Author: Jonathan Eisen

I am an evolutionary biologist and a Professor at U. C. Davis. (see my lab site here). My research focuses on the origin of novelty (how new processes and functions originate). To study this I focus on sequencing and analyzing genomes of organisms, especially microbes and using phylogenomic analysis

YAMMGM – yet another mostly male genomics meeting (series): Plant Genomic Congresses by Global Engage

Just got invited to the “Plant Genomics Congress Asia” meeting. As usual, the first thing I look at now is gender ratio.  From their web site I got a list of their speakers (so far) and their advisory board.  I highlighted in Yellow ones I am inferring are male and in green ones I am inferring are female.  For the meeting the ratio so far is 17:4 male to female.  Not the worst I have seen but still pretty bad.  Though if you look at their advisory board at least the ratio for the speakers is better — it is 17:0 for the Advisory Board.

  1. John Manners, Chief, CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia 
  2. Dave Edwards, Principal Research Fellow, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Australia 
  3. Nagendra Singh National Professor-BP Pal Chair, National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India 
  4. Han Zhao, Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biotechnology Jiangsu, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China 
  5. Huaan Yang, Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA), Australia 
  6. Rajeev K. Varshney, Principal Scientist (Applied Genomics) & Director, Centre of Excellence in Genomics, ICRISAT, India 
  7. Apichart Vanavichit, Professor, The Rice Gene Discovery Unit, Kasetsart University, Thailand 
  8. Norman Warthmann, Senior Post Doc, Borevitz Laboratory, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Australia 
  9. Chungui Lu Lecturer in Post-Genomics, Faculty of Science, Nottingham University, UK 
  10. Beng Kah (Bk) Song, Lecturer, Monash University, Sunway Campus, Australia/ Malaysia 
  11. Kenneth Olsen, Associate Professor Department of Biology, Washington St Louis University, USA 
  12. Yue-Ie Hsing, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academica Sinica, Taiwan 
  13. Meilina Ong Abdullah, Breeding and Tissue Culture Unit, The Advanced Biotechnology and Breeding Centre, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Malaysia 
  14. Yijun Ruan, Professor and Director, Systems Biology Center, HuaZhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China 
  15. Sachiko Isobe, Head Applied Plant Genomics, Kaduza DNA Research Institute (KDRI), Japan 
  16. Yuan-Ming Zhang, Professor of Statistical Genomics, State Key Lab. of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, China 
  17. Parveen Chhuneja, Geneticist, Bioinformatics Centre School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Punjab Agricultural University, India 
  18. Shengyi Liu, Professor and Head, The Key Lab of Oil Crops Biology, the Ministry of Agriculture, PRC Department of Genomics, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China 
  19. Wen-Hsiung Li, Director and Distinguished Research Fellow, Biodiversity Research Center, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academica Sinica, Taiwan 
  20. Graham King, Director, Southern Cross Plant Science Professor of Plant Genomics and Epigenetics, Southern Cross University, Australia 
  21. Ryan Lister, Professor/ARC Future Fellow, Plant Energy Biology ARC CoE, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia 
  22. Amitabh Mohanty, Lead Trait Discovery, E.I. DuPont India Pvt Ltd. 

Advisory Board:

