The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) — the founding members of the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) — have submitted comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the new Advanced Research Project Agency – Health (ARPA-H). OSTP and NIH are currently developing a scientific framework to outline the new agency’s potential research priorities and scientific portfolio.
The groups stressed the importance of biodiversity collections in improving the understanding of the linkage between biodiversity and human health. “An important contribution to human health lies in preserving and documenting biological diversity,” wrote the groups. “The development of break-through technologies and broadly applicable platforms, capabilities, resources, and solutions with respect to biodiversity will yield substantial benefits to human health if appropriate investments are made.”