Biomedical Sciences Blog

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute offers two programs leading to the Ph.D. based at its Janelia Farm Research Campus, in partnership with the universities of Cambridge and Chicago. These accelerated programs are designed for a small number of well-prepared, highly committed, and gifted students. We offer opportunities for interdisciplinary research in an intense environment.

Most students spend one year at their chosen partner institution followed by three years of research work at Janelia Farm. If you join the program you will have two mentors: one at Janelia Farm and one at the partner university. You will fulfill all the academic requirements of your chosen partner university and your Ph.D. thesis will be examined there.

HOW TO APPLY:

Our application process is unconventional. We do ask for the usual academic and biographical information and reference letters. However, in addition we will ask you to nominate one (or more) Janelia Farm lab heads to be your mentor (and also one or more at the partner university, if you wish). We then ask you to write a short research proposal targeted to that person's lab. This proposal will be a very significant factor in our admission decisions. During the interview you will be asked to explain this proposal.

The seventeen Janelia Farm lab heads who are interested in recruiting a student are:

Dmitri Chklovskii		Gene Myers
David Clayton		Michael Reiser
Joshua Dudman		Lynn Riddiford
Alla Karpova		Dmitry Rinberg
Rex Kerr		Gerald Rubin
Albert Lee		Julie Simpson
Anthony Leonardo		Scott Sternson
Loren Looger		James Truman
Jeff Magee

All applicants must submit their materials via our web site. You will find more detailed application instructions at the application site.

DEADLINES:

We will review completed applications (including the reference letters) for the Fall 2008 class as they are received. The deadlines for submitting competed applications are:

University of Chicago: December 31, 2007

Apply here

University of Cambridge: April 1, 200

Apply here

GRADUATE PROGRAM SUPPORT:

You will be fully supported financially while participating in the Janelia Farm graduate program, so long as you remain in good standing academically and are deemed by your committee to be making satisfactory progress.

While in the United States (Janelia or Chicago):
Currently $30,000 per year
Health insurance, plus other benefits

While at the University of Cambridge:
$30,000 per year (paid in UK pounds)
Health care provided by the National Health Service

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT VISAS:

If you are coming to Janelia from outside of the United States, you are responsible for determining if a visa is required and to apply through your local embassy or consulate. We will sponsor visas for participants to enter the United States, as appropriate and as permitted.

In recent years, this process has become quite slow in some countries, taking up to several months. Therefore, we suggest that you apply for your visa as soon as possible after admission.

Source: HHMI

Stem cell breakthroughs too early-stage to shake-up venture capital investing from Big Pharma, analysts say.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The recent breakthroughs in stem cell research, where adult cells were "reprogrammed" to act like embryonic stem cells, are too early-stage to have much influence on Big Pharma's venture capital investments, experts say.

"[The new studies] are really early-stage so I don't think it's really changing the landscape," said Eun Yang, biotech analyst for Jefferies & Co. "I doubt that it's going to chase away a lot of the Big Pharma money. But I'm not sure that people are going to start pouring money into this venture."

Two separate teams of researchers, one from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the other from Kyoto University in Japan, said on Tuesday that they discovered how to reprogram adult cells to mimic the activity of embryonic stem cells.

If this new technology continues to work in later-stage studies, it could theoretically sidestep the controversial use of human embryonic stem cells, which have attracted the ire of the pro-life lobby. In 2001, President Bush limited federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to only those lines that existed at the time, and in June of 2007 he vetoed a Congressional effort to lift these restrictions.

Biotech stocks were volatile in Tuesday trading, after the researchers published their findings in Science and Cell. The stock for Geron Corp., (Charts) the only publicly-traded company that works with human embryonic stem cells, dropped 6 percent. But stock activity was mixed among those biotechs that use stem cells from adult human tissue: Cytori Therapeutics' (Charts) stock went up;Osiris Therapeutics (Charts) and Stemcells Inc. (Charts) went down.

But this stock reaction isn't going to mirror the activities of Big Pharma venture capital investors, analysts say. So far, Novocell Inc., a privately-held biotech specializing in human embryonic stem cells, is one of the biggest recipients of venture capital investment, to the tune of $25 million from Johnson & Johnson (Charts, Fortune 500) in July.