  1. Robin G Allaby, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, UK
  2. Todd Blevins, Senior Postdoctoral Associate, Pikaard Lab, Indiana University
  3. Roger Bossé, Global Product Line Leader, PerkinElmer
  4. James Coomer, Senior Technical Advisor for Europe. Data Direct Networks
  5. Tamas Dalmay, Professor of RNA Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich 
  6. Massimo Delledonne, Professor, Department of Biotechnology & Director, Functional Genomics Center,  University of Verona, Italy
  7. Joe Duran, Director – HPC Systems, Technology Solutions Division, Fujitsu
  8. Alberto Ferrarini , Biotechnology Professional, University of Verona 
  9. Keywan Hassani-Pak, Group Leader Applied Bioinformatics, Computational and Systems Biology, Rothamsted Research
  10. Julin Maloof, Professor, Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis
  11. Piotr Mieczkowski, Director of NGS Facility, Research Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina
  12. Stephen P. Moose, Associate Professor, Maize Genomics, Department of Crop Sciences,, Program Leader, Feedstock Genomics, Energy Biosciences Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
  13. Lukas Mueller, Professor, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University
  14. Odd-Arne Olsen, Professor at Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (IPM), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) , Faculty of Education & Natural Sciences, Hamar University College (HUC), Norway
  15. Chris Pires, Associate Professor Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
  16. Uwe Scholz, Group Leader, Research Group Bioinformatics and Information Technology, IPK
  17. Alan Schulman, MTT Agrifood Research and Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki 
So after checking out this meeting I decided – at their suggestion to check out the meetings in Europe and the USA they are organizing.  The speakers for the US meeting are a whopping 33:4 male to female according to my count and the ratio for the European meeting is about the same (mind you I like some of the speakers – am not blaming them — but this meeting should be avoided in my opinion).  Definitely not impressed with the organizers here or the Global Engage organization behind these meetings.  Uggh. What is wrong with people?  It is really not actually that hard to do better than this.

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

Institutional repository success story: Master’s on "War Eagles" contributes to amazing ring recovery story

Image from NPR.

So I just heard this amazing story on NPR. “Journey Of The Ring: Lost In WWII, Now Back With POW’s Son.”  In summary – a US Military member David Cox was taken as a POW in World War II in Germany.  While a captive he ended up trading a treasured ring for some chocolate. He returned home and made a replica of the ring but always felt bad about having had to trade the ring for food.  He passed away a few years ago.  Three or so weeks ago, two Americans – Mark and Mindy Turner – were invited to a dinner at the house of Martin and Regina Kiss and it turns out the Kiss’s had the ring.  But they did not know who the original owner was.  So the Turners did some searching based on the inscription on the ring and the figured out who the original owner was and it has now been returned to David Cox’s son.

So – how on earth is this a story connected to institutional archives.  Well, it turns out that the Turners figured out who the original owner of the ring was because their Google searches based on the ring’s inscriptions took them within a few minutes to this Master’s Thesis posted in 2006 at the NC State Digital Repository: War Eagles: A Bird’s Eye View of 305th Bomb Group and the Eighth Air Force from the experiences of David C. Cox and Joseph B. Boyle – NCSU Digital Repository.  The thesis was written by Norwood McDowell, who happens to be the younger Cox’s son in law.  And his thesis was about the elder Cox and had a brief discussion of the ring.

Kudos to all involved, including NC State and Norwood McDowell for making his Masters thesis available.

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

Jobs in microbial genome informatics in Iddo Friedberg’s lab at Miami University

Two post docs are available in Iddo Friendberg’s lab.

Job 1: Post Doc

The Friedberg Lab at the is recruiting a postdoc to an NSF-funded project to investigate the evolution of gene clusters and operons in bacteria and archaea. This is a bioinformatics postdoc position, and the successful applicant would be required to perform research employing computational biology skills.

Requirements: A PhD in microbiology, bioinformatics, or a related field. Strong publication record in peer-reviewed journals. Strong programming skills (preferred: R, Python, SQL). Strong oral and written communication skills in English. Strong domain knowledge of molecular biology. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The Friedberg lab is a computational biology lab equipped with high-end cluster computers and strong bioinformatics support.

Candidates should send a c.v. and statement of interest, and have three letters of reference sent independently by their authors to Dr. Iddo Friedberg at Friedberg.lab.jobs@gmail.com. All documentation must be in PDF format only. Screening of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Miami University is an EOE/AA employer with smoke- and tobacco-free campuses. Miami’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report with information on campus crime, fires, and safety may be found at:http://www.MiamiOH.edu/righttoknow. Hard copy available upon request.

Job 2: Bioinformatics Programmer

We are recruiting a bioinformatics programmer to implement and maintain a genomic database web site; implement data management tools including relational database management applications for efficient storage and retrieval of genomic data; perform other duties as related to the position such as data and project management to ensure data are being processed in an efficient and timely manner; contribute to writing scientific manuscripts. Competitive salary offered for suitable candidates.

Required qualifications: BS or BA in Computer Science, bioinformatics, or a related discipline; demonstrated programming experience, particularly in Python and SQL databases; demonstrated web programming experience; knowledge of Linux/Unix; excellent spoken and written communication and documentation skills.

