MIT researcher to head NSF?
Subra Suresh, dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is likely to become the next director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), replacing current director Arden L. Bement, who is stepping down to head up a new program at Purdue University. Suresh is still an active researcher in the field of nanobiomechanics, making him a "rarity" at the NSF, according to ScienceInsider. The decision must be confirmed by the Senate.

Image: Wikimedia commons

Jaenisch named "hottest" researcher
Biochemist and stem cell researcher Rudolf Jaenisch of Massachusetts Institute of Technology was named the world's "hottest" researcher by Thomson Reuters -- a title based on his 14 recent "Hot Papers", or articles which receive an unusually high number of citations. Jaenisch studies reprogrammed fibroblast cells in the context of Parkinson's disease, sickle-cell anemia, and other conditions. See the full list of the top 12 here.

Autism scientist suspected of misusing funds
Danish researcher Poul Thorsen, who participated in two studies that discredited the autism-vaccination link, may have misappropriated $2 million in CDC funding at Aarhus University in Denmark. The university said it found a "considerable shortfall" in grant money for a research program directed by Thorsen, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. An investigation is currently underway; Thorsen resigned from his position at Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia last Tuesday (March 9).

hESC cells Image: Wikimedia commons

New stem cell policy hurts research?
Some researchers are arguing that President Barack Obama's executive order to allow federal funding of new human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines is actually "more of a burden than a boon," The Washington Post reported. Under former US President George W. Bush, federal funding was limited to 21 hESC lines derived before 2001. Obama's order allowed for the funding of lines derived since that time, but all lines must pass strict ethical requirements. So far, only one of the 21 Bush lines has been approved under the new guidelines, and only two more currently await review.

"Researchers are in a real dilemma right now," said Erik Forsberg, executive director of the WiCell Research Institute, which hosts a stem cell bank that distributes many of the Bush-approved lines. "Many of them base their studies on at least one of the original lines [okayed under Bush], but there's no clear signal that, other than H1, they are going to be approved," he told The Scientist during an interview last week about stem cell banks.

$50M for stem cell trials
Directors of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) unanimously approved its first ever round of clinical trial funding, according to the California Stem Cell Report -- $50 million to investigate "novel cell therapies from pluripotent stem cells."

U. of Calgary researcher banned from grants
Daniel Kwok, a nanotechnology researcher at the University of Calgary, has been banned indefinitely from future funding by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada after being accused of plagiarism and of spending up to $150,000 of his grant money on car parts, televisions, and other non-research-related items, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

Univ. execs earn more than PM
The vice chancellors of several British universities received big raises in the past year -- up to 20 percent, according to The Chronicle. The highest-paid university head now earns $720,000 -- more than double what the Prime Minister brings home each year.


Related stories:

NSF director heads to Purdue
[5th February 2010]

Will new ESC rules hurt research?
[14th May 2009]

MMR is not linked with autism
[12th February 2001]