After Long March, Scientists Create 'Chinese NIH'

摘要

Scientists here rang in the New-Year with the debut of China's first biomed-ical research fund. Last week, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) launched a medical department that expects to disburse about I billion renminbi ($ 150 million) in government grants in 2010.rnThe department should be a shot in the arm for unraveling disease mechanisms, modernizing traditional Chinese medicine, and moving results from bench to bedside. "It will promote a speedy transition of basic research into clinical application," says Pei Duanqing, director general of the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.