CSR Marks 75th Anniversary

As part of the commemoration of CSR’s 75th anniversary, the center has released a video, Catalyst of Hope and Health. Featuring former NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and other leaders such as Drs. Anthony Fauci, Marie Bernard and Michael Lauer, the video describes the role CSR plays in advancing the NIH mission through the review of grant applications for their scientific and technical merit. 

CSR director Dr. Noni Byrnes notes in the video that the center strives to ensure that grant applications sent to NIH receive fair, independent, expert and timely scientific reviews, free from inappropriate influences. 

The perspectives of several grantees are also featured, including those of Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who was part of the team that discovered CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for making targeted edits to the genome, and Dr. Jason McLellan, whose work on coronavirus spike proteins was critical for development of the Covid-19 vaccine. As emphasized in the video, any good idea can be recognized through the peer review process—regardless of whether it comes from a small institution or a large one, from a high-profile scientist or someone new to a field. 

The video is available at https://bit.ly/3petRYz.—Lamont Williams