The quality and quantity of biomedical research may be negatively affected if the number of postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical field continues to decline. According to microbiology professor Louis Justement, Ph.D., co-author of “Biomedical science postdocs: an end to the era of expansion” (Oct. 6, 2015, FASEB Journal online), the number of early-career scientists choosing to become postdocs has declined for three years in a row.

Postdocs along with graduate students comprise a majority of the research workforce in the biomedical sciences. A continued loss of postdocs without an alternative source of talented research personnel will slow our rate of progress. "We need to develop a steady-state model for the biomedical research workforce while maintaining the vitality and excellence of the enterprise," explains Justement.

Read more at

• “Biomedical science postdocs: an end to the era of expansion”
• "U.S. biomedical postdoctoral fellow numbers decline, UAB researcher finds"