Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. Recombinant DNA research: actions under guidelines.

This notice sets forth three actions to be taken by the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the May 7, 1986, NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules (51 FR 16958).

Colloquium on scientific authorship: rights and responsibilities.

The Colloquium on Scientific Authorship was held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at a time of extraordinary scrutiny by the public of the ethics of scientists, as represented by intense interest of the press and the Congress of the United States. Indeed, several regulations dealing with scientific misconduct have been proposed during the last year in the Federal Register, and new legislation has been proposed in the Congress. As a result of these concerns, conferences have been organized by the Institute of Medicine, the American Association for the Advancement of Science/American Bar Association, the Council of Biology Editors, and other groups. The colloquium at NIH, which was held May 31, 1988, and sponsored by the Intramural Scientists, focused on publication practices, especially multiple authorship, as contributing to perceived difficulties. The participants suggested various changes in conventions related to authorship that might help prevent future problems.

Certain aspects of medical research and its support.

The origins of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are linked with European science. Few Americans had participated in the advances in bacteriology led by Koch and Pasteur when a laboratory from which the NIH eventually developed was established in New York in 1887, but its first director patterned this laboratory after ones already established in Germany, France, and England. The era of modern biomedical research in the United States began during World War II with the cooperation of government and nongovernment (mostly academic) research laboratories. Today, the philosophical foundation underlying all research-supporting programs of the NIH is that a close connection exists between improved medical care and research and that any expansion of medical facilities must be accompanied by an expansion of medical training and research. In addition, government grants should not interfere with the freedom and integrity of academic institutions and should allow scientists complete independence in determining the nature, scope, and methodology of their investigations. Discoveries in genetics in the 1950's and 1960's heralded an era of science in which it was necessary to address major questions with immediate relevance to human health. Impelled by pressure from the public, the scientific community, and the Congress, the NIH participates in formulating safety guidelines regarding potential applications of biotechnology. The annual increase in funds appropriated by Congress to the NIH attests to a high level of public commitment to the support of biomedical research and underlines the degree of accountability to which the NIH is subject.

The National Institutes of Health in its centennial year.

The laboratory of which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a lineal descendant was founded in 1887. During discussions of our plans for a year-long centennial observance with members of our House and Senate appropriations subcommittees, congressional members urged us to set two specific objectives: making NIH better known to the American people, and presenting the attractions of the many roles in health-related research to young people who have not yet formulated career plans. When I was invited to prepare an article for Science dealing with my personal experiences as director of NIH since April 1982, it seemed an opportunity to address the same objectives for the scientific community, for in my view there is much misinformation and far too much pessimism throughout the country about the state of biomedical research and its support.