ACS Position Statement: FY 2010

Statement on National Institutes of Health: FY 2010

ACS Statement on National Institutes of Health: FY 2010

ACS Position

The American Chemical Society (ACS) urges Congress to support a 7 percent increase to $32.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY 2010, which would allow the Institutes to keep pace with biomedical-research inflation and continue America’s commitment to leading the world in health and science research. ACS recognizes the difficult budget environment our nation faces; however, the administration’s flat funding would not keep NIH abreast of the rising cost of basic research and would represent a real cut of 3.5 percent in health-related R&D.

As the world’s largest supporter of biomedical research, NIH plays a critical role in advancing scientific knowledge and medical discoveries to improve human health. Its cutting-edge, peer-reviewed research leads to longer, healthier lives through prevention strategies, early detection, and more-effective treatments of diseases. Also, NIH support is fundamental in attracting and training new scientists and engineers, as well as stimulating advances in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, which contribute significantly to America’s economic health.

Increased funding would sustain scientific progress in a vast array of health-related areas and enable NIH to support more long-term, high-risk, and interdisciplinary research proposals. ACS supports more innovative research at NIH by emphasizing shorter proposals, diverse review panels, and longer outcome timelines. Specifically, ACS supports programs such as the Bridging the Sciences program authorized to provide funding at the interface between the chemical, biological, and other sciences; the EUREKA grant program to fund exceptionally innovative research; and the New Innovator Award program that supports promising new investigators.

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

ACS believes it is essential to increase investment in NIGMS. By supporting high-quality, non-disease- specific, basic research, NIGMS lays the scientific foundation for an array of advances in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. NIGMS, which has supported more than 50 Nobel laureates, plays a vital role in fostering new knowledge both within and across scientific disciplines. Research opportunities exist in chemistry and other physical sciences, which underpin many advances in biomedical research. Additional funding would enable NIGMS to capitalize on opportunities available in core programs and multi-disciplinary areas such as protein structure, combinatorial chemistry, pharmacogenetics, and other burgeoning fields that need more exploration, to spur advances in biomedical research areas supported by NIH.

National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)

ACS also supports robust funding to allow NCRR to enable development and maintenance of state-of-the-art research infrastructure, including the remodeling and construction of extramural research facilities. The Center facilitates the development of new technologies and techniques for scientific inquiry. For example, the Shared Instrumentation Grants program provides a cost-effective mechanism for groups of NIH-supported researchers to obtain technologically sophisticated equipment costing more than $100,000. In addition, ACS strongly supports the NCRR High-Cost Instrumentation Grant program, which provides funding for instruments costing between $750,000 and $2 million.

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering (NIBIB)

ACS believes that the NIBIB mission is critical to improving health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. NIBIB supports basic research and research training through investigator-initiated grants, contracts, program project and center grants, and career development and training awards. The Institute also specializes in the development and application of cutting-edge technologies, based upon engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences, for the solution of challenges intersecting biology and medicine.