The science job news continues to reflect the downturn in the global economy. The downturn is rippling into all sectors.

Merck is the latest pharma to announce job cuts (I listed several others in the past two installments)
and Motorola is also cutting R&D positions.

Biotech—especially start-ups or early stage companies—report having a hard time raising venture capital. , which makes sense, since even large banks aren’t lending to each other. The pharma layoffs and the biotech VC bottleneck mean more competition for the fewer drug discovery and development spots available.

The stock market has even hit academia. When national funding is tight, universities have often been helped by philanthropy. But foundations’ endowments have been hit hard—which means one less funding lifeline. universities

Biospace has an overview of the situation.
In the next installment, I’ll try to be less doom-and-gloom; on the bright side, the Dow has recovered some ofit’s losses. We’ll see how the global market reacts to the selection of a new US president Tuesday.