Last week the Montreal Neurological Institute announced that it will become the first fully Open Science academic institute. In addition to  making their results and data available for free upon publication, this initiative also includes a  commitment not to register patents on any of their discoveries. This announcement comes in contrast with the ongoing heated dispute on who should hold the patent for CRISPR. In light of these two opposing views, this month we are asking:

Should scientists and institutes be allowed to patent research performed with public funds?

Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below! You can comment anonymously if you prefer. We are also collating answers on social media via this Storify. And if you have any ideas for future questions please drop us an email!

The Copenhagen Bioscience PhD programme is a new initiative that offers talented students with a university degree from outside of Denmark an opportunity to launch their careers in the vibrant environment of the Novo Nordisk Foundation research center cluster. Sixteen students will be recruited annually through the programme for enrolment in August the same year. In 2016 the programme will be open for applications from January 4 to February 29.

Students will be selected based on academic achievements, research experience, academic references and interviews. The interviews will take place in Copenhagen on April 18-19, 2016. The Novo Nordisk Foundation will pay for travel and accommodation for selected candidates in association with the interview visit.

Read more about our programme here

Bangor University will provide matched funding for applicants interested in applying for Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships.

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/grant-schemes/early-career-fellowships

The School of Biological Sciences (https://www.bangor.ac.uk/biology/) has facilities for the maintenance of marine invertebrates, tropical freshwater fish, small mammals and fruitflies/insects, with research groups working on genetic and developmental aspects of these and other groups.

Interested applicants can contact Dr John Mulley (j.mulley@bangor.ac.uk) or the College of Natural Sciences Research Support Officer, Michelle Jones (michelle.jones@bangor.ac.uk) to learn more. The closing date is the 10th March 2016.

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AUC078/wellcome-trust-independent-senior-research-fellow-75344-016/

The University of Warwick has initiated a Wellcome-Trust funded research programme in “Quantitative Biomedicine” to bridge physical / mathematical sciences and biomedicine. The programme is of a cross-campus nature with strong participation from the Division of Biomedical Cell Biology and the Warwick Systems Biology Centre.

We are seeking early career researchers who are no more than 4 years from obtaining a Doctoral degree with the potential to lead a strong independent research programme. The candidates will be selected based on their track record in innovative research and on the strength of the research proposal. Importantly, the proposals should make clear how the project benefits from quantitative methodologies. The proposed research programme should bring together physical and mathematical sciences and biomedical sciences (including cell and developmental biology, neurobiology, immunology, microbiology and infection). Identified candidates will be provided salary, laboratory space, running costs and part-time technical support for three years. The successful candidates will be expected to win externally funded fellowships within the contract period and will be mentored in preparing such applications.

Interested candidates should submit their CV, a two-page research proposal, and the names and addresses of three referees who are able to comment on the candidates past research work as well as the readiness of the candidate to embark on an independent career in research.

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to offer our 3rd Eco-Evo-Devo Postgraduate Summer School from August 8th to 12th 2016 at Oxford Brookes University.

For full details please see the Summer School website:

http://bms.brookes.ac.uk/ceec/courses/eco-evo-devo-summer

Alistair McGregor.

A 4-year PhD position is available in the Steinmetz lab to study the role of nutrients and feeding in gamete growth and maturation in cnidarians.

Please find more details on the position and the application here:

http://tinyurl.com/h7y4h6y

More info on the lab:

http://www.sars.no/research/SteinmetzGrp.php

PhD position available in the McGregor lab (http://mcgregor-evo-devo-lab.net/McGregor_lab/home.html) to investigate the role of gene duplication and divergence during the evolution of spiders, scorpions and other arachnids:

http://master.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=72054

Cosy Science is an informal pub gathering where scientists talk about their research over a pint of beer (or glass of wine!) with anyone who is interested in listening. It is mostly a monthly event, taking place at The Cittie of Yorke pub in London, and everyone is welcome!

As you may know, The Company of Biologists runs a series of workshops for scientists, and we collaborate with Cosy Science to bring some of the exciting research discussed at the workshops to the general public. Our next workshop will focus on transdifferentiation and tissue plasticity in cardiavascular rejuvenation, and one of the organisers, Dr Brian Black (Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco) will be joining Cosy Science on Wednesday the 10th of February to bring developmental biology to the pub! Brian will give a short talk about what cardiac development in utero and cardiac regeneration in fish and salamanders may be able to teach us about regenerating cardiac muscle after a heart attack. After a short break to refill, the floor will be open for questions and friendly discussion. So if you’re in the area, bring along that friend who always wanted to know what developmental biology is all about, and enjoy an evening of pub science sponsored by The Company of Biologists!

Find out more information at the Cosy Science website.

Germline Stem Cells Conference

June 19-21, 2016 – San Francisco, California

Website: www.abcam.com/germlinestemcells

Germline stem cells represent a uniquely critical type of stem cell that is essential for fertility and propagation of the species. The topic of germline stem cells has become an active area of study both in mammalian systems and in non-mammalian model systems including flies, worms and fish.

Free registration for grabs! Abcam and the Node are looking for an official meeting reporter to attend this meeting. The Reporter will be responsible for providing regular updates of interesting talks/discussions for twitter/tweets (by Abcam), plus a meeting report of their experience and the sights and sounds of the meeting (for publishing on The Node and Abcam website).

To apply to be the meeting reporter, please send a short paragraph (max. 200 words) to events@abcam.com, letting us know why you are the best scientist for the job! Application deadline: April 15, 2016. The winner will receive free registration to the meeting (travel and accommodation not included).
Meeting information:

Organizers: John McCarrey (University of Texas at San Antonio) and Jon Oatley (Washing State University)

Keynote Speakers: D.G. (Dirk) de Rooij (Utrecht University) Azim Surani (The Gurdon Institute)

Confirmed speakers: Norman Arnheim, Brad Cairns, Amander Clark, Margaret Fuller, Christopher Geyer, Brian Hermann, Patricia Hunt, Diana Laird, Erika Matunis, John McCarrey, Jon Oatley, Susan Strome, Miles Wilkinson, and Kyle Orwig.

Call for abstracts: Abstracts are invited for short talks or poster presentations and can be submitted during registration. Those selected will be notified after the April 18 deadline.

Check out the article written by last years official meeting reporter winner here!

What ho nodites,

I am putting here a link to my latest polemic on the issues discussed in the interview and some others. Of course being carefully written it is a little more accurate and pointed and widely ranging than the verbatim interview.

There might be a way of reading it gratis if you drop me a line, pal38@cam.ac.uk

here is the link

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/bookseries/aip/00702153

Peter