Letter From the JCTS Editor: Fall Around the Corner

The month of September is usually one of the most pleasant times of the year. There is still a sense of summer and at least here in California the periods of oppressive heat are usually gone yielding very pleasant days. The grapevines will soon be starting to turn in color and everyone is hopefully returning refreshed from whatever summer break they were able to squeeze in. So far the fire season has been relatively modest and we hope that trend will hold. Having just spent some time on the East Coast, the dominating weather issue over there has been that of excessive rain and flooding. The usually very quiet brook next to our place has been more like a small river throughout the summer much to the delight of mosquitos.

The month has also brought new developments. In JCTS we are very pleased to welcome a new group of junior editors who represent a rich diversity in experience and interest areas. The group is largely drawn from clinical and translational science training programs such as the CTSA KL2 program, and we thank the mentors and the institutions who nominated the applicants. We look forward to working with them over the next two years and hope that the experience will be useful in their future careers.

As the journal matures and is soon completing its 7^th year, we are seeing an increasing number of citations of JCTS publications. Hopefully this trend will continue as JCTS now has for the first time received an impact factor and is getting increased visibility. We are also continuing to see a robust number of submissions to the journal and the manuscripts submitted represent the broad spectrum of clinical and translational science. We feel that it is important for the journal to be seen as a home for a wide range of researchers in the field. In addition, the thematic issues represent a nice opportunity to highlight particular areas of interest to the community. When completed, each thematic issue with associated papers is summarized on the JCTS website and collectively they offer a rich resource for interested readers. There are currently three such thematic issues open for new submissions and several others have closed. We anticipate that the accepted papers will become available on the website during the fall. Notably, however, while thematic issues generally generate a strong interest, the majority of journal submissions continue to be unrelated to such issues. As usual we are focused on maintaining a tight timeline and we are very grateful to our colleagues who volunteer their valuable time and expertise as reviewers. Your contributions are very appreciated and provide helpful advice to the authors.

In closing, I wish everyone a successful and productive fall and look forward to seeing new, exciting manuscripts being submitted. We are privileged to serve as a forum to highlight science discoveries and new, innovative methodologies.

Translational Science 2024: Call for Scientific Sessions and Abstract Proposals Now Open!

The Translational Science 2024 call for scientific sessions and abstract proposals is now open! Information and submission guidelines can be found here. Please note, if accepted for a poster submission and/or session, you must attend in person in Las Vegas to present.

• Scientific Sessions: 60-minute concurrent scientific programming sessions organized as you wish and described in your session proposal.
• Posters: research based posters eligible for a short oral platform presentation or poster presentation and published in JCTS.

For any questions please contact ACTS.

News from the Hill

With the federal fiscal year ending on September 30^th, Congress remains on a collision course over annual spending and a continuing appropriations resolution or “CR”. Traditionally, passing a CR to keep the government open and operating is a routine annual affair with legislators not completing work on the appropriations bills until the end of the calendar year (or start of the next year). However, ongoing tension between the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican party have stymied efforts to move (any) legislation through the House of Representatives.

Conservatives are calling for deep funding cuts to discretionary programs, partisan policy riders on hot-button issues, and not including emergency supplemental funding for Ukraine in any must-pass legislation. Not only is this approach a non-starter in the Senate and with the White House, but moderate House Republicans are resistant as well. Given the extremely slim majority in the House, the result is a stalemate with House Speaker McCarthy still looking for an off-ramp.

If no CR is enacted, the government will shutdown resulting in many federal programs and mechanisms grinding to a halt. While Social Security, the VA, and the military are considered mandatory or essential programs, most parts of the nation’s medical research and patient care enterprise is considered discretionary and prone to disruption from even a brief shutdown.

The Senate continues to work in a bipartisan fashion and appears to simply be waiting for the House to get its house in order. The Senate has advanced all twelve annual appropriations bills with overwhelming bipartisan support and is interested in an emergency supplemental spending package that includes disaster relief and Ukraine aid. The Senate has also expressed its preference for a “clean” CR that maintains funding for federal programs and does not include policy riders. The Senate has also indicated the HELP Committee will hold a hearing to advance the nomination of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the next NIH Director in October (though the specific date and time could be impacted by a shutdown on October 1^st).

ACTS Learning Library

The ACTS Learning Library is the centralized location for all ACTS educational offerings, including partner webinars and past Translational Science recordings. ACTS members receive complimentary access to webinars and recordings.

Special Interest Groups

ACTS offers its members the opportunity to participate in Special Interest Groups (SIGs) related to the field of clinical research and translational science. SIGs connect individuals who share similar goals and interests, providing a channel to network and participate in knowledge and resource sharing among peers.

Translational Science Today

National Institutes of Health - The lack of simple blood tests to diagnose Parkinson’s disease early, before extensive damage occurs, has hampered drug development. Recent research has suggested that Parkinson’s disease is likely a group of disorders with different causes, which end up causing similar damage but may need different treatments.

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