"[Novocell] would make an interesting acquisition target if J&J wanted to rapidly enter the sector," said Dr. Cathy Prescott, director of the biotech consulting company Biolatris, in an email to CNNMoney.com. "[If Novocell's experiments] make good progress in the clinic then I would predict that the company would be able to raise future capital."

Source: Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com

Scientists have managed to reprogram human skin cells directly into cells that look and act like embryonic stem (ES) cells. The technique makes it possible to generate patient-specific stem cells to study or treat disease without using embryos or oocytes--and therefore could bypass the ethical debates that have plagued the field. "This is like an earthquake for both the science and politics of stem cell research," says Jesse Reynolds, policy analyst for the Center for Genetics and Society in Oakland, California.

The work builds on a study published last year by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan, which showed that mouse tail cells could be transformed into ES-like cells by inserting four genes (ScienceNOW, 3 July 2006). Those genes are normally switched off after embryonic cells differentiate into the various cell types. In June this year, Yamanaka and another group reported that the cells were truly pluripotent, meaning that they had the potential to grow into any tissue in the body (ScienceNOW, 6 June).

Now the race to repeat the feat in human cells has ended in a tie: Two groups report today that they have reprogrammed human skin cells into so-called induced pluripotent cells (iPSs). In a paper published online in Cell, Yamanaka and his colleagues show that their mouse technique works with human cells as well. And in a paper published online in Science, James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his colleagues report success in reprogramming human cells, again by inserting just four genes, two of which are different from those Yamanaka uses.

In the new work, Yamanaka and his colleagues used a retrovirus to ferry into adult cells the same four genes they had previously used to reprogram mouse cells: OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC. They reprogrammed cells taken from the facial skin of a 36-year-old woman and from connective tissue from a 69-year-old man. Roughly one iPS cell line was produced for every 5000 cells the researchers treated using the technique, an efficiency that enabled them to produce several cell lines from each experiment.

Thomson's team started from scratch, identifying its own list of 14 candidate reprogramming genes. Like Yamanaka's group, the team used a systematic process of elimination to identify four factors: OCT3 and SOX2, as Yamanaka used, and two different genes, NANOG and LIN28. The group reprogrammed cells from fetal skin and from the foreskin of a newborn boy. The researchers were able to transform about one in 10,000 cells, less than Yamanaka's technique achieved, Thomson says, but still enough to create several cell lines from a single experiment.

Although promising, both techniques share a downside. The retroviruses used to insert the genes could cause tumors in tissues grown from the cells. The crucial next step, everyone agrees, is to find a way to reprogram cells by switching on the genes rather than inserting new copies. The field is moving quickly toward that goal, says stem cell researcher Douglas Melton of Harvard University. "It is not hard to imagine a time when you could add small molecules that would tickle the same networks as these genes" and produce reprogrammed cells without genetic alterations, he says.

Once the kinks are worked out, "the whole field is going to completely change," says stem cell researcher Jose Cibelli of Michigan State University in East Lansing. "People working on ethics will have to find something new to worry about."

Source: By Gretchen Vogel ScienceNOW Daily News 20 November 2007

I cited a report from wikipedia, which shows strong association between salary levels and education attainment. Overall, advanced degrees offer significant advantages for household incomes.

Household income as well as per capita income in the United States rise significantly as the educational attainment increases. In 2005 graduates with a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) who accepted job offers are expected to earn a base salary of $88,626. They are also expected to receive "…[a]n average signing bonus of $17,428." According to the US Census Bureau persons with doctorates in the United States had an average income of roughly $81,400. The average for an advanced degree was $72,824 with men averaging $90,761 and women averaging $50,756 annually. Year-round full-time workers with a professional degree had an average income of $109,600 while those with a Master's degree had an average income of $62,300. Overall "…[a]verage earnings ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates and $99,300 for workers with professional degrees (M.D., D.O., J.D., D.D.S., or D.V.M.).

For full text, click here.

