Coalition for the Life Sciences

Coalition for the Life Sciences

Science Policy Thought Leadership

The Coalition for the Life Sciences unites scientific organizations behind a single purpose: shaping policies and practices that strengthen cutting-edge, effective, and equitable U.S. life sciences research.

Newsroom

Latest from CLS

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  • Issue statementJuly 13, 2026

    CLS Comments on OMB Regulation that Politicizes Science

    The White House released a 412 page draft regulation completely changing how science is funded. CLS' comments object to the politicization of science.

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  • Issue statementJune 6, 2025

    Administration's Multi-Year Funding Proposal Will Dramatically Reduce US Research

    The President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2026 includes a seemingly innocuous proposal to transition up to half of research projects grants to "multiyear funding." CLS predicts application success rates will PLUMMET.

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Member organizations

From our members

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  • BlueskySeptember 16, 2026
    Genetics Society of America logoGSAGenetics Society of America

    The featured article in the September issue of #G3journal proposes a new framework that examines how environmental context influences quali…

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  • BlueskySeptember 16, 2026
    American Association of Immunologists logoAAIAmerican Association of Immunologists

    Looking to level up your expertise? Join AAI and supercharge your career. 💡

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  • BlueskySeptember 16, 2026
    Genetics Society of America logoGSAGenetics Society of America

    Now live in the September issue of #G3journal

    Read more

Who we are

A coalition of scientific organizations speaking with one voice for the life sciences.

Our member organizations represent researchers across the full breadth of the life sciences — microbiology, genetics, cell and developmental biology, neuroscience, immunology, plant and environmental biology, ecology, evolution, and computational biology. Individually, each has a constituency. Together, we have a coalition — one that can carry the case for fundamental research into appropriations hearings, agency consultations, and congressional offices.

We do not lobby for a single institution, a single field, or a single application of science. We advocate for public policy grounded in sound scientific evidence and for the conditions under which discovery happens at all.

Policy priorities

What we are working on

01

Sustained federal funding

Predictable, inflation-adjusted appropriations for the NIH, NSF, DOE, USDA, and the agencies that make discovery science possible.

02

Science in policymaking

Ensuring that legislation and regulation affecting research are informed by working scientists and the evidence itself.

03

The research workforce

Support for graduate students, postdocs, and early-career investigators so that careers in science remain viable.

04

Open, rigorous research

Policies that protect scientific integrity, data sharing, and the freedom to pursue fundamental questions.

How the work gets done

Capitol Hill briefings

We bring researchers to Washington to explain their science directly to the members and staff who write the budget.

Coalition letters & testimony

We speak with one voice on appropriations and policy, joining societies across the life sciences behind shared positions.

Grass-tops advocacy

We equip scientists with the tools, language, and timing to make the case for research in their own communities.

The coalition

CLS is built from research organizations that pool their advocacy capacity. Membership brings a seat at the table when coalition positions are set, and shared representation in Washington year-round.

Become a member organization

“The discoveries that reshape the world rarely begin with an application in mind. They begin with a question, and a country willing to fund it.”