Health care in the United States is expensive, but its funding is crucial because it also is a major contributor to the economy and can better lives, according to an essay appearing in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). Because of the cost of health care, this is not time to shrink the budget at the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research that leads to potentially curative therapy.

Waters Corporation and Vanderbilt University Medical Center jointly announce collaborative research efforts using Waters(R) MALDI SYNAPT(TM) High Definition MS(TM) (HDMS(TM)) System for enhanced tissue imaging capabilities for oncology research within the University's Mass Spectrometry Research Center.

Public spending on medical research in Europe should be doubled over the next ten years to ensure health and welfare for Europe’s citizens and to nurture a thriving European medical research industry. There should be greater collaboration between European institutions in medical research and improved career paths for medical scientists.

Dell and Collexis Holdings, Inc., plan to launch Jan. 11 BioMedExperts – an innovative social networking community that will promote collaborative medical research and development.

Winners of the Lasker Award were announced today. The 2007 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is presented to Ralph M. Steinman for the discovery of dendritic cells—the preeminent component of the immune system that initiates and regulates the body's response to foreign antigens.

A new study has demonstrated a strong desire of rural Aboriginal people to die at home. This being the case, it is essential to develop local health care and palliative care services.