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Journal Title	IF
HUM REPROD UPDATE	6.793
ADV FUNCT MATER	6.779
MOL CELL BIOL	6.773
MOL BIOL EVOL	6.726
FASEB J	6.721
AUTOPHAGY	6.708
CHEM BIOL	6.677
J BONE MINER RES	6.635
TRAFFIC	6.612
CRIT CARE MED	6.599
ONCOGENE	6.582
PLANT J	6.565
AM J CLIN NUTR	6.562
MOL BIOL CELL	6.562
J CELL MOL MED	6.555
HUM MUTAT	6.473
J CELL SCI	6.427
PROG NUCL MAG RES SP	6.417
CEREB CORTEX	6.368
REV MED VIROL	6.347
NUCLEIC ACIDS RES	6.317
J IMMUNOL	6.293
AGING CELL	6.276
PHYSIOLOGY	6.268
ANNU REV NUCL PART S	6.214
CLIN INFECT DIS	6.186
CLIN CANCER RES	6.177
J COSMOL ASTROPART P	6.175
LEUKEMIA	6.146
CRIT REV CL LAB SCI	6.138
PLANT PHYSIOL	6.125
ASTROPHYS J	6.119
CANCER METAST REV	6.115
INT J COMPUT VISION	6.085
J HEPATOL	6.073
THORAX	6.064
PLOS PATHOG	6.056
CEPHALALGIA	6.049
INT REV PHYS CHEM	6.036
GOLD BULL	6.029
SMALL	6.024
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Q REV BIOL	5.944
AM J PATHOL	5.917
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOL	5.889
SEMIN RADIAT ONCOL	5.889
ATHEROSCLEROSIS SUPP	5.875
DNA REPAIR	5.868
TRENDS MOL MED	5.864
ENVIRON HEALTH PERSP	5.861
MOL THER	5.841
PHYS TODAY	5.839
CARDIOVASC RES	5.826
LAB CHIP	5.821
J BIOL CHEM	5.808
J CLIN ENDOCR METAB	5.799
ANN RHEUM DIS	5.767
CURR DRUG METAB	5.762
J PATHOL	5.759
BLOOD REV	5.756
DRUG METAB REV	5.754
STRUCTURE	5.738
PROTEOMICS	5.735
NEUROSCIENTIST	5.71
NEUROLOGY	5.69
CURR OPIN LIPIDOL	5.689
ADV PROTEIN CHEM	5.685
PROG BIOPHYS MOL BIO	5.684
CURR CANCER DRUG TAR	5.677
MRS BULL	5.671
ANAL CHEM	5.646
MOL MICROBIOL	5.634
AIDS	5.632
REV PHYSIOL BIOCH P	5.625
AM J GASTROENTEROL	5.608
NEUROBIOL AGING	5.599
BRAIN RES REV	5.595
MOL INTERV	5.595
BIOL REV	5.565
NEUROIMAGE	5.559
J CLIN PSYCHIAT	5.533
PROG NUCLEIC ACID RE	5.529
CLIN CHEM	5.454
FREE RADICAL BIO MED	5.44
BRIT J PSYCHIAT	5.436
BIOSCIENCE	5.424
J HIGH ENERGY PHYS	5.393
PHARMACOGENET GENOM	5.391
STROKE	5.391
INT MATER REV	5.382
CARCINOGENESIS	5.366
NAT CLIN PRACT ONCOL	5.364
J INFECT DIS	5.363
J VIROL	5.341
ALLERGY	5.334
SEMIN LIVER DIS	5.302
HEALTH TECHNOL ASSES	5.29
BRAIN PATHOL	5.274
CURR PHARM DESIGN	5.27
DRUG RESIST UPDATE	5.268
RADIOLOGY	5.251
DIABETOLOGIA	5.247
AM J EPIDEMIOL	5.241
NEWS PHYSIOL SCI	5.241
ENDOCRINOLOGY	5.236
CURR OPIN NEUROL	5.229
GENET EPIDEMIOL	5.226
CURR MED CHEM	5.207
ONCOLOGIST	5.206
ARCH NEUROL-CHICAGO	5.204
CURR OPIN HEMATOL	5.202
NUCL PHYS B	5.199
J COGNITIVE NEUROSCI	5.197
BIOMATERIALS	5.196
INT J NEUROPSYCHOPH	5.184
ANN ONCOL	5.179
MEDICINE	5.167
J MOL MED-JMM	5.157
J PROTEOME RES	5.151
J THROMB HAEMOST	5.138
MOL CANCER THER	5.137
SLEEP	5.126
J MED CHEM	5.115
RNA	5.111
CHEM MATER	5.104
LEARN MEMORY	5.099
EMERG INFECT DIS	5.094
J MED GENET	5.087
SLEEP MED REV	5.083
EUR RESPIR J	5.076
CELL MICROBIOL	5.07
TRAC-TREND ANAL CHEM	5.068
ACM T INFORM SYST	5.059
MON NOT R ASTRON SOC	5.057
PHYS LETT B	5.043
HAEMATOL-HEMATOL J	5.032
B WORLD HEALTH ORGAN	5.029
CHEM-EUR J	5.015
GLIA	5.013
PEDIATRICS	5.012
ADV APPL MECH	5
CRIT REV THER DRUG	5
J NUCL MED	4.986
ANTIVIR THER	4.982
MOL ENDOCRINOL	4.967
NEURO-ONCOLOGY	4.939
ADV IMMUNOL	4.935
PLOS COMPUT BIOL	4.914
NEOPLASIA	4.913
TRENDS PARASITOL	4.907
PHYS REV D	4.896
BIOINFORMATICS	4.894
