NUS invests $150 million in mechanobiology

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There is a lot to admire about Singapore's long standing determination to develop its knowledge economy and propel its scientific institutions to global leadership.  When a decision is made to invest, they go for it, with world class expertise and funding.  Chris Hogue pointed me at this announcement of a 10 year, $150 M committment to cutting edge biology.  I've said it before, Singapore is a great place to be in the science business.

National University of Singapore (NUS) – A global university centred in Asia.
A new Mechanobiology Research Centre of Excellence (RCE), which will work on new ways of studying diseases through the mechanisms of cell and tissue mechanics, will be set up at NUS. It will receive a funding of $150 million over 10 years from the National Research Foundation and the Ministry of Education. The Mechanobiology RCE will be NUS’ third Research Centre of Excellence following two other RCEs – the Centre for Quantum Technologies and Cancer Science Institute of Singapore.


Led by Director-designate Prof Michael Sheetz from the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University and co-Director-designate Prof Paul Matsudaira, Head of the NUS Department of Biological Sciences, the centre will have three integrated inter-disciplinary teams working on cellular, molecular and tissue mechanics. The researchers will endeavour to develop powerful quantitative physical and biochemical models to define dynamic cellular functions, experimental reagents and tools for studying diseases of cells and tissues.

Peace, Order, and Good Governance, eh

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References to Canada in the US media usually vary from Igloo gothic wilderness bites to how bad the outpatient queues are in Soviet Canuckistan.  Satisfying to read something about the value of pragmatic common sense in governance.

Fareed Zakaria | Newsweek.com.
Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.


Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.


So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense.

i love everything about this idea

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Yale Environment 360: Google Develops Meter<br />To Closely Track Home Power Usage.
Google is developing a “PowerMeter” that will allow homeowners and businesses to closely track electricity usage of appliances, heaters, and other devices on their computers. The PowerMeter represents the search engine giant’s entry into the world of smart meter technology, which enables consumers to reduce energy consumption by instantaneously monitoring the sources of power consumption in their homes and offices…..

I think enabling people to associate household activities with spikes in power consumption is a leap forward in behaviour modification, and changes in consumer choices.  Watching the slow burn of lights in an unoccupied room would get a lot of people to the 'off' switch.

“It seems obvious to me that if you give (energy) information to end users they behave smartly.”

Yes.

New SUPER DUPER SECRET evidence that climate change isn’t real

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Prominent right wing columnist Fred Barnes claims the case for man made warming is "falling apart" and gets a call from Talking Points Memo:

TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Barnes;
We hadn't heard anything lately about the case for man-made global warming falling apart. In fact, just the opposite. So we called Barnes and asked him what he was referring to.

At first, he cited the fact that it's been cold lately.

Perhaps sensing this was less than convincing, Barnes then asserted that there had been a "cooling spell" in recent years. "Haven't you noticed?" he asked.

Asked for firmer evidence of such cooling, Barnes demurred, telling TPMmuckraker he was too busy to track it down.

We pressed Barnes again: surely he could tell us where he had found this vital new information, which could upend the current debate over how to address global warming.


In response, Barnes said only that he knew where he had found it, but would not tell us, apparently as a matter of principle. "I'm not going to do your research for you," he eventually said, before hurriedly ending the call.

My emphasis.  These guys crack me up.

Autism link faked

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Via Balloon Juice, more evidence that the fears associated with the MMR vaccine are unfounded.  This really has been a public health travesty.  Vaccines are one simple and largely inexpensive route to protecting child and community health, and fake scares like this put millions in jeopardy, Cb9b5f03-5c95-4ef6-b48d-6456a35ba204
as preventable illness finds a safe haven in unvaccinated populations.  Exposing children needlessly to dangerous wild viruses is unconscionable. 

MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism – Times Online.
THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.


And of course there is the cyclical, fundamentalist jihad against the polio vaccine, using fear and ignorance as a vector for misery. 

A lot more at Respectful Insolence.

Budget 2009 Reaction | Genome Alberta Education

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Some further insight from Genome Alberta.  They've set up a few blogs to communicate genomics in general and the work they have been funding in specifics.  Here is the communications lead, Mike Spear, on his real time reaction to the budget.

Budget 2009 Reaction | Genome Alberta Education.

