"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." — Zora Neale Hurston
Whether they investigate how medicines work, study the life cycle of bacteria, or crunch numbers in a computer, scientists across the globe are united by a compelling desire: to better understand how life works.
Many of these basic biomedical scientists are funded by NIGMS at the National Institutes of Health. Rather than focusing on a specific disease, these researchers seek to answer important biological questions like:
- how cells talk to each other
- how biological machines fold into their active shapes
- how genes are regulated
These studies may not have an immediate impact on our health. Yet such "untargeted" research often leads to:
- new medicines
- new technologies
- new research tools
Examples of advances that grew out of basic research include:
Basic Research Pays Off
"If you think research is expensive, try disease." — Mary Lasker
This famous quote is attributed to Mary Lasker, a philanthropist and advocate for medical research. Her words acknowledge that by providing a solid understanding of the cellular and molecular changes that cause disease, basic research may help prevent disease or cure it in its early stages, yielding tremendous savings of both money and misery. The quote is clearly borne out by the numbers.
Regardless of what measure is used: reduced health care costs--or--increased productivity due to longer life and decreased illness studies show returns on investment ranging from $10 to more than $80 for every dollar spent on basic research. Not surprisingly, the longer a medical advance is available, the greater the benefits.
Basic biomedical research also benefits the economy in more direct ways. Many nonbiomedical industries have been either created or enhanced by biomedical discoveries.
Together, the following industrial applications contribute tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every year:
—freeze-drying, which was developed to concentrate and preserve laboratory samples, is now widely used in the food industry
—fundamental research on the role of immune factors in controlling herpes led to a vaccine for a deadly disease in chickens
—basic studies of digestive enzymes led to improvements including:
What Makes Good Research?
"The pursuit of curiosity about the basic facts of nature has proven, with few exceptions throughout the history of medical science, to be the route by which the successful drugs and devices of modern medicine were discovered." — Arthur Kornberg
In a familiar science fiction scenario, a scientist knocks over a test tube and creates a medicine with incredible power. Although a number of important advances have occurred by chance, most scientific advances are not accidental. Neither are most findings made by lone scientists. They are products of years of intensive labor by teams of researchers that include many young scientists in training. Increasingly, interdisciplinary groups of scientists are working together to tackle problems that transcend their individual expertise. In many cases, basic research has unexpected applications. For example:
Basic research often relies on studies in "model organisms" such as:
- mice
- fruit flies
- bacteria
Because human cells contain the same molecular building blocks and pathways as those of most other living things, researchers can learn much about the way our cells work by studying these simpler organisms. These creatures allow scientists to design and control their experiments tightly and to select the type of organism best suited for examining a specific problem or process. Ingredients of good research include:
Sometimes, all it takes is having the right scientists in the right place at the right time. Whether it comes as blockbuster discoveries or incremental advances, history shows that over time, untargeted basic research yields inestimable rewards.
Related Resources
Source: NIH Pub. No. 04-5493 (edited)