Preferred qualifications: an advanced degree (M.Sc. or Ph.D) or equivalent in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology or a related discipline; experience in development of bioinformatic algorithms; knowledge of R programming; experience in development of or contribution to open source projects; experience in collaborative software development such as the use of version control software, writing and following software specifications, participation in code review; knowledge of basic molecular biology; experience with genomic browser programming, such as GMOD or equivalent.

Candidates should send a c.v. or resume and have three letters of reference sent independently by their authors to Dr. Iddo Friedberg at Friedberg.lab.jobs@gmail.com. All documentation must be in PDF format only. Screening of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Miami University is an EOE/AA employer with smoke- and tobacco-free campuses. Miami’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report with information on campus crime, fires, and safety may be found at:http://www.MiamiOH.edu/righttoknow. Hard copy available upon request.

Strange emails about microbes: probiotic water

I get some strange emails about microbes.  Here is one I got today:

Dear Prof. Jonathan,

I am nothing, but I write my wish because of duty for the great future of Probiotics, which shall be big fortune of earth people.

I, by G-d’s grace, made Probiotics Multiplication “Water” at my kitchen to help my sister’s intestine problem.

And I soon found out how many many applications of the Probiotics Multiplication Water shall be opened for most peoples in the earth.

Please invite me at your cost and let me introduce the Probiotics Water and the vary applications in front of your team, then, I will show 100ml spray and mist of Probiotics Water to them.  It would be great great opportunity of your meeting if you will do.

You said in Video of TED website that we have to surround ourselves by good bacteria.
How?  I convince the Probiotics Water Mist and Spray is the answer. Easy and economic valuable answer!

– Probiotics Water’s color is plain, light pale yellow and near transparency white.
Smell is some sour, and disappeared immediately after spray. –

If you have questions, please send me your reply asap.

My smart phone number : XX-XX-XXXX-XXXX /Phone: XX-XX-XXXX-XXXX

Please send me your message before calling. Thanks very much,

XXXXXX, XX
Pohang City, South Korea 

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

Sloan Research Fellowships in Ocean Sciences

Sloan Research Fellowships in Ocean Sciences

Just received this …

Dear colleague,

As a long-time consultant to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, I am reaching out to you today with the hope that you will join us in identifying the next class of remarkable scholars studying the Earth’s oceans. I am hopeful you will share this email and information about the Sloan Research Fellowships in Ocean Sciences with senior leaders at the science programs you support and others at the Moore Foundation.

The Alfred P. Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2014 Sloan Research Fellowships. The Sloan Research Fellowships in Ocean Sciences, now in their third year, encompass ocean-related disciplines as diverse as microbiology and zoology, chemistry and Earth science. To be considered, the online nomination and submission process must be completed no later than September 16, 2013. To begin the online nomination and submission process, visit http://www.sloan.org/sloan-research-fellowships/apply-online/.

The two-year, $50,000 fellowships are awarded annually to researchers in the U.S. and Canada in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their fields.

To be eligible, candidates must:

· Hold a Ph.D. or equivalent in chemistry, computational or evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, ocean sciences (including marine biology), physics, or a related field;

· Hold a tenure track or equivalent position at a college, university or other degree-granting institution in the United States or Canada, and;

· Be no more than six years from completion of their most recent Ph.D. or equivalent, as of the nomination year, with some exceptions for candidates whose careers were disrupted due to military service, child-rearing, or change of field.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation welcomes nominations of all candidates who meet the traditional high standards of this program, and strongly encourages the participation of women and members of underrepresented minority groups.

Your help in spreading the word is greatly appreciated.

Closed access irony of the day: Who Will Pay for Access to Research Data? You Will …

Though I would share this with people who read this blog but don’t follow me on Twitter.  

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

Because it is there? (Why Larry Smarr freezes his feces)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/worldwide/player.swf<!– Hat tip to …

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

I f$*#@#ing love science but really f$*#Ing hate travel much of the time

Well, have already written a bit about my fun trip to DC on Twitter and Facebook but thought I would sum it up here too. Last week I had to go to DC for a meeting relating to a Department of Homeland Security grant we have in my lab (it was the annual meeting of the program).  Of course the point of the whole trip was to present about our work.  And for the record – here are the slides for my talk I gave on Wednesday.