DEV BIOL	4.893
J COMPUT CHEM	4.893
J MOL BIOL	4.89
HUM BRAIN MAPP	4.888
CELL SIGNAL	4.887
ESSAYS BIOCHEM	4.885
J MOL CELL CARDIOL	4.859
ASTRON J	4.854
CURR MOL MED	4.85
EUR UROL	4.85
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINO	4.85
J CEREBR BLOOD F MET	4.843
FRONT ECOL ENVIRON	4.842
PAIN	4.836
ADV PARASIT	4.826
GASTROINTEST ENDOSC	4.825
MOL ECOL	4.825
PFLUG ARCH EUR J PHY	4.807
CURR OPIN RHEUMATOL	4.805
INT J BIOCHEM CELL B	4.804
CURR OPIN INFECT DIS	4.795
TOP CURR CHEM	4.789
ECOLOGY	4.782
GENE THER	4.782
KIDNEY INT	4.773
EUR J IMMUNOL	4.772
MOL IMMUNOL	4.768
J AM ACAD CHILD PSY	4.767
ENDOCR-RELAT CANCER	4.763
ADV SYNTH CATAL	4.762
MOL CANCER RES	4.759
BIOPHYS J	4.757
SPRINGER SEMIN IMMUN	4.754
ARCH DIS CHILD-FETAL	4.734
FARADAY DISCUSS	4.731
MIS QUART	4.731
J INTERN MED	4.73
TRENDS CARDIOVAS MED	4.724
TOXICOL APPL PHARM	4.722
INT J CANCER	4.693
J GEN PHYSIOL	4.685
J SEX MED	4.676
BREAST CANCER RES TR	4.671
AM NAT	4.66
ORG LETT	4.659
CELL MOL LIFE SCI	4.655
J BIOL RHYTHM	4.633
CURR OPIN COLLOID IN	4.63
ENVIRON MICROBIOL	4.63
LIVER TRANSPLANT	4.629
MOL CELL NEUROSCI	4.607
CURR TOP MICROBIOL	4.606
ANN MED	4.594
AM J RESP CELL MOL	4.593
CANCER	4.582
PHILOS T R SOC B	4.579
J LEUKOCYTE BIOL	4.572
J CLIN PSYCHOPHARM	4.561
J INVEST DERMATOL	4.535
GENES IMMUN	4.533
J CATAL	4.533
J APPL ECOL	4.527
AGEING RES REV	4.526
CHEM COMMUN	4.521
AM J MED	4.518
INT J EPIDEMIOL	4.517
HUM GENE THER	4.514
J IMMUNOTHER	4.508
CRIT REV SOLID STATE	4.5
PROG QUANT ELECTRON	4.5
BRIT J HAEMATOL	4.498
CELL PROLIFERAT	4.492
ANTIOXID REDOX SIGN	4.491
CRIT REV ONCOL HEMAT	4.49
CURR ISSUES MOL BIOL	4.481
SEMIN NUCL MED	4.473
DRUGS	4.472
MOL PHARMACOL	4.469
AM J MED GENET B	4.463
INT J RADIAT ONCOL	4.463
BRIT J CANCER	4.459
BMC EVOL BIOL	4.455
LAB INVEST	4.453
J PHYSIOL-LONDON	4.407
INTENS CARE MED	4.406
SOFT MATTER	4.391
INT J NONLINEAR SCI	4.386
GENES BRAIN BEHAV	4.385
J NEUROPATH EXP NEUR	4.371
CANCER TREAT REV	4.37
ATMOS CHEM PHYS	4.362
J LIPID RES	4.357
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULL	4.352
CRYST GROWTH DES	4.339
EPIDEMIOLOGY	4.339
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOL	4.339
AM J PHYSIOL-CELL PH	4.334
PROG ENERG COMBUST	4.333
PSYCHOTHER PSYCHOSOM	4.333
CURR OPIN DRUG DISC	4.319
CANCER IMMUNOL IMMUN	4.313
IEEE T PATTERN ANAL	4.306
BIOL CELL	4.303
EVOLUTION	4.292
CANCER EPIDEM BIOMAR	4.289
J MATER CHEM	4.287
ADV POLYM SCI	4.284
MACROMOLECULES	4.277
CURR DRUG TARGETS	4.274
CLADISTICS	4.27
SCHIZOPHR RES	4.264
J NEUROCHEM	4.26
FISH FISH	4.257
AM J PHYSIOL-LUNG C	4.25
NEUROGENETICS	4.25
NEW PHYTOL	4.245
GENETICS	4.242
J ECOL	4.239
BBA-BIOENERGETICS	4.237
HIPPOCAMPUS	4.232
J PINEAL RES	4.228
SEMIN HEMATOL	4.213
CNS DRUGS	4.21
J NEUROBIOL	4.209
ANESTHESIOLOGY	4.207
AM J PHYSIOL-RENAL	4.199
GREEN CHEM	4.192
CANCER GENE THER	4.187
AM J MED GENET C	4.169
CURR TOP MED CHEM	4.167
EUR J CANCER	4.167
BREAST CANCER RES	4.157
EXP NEUROL	4.156
ANTIMICROB AGENTS CH	4.153
AM J SURG PATHOL	4.144
CURR OPIN NEPHROL HY	4.137
PLANT CELL ENVIRON	4.135
BIOSENS BIOELECTRON	4.132
ACM COMPUT SURV	4.13
NEUROBIOL DIS	4.128
AM J PHYSIOL-ENDOC M	4.123
CELL CALCIUM	4.118
CLIN PHARMACOKINET	4.115
J PHYS CHEM B	4.115

