Cornerstone of Science: Policy and Regulation
Vital to the progress and safety of scientific advancements are the policies and regulations that underlie them.
Published October 15, 2013
Much news has been made of the closures of public parks and historical monuments around the U.S., but the science sector has also been impacted by the recent shutdown of the U.S. government. With temporary furloughs of tens of thousands of workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and the National Science Foundation, for example, the short- and long-term effects of the shutdown remain to be seen.
The shutdown throws into sharp relief the relationship between science and government and the importance of informed policy and regulation to keep the public safe, healthy, and progressively moving forward. Here at the New York Academy of Sciences, our mission to support innovative solutions to global challenges is rooted in scientific research, education, and policy. The Academy accords lawmakers, scientists, industry, and educators the opportunity to work together on neutral ground for the common purpose of moving science out of the lab and into practical application. Below, a few examples of the Academy's work in the policy and regulation arena.
 | ProgramPolicy Evaluation and Transformation GroupThe New York Academy of Sciences' Policy Evaluation and Transformation Group is a team of global experts that advises national and local governments, industry, and academia on the development of informed science policy to optimize economic and social benefits. |
 | EventAlzheimer's Disease Summit: The Path to 2025November 6 - 7, 2013 |
 | EventNanomedicines: Addressing the Scientific and Regulatory GapThursday, November 21, 2013 |
 | PodcastLab Bench Meets Federal Bench: The Supreme Court and Stem Cell ResearchThe Supreme Court recently refused to hear a case challenging federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Experts discuss the case and its consequences, as well as exciting research being done with stem cells towards a treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease. |
 | eBriefingFetal Programming and Environmental ExposuresMultidisciplinary science investigators such as toxicologists, obstetricians, endocrinologists, epidemiologists, and public health and regulatory experts, explored the impact of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors on the stages of prenatal development, and how to decrease the effects of such factors on fetal outcomes and pre-term birth. |
 | eBriefingProbiotics: From Bench to MarketRegulatory experts, manufacturers of products containing probiotics, and researchers interested in the mechanisms by which these products exert their effects met to examine the current state of the science of probiotics and to identify what needs to be done to develop probiotic products to improve health and manage and prevent disease. |