Industry Could Support More Basic Research

Industry-Sponsored Research: A More Comprehensive Alternative

Joal Hill I read with interest the debate about for-profi t versus non-profi t institutional review boards (IRBs) [1], but was disappointed that no one addressed the ability (or inability) of for-profi t IRBs to review studies with the local context of research subjects in mind and then monitor what actually occurs during the consent process throughout the research trial. To my mind the “bignes...

Support of the Individual in Basic Research.

Basic Research and the Success of Federal Lab-Industry Partnerships*

This paper examines the role that basic research plays in the strategies pursued by industry in their interactions with federal labs. It draws on questionnaire-based data of 229 federal laboratory-industry joint R&D projects with 219 companies and 27 laboratories. The study documents the relative importance of basic research in the success of the interactions by comparing the incidence of basic...

Why we need more basic biology research, not less

Much of the spectacular progress in biomedical science over the last half-century is the direct consequence of the work of thousands of basic scientists whose primary goal was understanding of the fundamental working of living things. Despite this, many politicians, funders, and even scientists have come to believe that the pace of successful applications to medical diagnosis and therapy is lim...

A case for more curiosity-driven basic research

Having been selected to be among the exquisitely talented scientists who won the Sandra K. Masur Senior Leadership Award is a tremendous honor. I would like to take this opportunity to make the case for a conviction of mine that I think many will consider outdated. I am convinced that we need more curiosity-driven basic research aimed at understanding the principles governing life. The reasons ...