FASEB Update

Since 2003 ISCB has been one of 22 member societies of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States, representing over 80,000 scientists. FASEB’s mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to its member societies and collaborative advocacy. To fully appreciate this robust federation and the multitude of issues and initiatives it addresses you are invited to visit their website at www.faseb.org.

ISCB joined specifically to provide our members with a voice in the U.S. Government on issues relating to science policy, and we continue to invite members who can help develop similar arrangements in other countries or regions of the world to contact us at admin@iscb.org. Our members are involved in FASEB in many ways: John Wooley and Barbara Bryant on their board of directors, Greg Tucker-Kellogg on the science policy committee’s international issues subcommittee, Scott Markel on the publications and communications committee, BJ Morrison McKay on the executive officers advisory committee, and other members that volunteer from time to time to serve on the committees that develop U.S. federal funding recommendations. We thank these members of ISCB for their past and current service, and invite other interested members to contact us at policy@iscb.org.

U.S. Visas Issue
Eighteen months ago ISCB worked feverishly with FASEB to produce data for a U.S. congressional hearing on the topic of visa regulations and their impact on scientific exchange by providing data from our survey of ISCB members’ experiences in obtaining US entry visas. The survey and its results were reported in last year’s newsletter (see www.iscb.org/images/stories/
newsletter/newsletter11-1/visa.htm).

In December of 2008 news resurfaced that science and engineering researchers seeking to obtain or renew U.S visas were once again routinely encountering months-long delays. Particularly, applicants from China and Russia were experiencing delays exceeding three months. The problem became so acute that researchers who left the country often found themselves stranded abroad, not knowing when their visas might be approved. ISMB Toronto was hampered by this problem, with many foreign nationals studying or working in the U.S. unwilling to jeopardize their visa status by crossing the border into Canada to attend the conference.

Just recently, the deputy assistant secretary of state for consular services, David Donahue, said the State Department started attacking the backlog of requests. “I am not sure when we will get all of them cleared up,” he said, but eventually routine requests should be dealt with in two weeks. He said the department had brought in extra staff to handle the applications and had revised procedures to speed reviews.

“Science diplomacy presents a unique and essential opportunity to develop and sustain friendships and collaborations into the future,” said Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), chairman of the Science and Technology Committee's Energy and Environment Subcommittee, who introduced the Science Diplomacy Bill (H.R.1736) in March to provide for the establishment of a committee to identify and coordinate international science and technology cooperation. “The exchange of scientists and their students help to build mutual trust and understanding between people who may otherwise be inclined to avoid or even fear each other.”

The legislation states that the new panel will plan and coordinate cooperative research and training partnerships, establish federal policies for aligning research and training with partners from other countries, identify opportunities for new partnerships, solicit input from non-federal stakeholders, report to Congress, and address broad issues that affect collaboration. Visas definitely affect collaboration. The bill was referred on June 9th to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Another step toward a long-term solution implemented by the Office of the Scientific Advisor to the Secretary of State, has been to seek scientific expertise, when needed, on applications from science and engineering researchers. Carrie Wolinetz of the FASEB Office of Public Affairs will serve as a point of contact for the FASEB Societies, so that when the State Department needs scientific expertise, she will be able to quickly distribute that request to the appropriate member societies.

Other FASEB Updates in a Nutshell
FASEB President Richard Marchase recently released a statement about science funding through the Recovery Act, raising serious concerns about the sustainability of the biomedical research enterprise past Fiscal Year 2011 when current funds expire. The full statement can be downloaded at http://opa.faseb.org/pdf/2009/Final%20Visa%20Delay%20Statement.pdf. The Office of Public Affairs has created a slide presentation titled, “Education and Employment of Biological and Medical Scientists: Data from National Surveys.” The figures in the presentation serve as an introduction to the major sources of nationally representative data on education and employment of biological and medical scientists. The informative presentation is downloadable from http://opa.faseb.org/pages/PolicyIssues/training_datappt.htm.

A “Conflict of Interest Toolkit” website provides several new tools and resources, including information regarding teaching trainees about conflict of interest issues and a resource document for association conflict of interest policies. Access the toolkit at http://opa.faseb.org/pages/Advocacy/coi/Toolkit.htm. FASEB is seeking new topic ideas for the Breakthroughs in Bioscience series (http://opa.faseb.org/pages/Publications/breakthroughs.htm) that describes basic or clinical research discoveries that have a clearly demonstrable societal impact, such as by the development of a current therapy or diagnostic technology. Write to admin@iscb.org if you are interested in submitting a topic idea and contributing to the publication.

FASEB Sponsorship of ISCB’s Student Outreach Efforts
FASEB administers a multi-year NIH Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) grant to help U.S. citizen and permanent resident minority students with, among many other things, the costs of attending conferences, including ISMB and Rocky. See http://marc.faseb.org/pages/page2a.htm for information. In November 2008 FASEB sponsored ISCB’s participation in the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS; http://www.abrcms.org/index.html) in order to support our Society’s efforts to reach out to underrepresented minorities to help create awareness and foster interest in higher education and the possibility of careers in bioinformatics.

Through the MARC program FASEB is fully supporting all travel and registration costs for two students to come to ISMB/ECCB 2009 in Stockholm.

FASEB is also sponsoring the Student Council Lounge/Career Central (http://www.iscbsc.org/content/career-central-student-council-lounge-ismbeccb-2009) booth space at ISMB/ECCB 2009 in Stockholm and covering the travel and registration costs of Dr. Clifford Mintz to provide CV critiques from the booth for students and post docs wishing to tap into his expert advice, as well as a career development seminar during the event.

Between the effective advocacy efforts of FASEB’s Office of Public Affairs, the many other working committees and the MARC program, and the federations financial support of our student outreach efforts, ISCB benefits greatly as a member society. Although traditionally focused on U.S. policies and funding, the international issues subcommittee of the science policy committee is propelling FASEB into areas of universal importance to scientists worldwide. It is our hope that through all of these activities ISCB members around the world ultimately achieve personal benefits from our investment in FASEB.