But alas, going to give talks is not just about the Science is it? It unfortunately is also about the travel. And boy do I hate travel most of the time these days. Here is a tale of my trip …. I was supposed to go on Monday but had to delay going until Tuesday due to illnesses in the family. So I called United and changed my flight and called the Westin in Alexandria and changed my hotel reservation and emailed the meeting organizers and let them know.

All seemed good. Then Tuesday AM I got an email from United saying my flight had been cancelled and I had been rebooked on another flight. After calling up United and finding out that the seat upgrade using my miles / Premier status was not available I at least confirmed that I would be getting in to DC not too late. And so after lingering at home I headed to the airport and got on the flight from SMF to Houston.

I got to Houston, walked around for a while and eventually made my way to the connection to DC. I went to board and the machine gave the ticket agent an error message saying “Passenger is not ticketed for this flight” or something like that. Great. And I had to leave the line, go to the desk and wait a bit until someone helped me. There I found out that United had somehow cancelled the entire rest of my flight and thus I was not only no longer booked on a flight to DC I had no return flight either. After a painful but brief delay somehow they put me on the connection and I got to DC.

It was after getting the error message that I ended up engaging some social media to express my frustration and I tweeted about United. And eventually the United Twitter handler got back to me and helped me confirm that I did now have a return flight.

Anyway – I moved on past the United issue and got in a cab in DC and headed to the Westin Alexandria. I got there and checked in. Sadly I found out there was no food available anywhere at the hotel (it was only 10:50 PM or so). So I decided to just go up to my room and crash. I went up to my room and – well – was seriously in for a shock. My room was a meeting room of some sort overrun with meeting tables and with a small, rollaway bed smushed up against the wall.

Oh my God. You have got to be kidding me. I have serious trouble sleeping when I travel and am not exactly the smallest guy in the world.  A rollaway bed in the middle of a conference room? Uggh.  So I called up the front desk and asked

“Is this some sort of mistake. Is there supposed to be a bedroom connected to this room?“

And the person from the desk said “No. That is your room.”

And I said “Well, I can’t sleep on that bed“

And he said “Sorry – we are fully booked – that is all we have.”

And I said, again “Listen, I called yesterday and confirmed my room and told you I was coming late and this is not acceptable. I want a normal bedroom with a normal bed. Nothing fancy.  Just a bedroom.“

And he said “OK.  I have another room.”

So I said “Can someone bring up the key?“

And he said “No. There is no one else here.“

So I said “OK I will come back down.”

So I got my stuff and went back down and really wanted to ask “Well, why is there a room now if you told me the room with the rollaway bed was the last room” but I held my tongue.  And after a computer malfunction that led to a 5-10 minute wait he gave me a new room key.

And I was off again.  Once there, I opened the door to the room and I knew before even getting into it why they did not give it to me at first.  It reeked of cigarette smoke.  Like someone had a cigarette testing party in the room.  Drowning in smoke smell.  I took a pic of the air vents to represent the smell … for what that was worth.  So I immediately went to the phone and called the desk again.

Me: “Hey it’s the guy who you just gave a new room to. This room is even worse.  Unbearable cigarette smell here.  Is this a smoking room?”

“No we don’t have smoking rooms.”

Me: “So did the cleaning crew mark this room as having been smoked in and you gave it to me even though it has not been cleaned yet without telling me?“

Answer “No.”

Me “I need a different room.”

Him: “Ok – let me look.  (click click click).  OK I have another room“

Me: “Can someone bring the key up?“

Answer: “I don’t think so.”

Me: “OK I will come back down.”

So down I went and finally got a third room.

And this one was OK.  Meanwhile I was also positing details of the debacle to Twitter and Facebook.  And enjoying (in a theater of the absurd kind of way) some of the responses I got from miscellaneous people and also the communications with the Westin Twitter handler.  Here below is a Storify of some of the communications around both the United issue and the Westin issue.

