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. 2013 Mar 26:2:e00642.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.00642.

The writing on the wall

Henry R Bourne  1
Affiliations

The writing on the wall

Henry R Bourne. Elife. .

Abstract

The biomedical research enterprise in the US has become unsustainable and urgent action is needed to address a variety of problems, including a lack of innovation, an over-reliance on soft money for faculty salaries, the use of graduate students as a source of cheap labour, and a 'holding tank' full of talented postdocs with limited career opportunities.

Keywords: NIH; careers in science; grad school; point of view; postdocs; science policy and funding.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests:The author declares that no competing interests exist.

Figures

None
Belshazzar, the last King of Babylon, depicted here in a painting by Rembrandt, was killed after he failed to read the writing on the wall.
More than two millennia later, the biomedical research enterprise in the US finds itself in a similar position: addicted to expansion after four decades of increasing budgets, it needs to rethink how it funds research and researchers to ensure that it has a sustainable future.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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