Is the Debate and “Pause” on Experiments That Alter Pathogens with Pandemic Potential Influencing Future Plans of Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows?

Pfeiffer, Julie K.

Policy makers, ethicists, cognitive scientists, epidemiologists, public health experts, biosafety experts, bioterror experts, mathematical modelers, principal investigators, and others have expressed their opinions in multiple forums, including at a recent meeting hosted by the National Academy of Sciences (15 to 16 December 2014 [http://bit.ly/16o0J5y]). However, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have not had a voice in this debate. Furthermore, virtually nothing is known about how this debate and research pause has influenced trainees and their future plans. The lack of information is a concern, considering that graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are the ones physically performing many of the relevant experiments. Furthermore, trainees are the scientists that will populate these fields in the future.