//storify.com/phylogenomics/i-f-ing-love-science-but-f-ing-hate-travel-much-of.js[View the story “I f#ing love science but f#ing hate travel much of the time” on Storify]

But perhaps the most entertaining part were the DM messages from the @Westin person. Here is the thread – copied and pasted from Twitter

  • @Westin: 1/2 We do apologize for the inconvenience. We spoke to the hotel and was informed that you have been shifted to another room 
  • @Westin: 2/2 with a king bed. Please let us or the front desk know if you need any further assistance. 
  • Me: Third try … Why wouldn’t the cleaning crew inform them of the smoky room? It was awful
  • Me: And why would they give me a room with a rollaway as the only bed without saying anything? 
  • Me: I would like to formally request a free night in exchange for this absurdity 
  • @Westin: 1/3 We truly apologize for the inconveniences.Your booking was made through a group rate & that was originally the room type booked for you. 
  • @Westin: 2/3 Unfortunately, we are unable to grant you that request as hotel has accommodated by shifting rooms for you to a king bed. We spoke to 
  • @Westin: 3/3 the hotel regarding the strong smell next door as there are no smoking rooms at the hotel. Someone will reach out to you in the morning. 
  • Me: ????- are you saying they booked me a room with a rollaway bed? 
  • Me: Are you saying the room did not smell of smoke ??? 
  • @Westin: We understand your frustration & do apologize again for the inconvenience. The management team will reach out to you in the morning to
  • @Westin: further follow up on your concerns as they are in the best position to address situations. Please feel free to let us know if you require 
  • @Westin: any additional assistance from our team
I spent a few hours working on my talk and then finally got a little bit of sleep.  In the morning I ordered room service.  An espresso, and eggs and toast.  I asked for fried eggs and got scrambled.  I did not want meat but got some.  I asked for water and got none.  But I never mentioned this to the hotel.  Seemed kind of pointless. 

And then I had an email exchange with a representative of the Westin Alexandria that ended up being somewhat interesting.

Westin

Good Morning Mr. Eisen,

I have received your feedback from our corporate office in regards to your check-in experience last night.

First of all, please allow me to apologize on behalf of my team and the hotel for the inconvenience you went through last night. Our hotel was closed to sold out last night so there were some challenges in the room assignment with the preference of each of our guest.

I also meant to touch base with your directly this morning but I have noticed you have already departed the hotel.

I will go ahead and take care of your night for the inconvenience you went through and it will also be my pleasure to recognize you as a loyal SPG member by giving you a credit of 5,000 SPG Points.

If there is anything further I can assist you with, please feel free to contact me directly. I hope you will choose us again for your future travel plan in Alexandria. When you do so, please let me know so I can review your accommodation.

Once again, my sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Be Well,
Thomas

THOMAS
POTEAU
Director of Operations
THE WESTIN ALEXANDRIA
400 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, Virginia  22314 

Me

Thanks for the email. 

I appreciate what you have done.  I would very much like to know of you can give me some explanation of what happened – like why was I sent to a room with a rollaway bed with no warning or explanation.  And whether the second room I was sent to was empty because of the smoke smell and if so why I was sent there? 

Thanks 

Jonathan Eisen 

Westin:

Mr Eisen,

In a sold out situation like last night, we review the last arrivals and room assignment and with your SPG status, my front desk supervisor upgraded you to our hospitality suite. Yes this is a room which doesn’t have a permanent bed so we put a rollaway in this room, however this is a much larger room (suite) than our Traditional King. Most of our guests usually don’t mind the situation and actually enjoy the larger room. Since our rollaway beds are heavenly beds like any of our beds, the size of the bed is the only difference and most of the time acceptable with our guests.

That being said, yes, we should have been proactive and contact you to verify the accommodation, informed you during the registration of the situation and being accommodating in taking care of your rate knowing it was an inconvenience for you. My apologies for that, I have addressed it with my team this morning.

As far as the smoking room, again when we only have a couple of rooms available, it becomes much more challenging. The room had been treated for smoke for the last 2 days by the housekeeping team and was turn back to market due to our occupancy level. When our system assigned you that room, the agent didn’t know that room had smoking issue since it was back in his system as an available room.

I personally walked this room this morning and confirm the smell was still very much a discomfort. I have removed the room from our inventory for further treatment.