The facts of the matter proved to be quite easy to get out. I was truthful about the fact that Genome Canada got no money in the budget. No sense trying to cover it with corporate-speak. That being said we have had some good years of funding from Industry Canada so it was equally easy and truthful to talk about that as well. Money for projects underway is safe and nothing needs to be canceled. There are other sources of funds out there even in tough times and I was able to honestly say we would be looking at those. Reporters aren't dumb and there is no sense treating them as such, so when the interviewer points out that it is tough to get funding back once it is cut, why not agree and say we'll be lobbying to make sure we're on the federal Christmas list next year. Transparency will rule the day.

Genome Canada cut good for science?

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Chris Hogue weighs in and makes an excellent point about co-funding.  GC only provides 50 cent dollars, and the other 50 will be harder to find over the next few years.  Redirection of research funds to labs and other funding mechanisms may be a prudent way forward.

BioImplement: Market Driven Science in Crisis?.
While it is certain that many Genome Canada funded scientists have become international leaders in their fields, one problem is that Genome Canada has no long-term strategy to fund these projects. Industry partnered three-year projects with no provision for renewal are the staple of Genome Canada's co-funding strategy.
 
Expectations of commercial spin-offs and an market-driven afterlife is the fairy-tale ending for Genome Canada's approach to science. Yet the horizon for success in life sciences research can be longer than a decade. So, sadly, when a researcher becomes an international leader, Genome Canada has no strategy to keep them in that position, economic downturn or not.
Genome Canada is a market-driven organization.

Perhaps it is reasonable to expect that co-funding – the money contributed by industry to the Genome Canada funding scheme – will simply dry up during this recession. By its own design, Genome Canada cannot hand out its money without co-funders. If Genome Canada has no hope of attracting co-funding this year, then this budget may in fact (gasp) be a reasonable one.

And now, the walkback

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Someone got a call from Industry Canada:

Researchers now pleased with budget.

The controversy continued to simmer yesterday, just as Genome Canada's board of directors issued a list of "key messages" that expressed overwhelming support for the budget. "Genome Canada is pleased with the federal government's 2009 budget in which millions will be invested in research infrastructure over the next two years," read the statement. "This is good news for the scientific community across the country."


While Genome Canada received no new funding in the 2009 budget, the board said it already has a pair of five-year funding arrangements in place with the federal government worth a total of $240-million and will be able to meet all its current funding obligations.


The organization has received $840-million in federal funding since its inception in 2000. Genome Canada received no mention in the Conservatives' first budget in 2006, but was given $100-million in new funding in 2007 and an additional $140-million last year.


No representative of Genome Canada was available yesterday to explain the group's apparent change in position on the budget, a spokeswoman said. Gary Goodyear, the Minister of State for Science and Technology, said the controversy stemmed from a "misunderstanding between a president and his board."

Genome Canada ignored in federal Budget

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The budget was alarmingly silent on the future of Genome Canada, Canada's core funding source for "big science".  Genome Canada has established Canadian leadership in a range of genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics global research initiatives. 

globeandmail.com: Budget erases funding for key science agency:

The only agency that regularly finances large-scale science in Canada was shut out of Tuesday's federal budget, putting at risk thousands of jobs and some of the most promising medical research, and forcing the country to pull out of key international projects.
For the first time in nine years, Genome Canada, a non-profit non-governmental funding organization, was not mentioned in the federal budget and saw its annual cash injection from Ottawa – $140-million last year – disappear.

Without minimizing the importance of Genome Canada and the value it brings to Canada's scientific community and the broader economy, I would note that the article sensationalizes the situation a wee bit.  Genome Canada was established and funded out of government surplus, and it's hardly a surprise the first deficit in 9 years would mean a break in funding.  Further, we are in year 2 of a 5 year funding program, so no one is losing a job any time soon.  This time next year the economy should be in recovery, and I expect that some restoration of GC funding will occur.  More worrying perhaps are provincial plans for their contributions to regional genome centres.  BC and Quebec for example of have been strongly supporting the growth of life sciences through investments in Genome BC and Genome Quebec.  While continued investment in science might not seem 'shovel ready', it keeps global scientific talent tied to local jobs and the local economy, and as Genome BC and others have shown, fosters the spin off of lab based research into private sector ventures.