guar antees that most postdocs will be paid at least $65,508 this year and $68,456 in 2024, amounts that should exceed the state minimum for overtime-exempt salaried employees. However, postdocs who receive fellowships from external or ganizations and are paid directly by those organizations won’t see the same increases, though they will receive a $6,000 annual supplement from the university. The contract for staff scientists will cover three years and stipulates that the lowest-paid staff scientists will receive a 33% increase in the minimum salary by the end of the con tract. The contract will also provide access to a harassment prevention program, protection against layoffs, and the ability to achieve principal investigator status, which would mean they can be listed as a principal investigator on grant applica tions.

September 2023

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