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Saving the Trouble

Bora Zivkovic rounds up a discussion he sparked the other day after posting an article that said in the Canadian grant system, the cost of preparing a grant application (C$40,000) outweighed the amount of an average grant (C$30,000). The article then suggested to give "every qualified investigator a direct baseline discovery grant of $30,000." Zivkovic discusses where the quality control would come from -- the universities who hired the scientists in the first place and colleagues at conferences and during review for publication -- and draws from another paper on the four stages of science, and says that these baseline grants would mainly go to the first stage, the innovative stage and that would be "a Good Thing."

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.