Biomedical Sciences Blog

The stipend and salary levels for undergraduate, predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees and fellows are adjusted about at least every other year. Here I want to show you some current guidelines.

First, the guideline from the federal funding resources, the most famous example is NIH. Unfortunately, the levels remain the same with FY 2006.

Career Level			Stipend for FY 2007
Undergraduates in the MARC and COR Programs:
Freshmen/Sophomores		$7,812
Juniors/Seniors		$10,956
Predoctoral		$20,772
Postdoctoral
Years of Experience:
	0	$36,996
	1	$38,976
	2	$41,796
	3	$43,428
	4	$45,048
	5	$46,992
	6	$48,852
	7 or more	$51,036

Next, when I checked industry postdoc programs, I was shocked by their offered benefits. Look here for Genentech postdoctoral programs.

Postdoc starting salaries are as follows:

Yrs. of Previous Postdoc Experience Annual Starting Salary 0 $49,000 1+ $52,000

Postdoc salaries will increase each year at Genentech based on satisfactory performance.

In addition to salary, postdocs are also eligible for GenenChecks, cash bonuses awarded to a team or an individual when an extraordinary milestone is reached.

Consistently recognized as one of the top companies to work for in the United States, Genentech offers employees one of the most comprehensive benefits programs in the industry.

Postdocs are eligible for the following benefits:

Medical
Dental
Vision
Life and Disability Insurance
Stock Purchase Plan
401(k)
12 Paid Holidays
Vacation Time (3 Weeks)

What do you think? Wanna jump into the industry?

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) spent $500 million to built its Janelia Farm Research Campus that lies along the Potomac River near Leesburg, Virginia. This project was spanned from 2003-2006. Upon completion, the 281-acre campus and its 760,000-square-foot complex will house a permanent research staff of 200 to 300 scientists who will carry out a broad range of biomedical research.

"Janelia Farm will be a distinctive, exciting collaborative place for chemists, physicists, computer scientists and engineers to share their expertise and invent new technologies that will reshape biomedical research."Said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. They work together in multidisciplinary teams to solve challenging biological problems that are difficult to address in existing research settings. Such collaborative groups are "self-assembling" and not imposed in any way. This culture enhances academic freedom by allowing scientists to pursue long-term projects of high significance—projects that could not fit within the confines of a standard grant proposal.

Two primary goals drive the development of programs at Janelia Farm. The first is to establish a research program that places investigators at the interface between emerging technologies and their application to biomedical problems. Janelia Farm provides an opportunity for scientists to collaborate on long-term, multidisciplinary research in a facility specifically designed to support this type of activity.

The second goal is to make available project-oriented resources so that visitors can come together to solve interdisciplinary problems, often making use of new technologies. Up to now, there has been no well-equipped laboratory facility where a group of scientists, each bringing a few members of their research group, could come to work together for periods ranging from a few weeks to several years. No university or research institution is likely to dedicate the required laboratory space or research support for an activity that does not principally benefit its own faculty or teaching mission.Source: HHMI

One of my favorite efforts is to collect job banks in all biological and biomedical societies. As you can see, I have listed some societies in the side bar. I will continue my collection in the future. It is hard to predict how many over there, but I expect to see dozens. Please click on them, you may have good luck to find jobs here. Who knows! That will be my honor!

The National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 12 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

The election was held this morning during the business session of the 144th annual meeting of the Academy. Those elected today bring the total number of active members to 2,025. Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the Academy, with citizenship outside the United States. Today's election brings the total number of foreign associates to 387.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.

Click here for additional information about the newly elected members.

Top 15 research institutes for postdocs in Europe ranked by The Scientist:

Name Country verage annual postdoc salary (or salary range)

Friedrich Miescher Institute Switzerland 84,000 CHF = 68,000 USD
MRC Laboratory UK UKP 25,000-30,000
University of Bergen Norway 372,000 NOK
Pasteur Institute France €25,200
Umea Plant Science Center Sweden 180,000-210,000 SEK
University of Dundee UK UKP 20,004-43,850
University of Basel Biozentrum Switzerland 63,000-85,056 CHF
ETH Zurich Switzerland 78,000-86,000 CHF
University of Manchester UK UKP 20,044-30,002
The Netherlands Cancer Institute Netherlands €40,000-60,000
Catholic University of Leuven Belgium N/A
University of Helsinki Finland €33,600-36,000
University of Nottingham UK ￡23,457-33445
University of Edinburgh UK ￡20,044

Sources: The Scientist

Two graduate research assistantships are available to conduct research on diseases and agronomic disorders of cool-season turfgrass grown on golf courses in the Northeastern United States. Specific projects include biology, epidemiology and management of anthracnose basal rot and algae on golf course putting greens.

Benefits include annual stipend of approximately $19,180, paid tuition, medical and dental and potential for additional summer funding.

Contact: john.kaminski@uconn.edu; or (860)486-0162
John E. Kaminski, Ph.D Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Pathology, Department of Plant Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269