Once again, I am sorry for the inconvenience and hope you will come back to stay with us again in the near future so I can personally make sure we provide you with the service levels Westin offers.

Be Well
Thomas

THOMAS
POTEAU
Director of Operations
THE WESTIN ALEXANDRIA

Me

Thanks very much for the further explanation.  I note – IF someone had said that that was a heavenly bed I might have tried it, but I have extensive experience with rollaway beds because I have two kids.  And the rollaways are almost always unusably by me.  So perhaps when you inform the people what to do they should say “We only have a rollaway bed BUT it is comfortable and is a Heavenly bed.  That might have made everything fine … but without that knowledge I just thought I got screwed … 

Jonathan

Westin

Thank you. I agree and I will certainly take on the feedback and share with my team so we can better explain it to our guest.

THOMAS
POTEAU
Director of Operations
THE WESTIN ALEXANDRIA

So then – finally it seemed resolved.  Not only would my room be free but perhaps they learned something and would do a better job next time.  And finally I got to give my talk.

//storify.com/phylogenomics/dhs-talk.js[View the story “DHS talk” on Storify]
I note – the return trip was OK.  United let me change my flight to an earlier one.  I got home in time to read to my kids before they went to sleep.  And other than being exhausted and still a little peeved, I think it went OK.

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

Article by Amy Maxmen "Preserving Research" on ways to share unpublished manuscripts

There is a nice article by Amy Maxmen in The Scientist titled “Preserving Research” on ways to share unpublished manuscripts. It includes some discussion of pros and cons of various archives including arXiv, Figshare, ResearchGate and more. Definitely worth a look.  There are of course many many many ways to share your articles before and after you publish them.

For more about sharing PDFs/articles see my post: The Tree of Life: Ten simple ways to share PDFs of your papers.  And of course, don’t forget that just posting your paper somewhere does not mean that it will continue to be available to all.  Also – the license that you use when sharing your article affects how people can use and reshare it so pay attention to the fine print and use as broad a license as possible …

——–
This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

——–

RFA Announcement – International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG)

Forwarding this from ASM

 

ASM Society

RFA Announcement – International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups

Dear Colleague:

 

The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) have requested that ASM bring to the attention of interested members the following RFA:

 

Limited Competition: International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (U19)

 

Application Due Date(s): November 20, 2013, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

 

URL:  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TW-13-001.html

 

Synopsis: The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation invite applications for the establishment or continuation of “International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups” (ICBG).  The program is built on the observation that natural products derived from organisms in nature remain the most productive source of new therapeutics, yet the biodiversity on which discovery of these drugs depends is rapidly disappearing around the world.  Consequently, the ICBG program supports international, public-private, interdisciplinary research teams in the exploration and discovery of novel compounds and extracts with potential for development as therapeutic agents for multiple disease targets, at the same time as it builds research capacity in partnering countries to support sustainable exploration and use of biodiversity and the knowledge to conserve it.  These goals are advanced through fair and equitable partnership frameworks among research organizations in the U.S. and in low and middle income countries (LMICs).

 

This competition of the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) program continues several new emphases that began with the previous FOA, RFA-TW-08-010, including an emphasis on microbial and marine organisms, greater involvement of funded consortia with government contract resources, and greater use of molecular and genomic tools. This FOA also introduces some new features, including some new target health areas (neurological disorders and stroke, pain and inflammatory processes, and others, see Interests of NIH institutes and Centers, below) and an emphasis on supporting the scientific basis for integrated conservation and development efforts through research and research training rather than through direct implementation activities.

 

Award Information:

 

Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards: Issuing agencies and partner components intend to commit an estimated total of $3.3 mil for Fiscal Year 2014, corresponding to an estimate of 3-4 awards. The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and funds availability as well as the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications. Future year amounts will depend on annual appropriations.

 

Award Budget  

An applicant may request a budget for direct costs up to $700,000 per year.

 

Award Project Period   

An applicant may request a project period of up to five years.

Sincerely,

Ronald M. Atlas, Ph.D.

Chair, Public and Scientific Affairs Board

 
Social Networks American Society For Microbiology © 2013