FYI science policy briefs

Federal commission calls for multibillion-dollar biotech funding boost

Congress must take urgent action to strengthen the US biotechnology industry or risk irrevocably falling behind China, warns a recent report from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. The report urges Congress to disburse billions of dollars in federal funding over the next five years to grow the domestic biotech industry, end supply-chain dependencies on China, and protect US intellectual property from theft.

The report’s final recommendations are organized into six focus areas: making biotechnology a national priority, mobilizing the private sector, maximizing the benefits of biotechnology for defense, out-innovating strategic competitors, boosting the biotechnology workforce, and working with allies and partners. The report authors also propose what they call grand research challenges: One focuses on “making biotechnology predictably engineerable,” and the other is centered on “making biomanufacturing scale-up predictable, rapid, and cost-competitive.”

Federal science agencies play a key role in the report’s recommendations. The report proposes, for example, that NIST become a “hub” for biotechnology, biometrology, and biological data standards and that NSF administer a national biotechnology coordination office to be housed in the Executive Office of the President. The report also suggests providing the Department of Energy with $1.2 billion to establish six centers for biotechnology within the existing network of national laboratories and another $700 million over five years to create a biological data repository for researchers.

The bipartisan National Biotechnology Initiative Act was introduced in both the House and Senate in April to support some of the proposals in the report.

STEM professionals face hurdles procuring US visas, report finds

The US visa process presents numerous administrative obstacles for scientists, engineers, and medical professionals looking to enter the country, according to a new report commissioned by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The conclusions come from a survey of more than 1200 respondents in 95 countries. It was conducted last fall, meaning it chronicles challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic but not the effects of policies the Trump administration began deploying earlier this year.

Almost a third of respondents expressed reluctance about applying for US visas. The most cited hindrance to obtaining a visa was the interview process; others included administrative delays and the perceived difficulty of applications.

The report focuses on four types of visas that can be used to stay in the US for short periods: B-1 business visitor visas, F student visas, J-1 exchange program visas, and H-1B temporary specialty worker visas. Most survey respondents were applying for B-1 or B-2 (tourist) visas, and almost two-thirds of them were coming from an academic institution.

The US also has a visa waiver program that allows citizens or nationals of a select group of countries to visit the US for 90 days without a visa. But the survey found that 19% of the 148 respondents who should have been eligible for that program still missed professional activities because of visa problems.

Almost one-third of the survey respondents were from China or India. The data show that respondents from those countries were more likely than the overall sampled population to face visa challenges, especially with scheduling interviews.

More than 60% of respondents found that their experiences applying for a US visa were more difficult than applying for one from other countries. And more than 25% said they have stopped or avoid collaborating with partners in the US because of visa challenges.