BiotechMashup

(Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed)) A JAMA commentary says medical students and residents should receive much more thorough and realistic instruction about the economic forces affecting health care and their own clinical decisions so that they can better serve patients' well-being and the nation's economic welfare.

(University of Rochester Medical Center) After a decade of remarkable growth, total annual funding for biomedical research in the US has decelerated and may have even fallen when adjusted for inflation. That is the conclusion of a study today published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research) So-called model organisms have long been at the core of biomedical research, allowing scientists to study the ins and outs of human disorders in non-human subjects.

(European Science Foundation) European biomedical research is advancing at a great pace compared to the relatively small funds available, and with more funding, it could do better. This is one of the main conclusions from a new White Paper, published by the European Medical Research Councils (EMRC) -- the European Science Foundation's membership organization for all medical research councils in Europe.

(Autism Speaks) As JAMA reports US biomedical research funding has declined in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, Autism Speaks again called on the federal government to dramatically increase research funding -- to address the growing national autism public health crisis. Just weeks after the CDC announced the latest prevalence data that autism impacts 1 percent of children, nowhere is the need for increased research funding more evident than for those individuals and families whose lives are impacted by autism

In biomedical research with living cells in the culture dish, contamination with bacteria, viruses or other fast-growing cells is always a risk. Scientists have now developed a test system for fast and cost-effective detection of such contaminations. The new method will contribute to making biomedical research results safer and reproducible.

(American Medical Informatics Association) The professional association for biomedical and health informatics, the American Medical Informatics Association, honored leading informaticians working in the country today at ceremonies that opened the Annual Symposium 2009 on Biomedical and Health Informatics. The AMIA Signature Awards recognize individuals who have performed outstanding leadership in the field of biomedical and health informatics.

(Louisiana State University) LSU has received a $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence, or INBRE, program. The grant is centered in the School of Veterinary Medicine, or SVM, and the Department of Biological Science in the LSU College of Science. The purpose of this five-year grant is to strengthen the biomedical research infrastructure and work force within Louisiana. It is designed to connect predominantly undergraduate universities with biomedical research intensive universities such as LSU.

(Optical Society of America) The Optical Society announced today the launch and publication of the first issue of its newest monthly journal, Biomedical Optics Express. With a focus on biomedical optics and photonics, Biomedical Optics Express joins OSA's diverse portfolio of 14 peer-reviewed optics journals. The editor-in-chief of this new journal is Joseph A. Izatt, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.