FW: VEuPathDB funding

[Jay C. Dunlap]

Here’s my letter.

I don’t mean to clog your inbox, and I don’t think we all need to see each other’s emails, but I wanted everyone to know that I am taking this seriously.

Realistically, they will be counting letters not reading them in depth, so all you need to do is just get something in writing sent off before June 2.  Quoting from Luis Corrochano’s email:

Please note that NIAID is *not* proposing to cut off bioinformatics support for, but rather to engage another group (we don’t know who) to provide these services.  PIs, students, postdocs, and other users of these resources may wish to comment – in your own words please – on:

• specific ways in which services provided by VEuPathDB have helped to advance your personal research program and plans
• unique functionalities not typically provided by other bioinformatics resources, such as the ability to assess the evidence underlying annotations, capture expert knowledge from (and disseminate to) the community, integrate diverse data-types to develop and test hypotheses in silico, tools for analyzing your own data, etc
• your experience with support from the VEuPathDB outreach team
• concerns about the time and difficulty likely required to develop, implement, and get everyone up to speed on a new system

 

jay

From: "Jay C. Dunlap" <Jay.C....@dartmouth.edu>
Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 8:05 AM
To: "jeanne....@nih.gov" <jeanne....@nih.gov>, "emily.e...@nih.gov" <emily.e...@nih.gov>, "dona...@nih.gov" <dona...@nih.gov>
Subject: VEuPathDB funding

 

Dear Dr. Marrazzo, Dr. Erbelding, and Dr. Love,

 

I write to you with extreme concern having heard that funding for VEuPathDB, which includes support for FungiDB, will be terminated, to be replaced by group(s) unknown to our community and who appear to have no connections to the mycology or even parasitology and vector biology communities.

 

I have been supported by NIH for 40 years, have served on NIGMS council, and am a member of the Genetics Section of the National Academy.  Our lab, as well as hundreds of others in the fungal biology community,  rely on FungiDB on a daily basis to conduct ongoing research funded by many NIH institutes, although principally by NIAID.  In addition to their informatic expertise, the FungiDB staff understand viscerally the biology that drives the need for specific  informatic resources, and this deep connection to the community allows them to provide and even anticipate services needed.   They maintain an ear to the ground for developing trends and support requirements.  This informatic support that is anchored in the community and in understanding the biology underlying the problems being solved cannot be replaced by better search algorithms or faster screen loads.

 

From my time on NIGMS council I do understand the constant need to evaluate and prune research support, and I was one of the team that reviewed and recommended defunding of the multi-hundred-million dollar Protein Structure Initiative at NIGMS which affected many labs.  However, that was an orderly re-organization.  Defunding FungiDB precipitously on September 15 can have an enormous adverse impact hundreds of labs in ways we cannot yet even grasp.

 

I ask that you reconsider this recommendation to defund VEuPathDB.

 

Respectfully,

Jay Dunlap

***************************

***************************

Jay C. Dunlap

Nathan Smith Professor

past Chairman, Department of Molecular and Systems Biology

member, National Academy of Sciences

Editorial Boards PNAS, G3

Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

7400 Remsen

Hanover, NH  03755-3844

phone: 603-650-1108

FAX:  603-650-1233

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jdunlap/

Operations Director and Dept. Manager (Cheryl A. Bush):  603-650-1101

Molecular.and....@dartmouth.edu

 

 

[Hurley, Jennifer Marie]

As representatives of the Neurospora community, the Policy Committee is responding to this issue both as a group as well as individuals. We agree with Jay and urge those in the Neurospora community to do the same!

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Hurley Ph.D.

Richard Baruch M.D. Career Development Chair and Associate Professor

Associate Department Head and Graduate Program Director of Biological Sciences

Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy NY 12180

Office: CBIS 2137

Phone: 518-276-8458

Email: hur...@rpi.edu

Website: homepages.rpi.edu/~hurlej2/

 

 

 

From: <neuro...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of "Jay C. Dunlap" <Jay.C....@dartmouth.edu>
Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 8:19 AM
To: "neuro...@googlegroups.com" <neuro...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL]FW: VEuPathDB funding

 

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

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[Zheng Wang]

Hi, Jay

Thank you! I just sent mine, and stole some of your words.

Best,

W

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Wang, Zheng
Research Scientist

Yale School of Public Health

Yale University

New Haven, CT 06520

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zheng_Wang2
http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-2318-2011

[Jay C. Dunlap]

Thanks Wang,

Moving forward for others, these will have most impact at NIAID if

1. they do not CC the entire neuro...@googlegroups.com, and
2. if they are short with entirely original wording.

Best,

jay