Science Minister David Willetts published an article in The Guardian today detailing a massive plan to give free access to papers published in peer-reviewed journals. The article mentions the following interesting points: The government currently spends approximately £5bn each year funding academic research when publishers randomly make articles open access on journal websites, readership increases [...]
This past September the European Commission launched the BLUEPRINT project which has been dubbed the European Commission’s largest-ever project with with a €30-million investment in understanding the human epigenome (Nature). BLUEPRINT, which is part of the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC), has chosen to focus on the blood epigenome since blood samples are readily available [...]
David Willetts, Minister of State for Universities and Science and the Office for Life Sciences has recently published a document titled The (2012) Strategy for UK Life Sciences. The strategy includes an injection of £310m to support the discovery, development and commercialisation of research. It is hoped that the funding will help realize a vision [...]
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills recently released a report titled “The International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base-2011” which makes us all swell with pride. The report shows that UK research attracts more citations per pound spent in overall research and development than any other country. It has also found that the [...]
According to an article in the Guardian, “the prime minister will this month announce the creation of a £30m centre to turn scientists’ stem cell research into a new multimillion-pound industry to help drive Britain’s recovery.” The centre will primarily be used to help small biotech companies exchange ideas and navigate their way through the [...]