In another article, Elias A. Zerhouni, the director of the National Institutes of Health, described the current funding situation at NIH.

Many scientists are dismayed that it is more difficult to get funded today than it was before the NIH budget doubled in 1990s. What can explain this apparent paradox? The core reason is the increase in the number of new applications and applicants for NIH grants (see above figure). In 1998, NIH received 24,151 applications for new and competing research project grants; NIH expects to receive over 46,000 in 2006 and over 49,000 in 2007. The doubling in the demand for grants is primarily due to a large increase in the number of new scientists applying for grants. In 1998, there were about 19,000 scientists applying for competing awards. In 2006, NIH expects to receive applications from approximately 34,000 scientists and forecasts that over 36,000 scientists will apply in 2007.

The principal cause of this remarkable growth in grant demand is the unprecedented expansion of research capacity across the country that began in 1999. Stimulated by successive administrations' and Congress's calling for more research on emerging health issues, academic institutions responded. Increased demand, inflation effects, and flat budgets are the main drivers of today's challenges.

Source: "NIH in the Post-Doubling Era: Realities and Strategies" Science. 2006 Nov 17; 314(5802):1088-90.

Recently, a commentary written by Robert A . Weinberg is attracting a lot attentions. The facts are striking! Such as:

• Over the past generation, the age at which American biomedical researchers with PhD degrees succeed in obtaining their first R01 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has increased from 34.2 to 41.7 years of age.

• As time goes on, ever-larger proportions of NIH funds are diverted to funding research collaboratives of various sizes to the detriment of small, investigator-initiated projects. However, the history of the last half-century demonstrates in a compelling fashion that much of the innovation in American biomedical research comes from young researchers working in relatively small, highly mobile, creative research groups.

• Only 10% of submitted grant applications are funded in NIH.
  

• These factors, when taken together, have made careers in biomedical research increasingly unattractive for many young people. Imagine the prospects of predoctoral students starting out in their early 20s, who confront a wait of two decades until they can procure their first R01 grant, become scientifically independent, and flex their scientific muscles for the first time.

For full text, click here!

Robert Allan Weinberg is a Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at MIT and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He is best known for his first discoveries of the first human oncogene Ras and the first tumor supressor gene Rb.

Sources: Cell and Wikipedia