Biophysical Society Newsletter | August 2017

15

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2017

AUGUST

mously please researchers working in France. Some think that the government should first commit to funding French laboratories properly before inviting American colleagues to work in France. Such funding has been enacted, but may fall short of the mark. One example is the "grand emprunt," an investment scheme for fund- ing research initiated by President Sarkozy in 2010 and continued by President Hollande . In this scheme, fund- ing is given to joint ventures between institutions and departments, usually involving large numbers of research teams. However, one major issue for such funding schemes is the lack of oversight on how the funding is distributed internally within the consortium since there are no clear rules or deliverables associated with such ini- tiatives. Therefore, there is a risk that this funding may be misused or unfairly distributed. We can only hope that President Macron will be made aware of this risk. At least I have expressed my fear concerning this issue through the "Make Our Planet Great Again" website. At the very least, “Make Our Planet Great Again” is a powerful symbolic move, reminding us all that science is an international endeavor, and that climate change has no borders. Now more than ever, foreign scientists are welcome in France, especially when political conditions in their home countries are not favorable to the develop- ment of science. — Cecile Sykes, Institut Curie

Grants and Opportunities i i Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research Objective: Further development and valida- tion of emerging technologies offering novel capabilities for targeting, probing, or assessing molecular and cellular features of cancer biology for basic or clinical cancer research. Well-suited applications must offer the potential to accel- erate and/or enhance research in the areas of cancer biology, early detection and screening, clinical diagnosis, treatment, control, epidemiol- ogy, and/or address issues associated with cancer health disparities. Technologies proposed for de- velopment may be intended to have widespread applicability but must be focused on improving molecular and/or cellular characterizations of cancer. Website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa- files/RFA-CA-17-011.html Innovative Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research Objective: Exploratory research projects focused on the inception and early-stage development of highly innovative, molecular and/or cellular analysis technologies with transformative poten- tial. Applications involving an existing technol- ogy not yet demonstrated for the proposed cancer-relevant applications are within the scope, but must involve additional technical modifica- tions and development to allow for the proposed cancer-relevant context of use or some signifi- cant question of feasibility exists for achieving the proposed aims. Deadline: September 26, 2017

Deadline: September 26, 2017

Website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa- files/RFA-CA-17-010.html