Biomedical Research and Innovation

Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel and fabled leader, trashed the biomedical research community in the US, stating that the current system discourages innovation. He has some interesting points.

It seems he’s simplifying quite a bit. I’m sure there are problems in the system and that innovation is reduced by near-sighted focusing on smaller ideas that can get funded rather than bigger questions that can win Nobel Prizes. However, I think those smaller pieces will continue coming together to address big problems over the coming years, despite some inefficiencies in the system (which should be addressed).

In a way, this reminds me of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to run their non-profit like a business to maintain high efficiency and wise use of resources. Maybe Grove can use his assets and leadership to show that something similar can be accomplished in biomedical research.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/68221/page/2

Educational Programs in Biomedical Informatics

When I decided to leave my job and pursue a graduate degree in informatics, I explored various programs. Below is a list of a few US universities that offer advanced degrees in informatics (in alphabetical order).

• Columbia University
• Oregon Health and Sciences University
  
• Stanford University
• University of Utah
• University of Washington

The following map (borrowed from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ep/GrantTrainInstitute.html) shows the locations that have training grants from the National Library of Medicine.

PBS Special on Epigenetics

I came across a PBS show that talks about an emerging area of genetics research called epigenetics. Two people (for example, identical twins) can have the same genetic makeup yet be very different. Scientists are discovering that these differences are partially attributable to “epigenetic” changes that don’t physically alter a person’s DNA but change how the DNA is activated (or not). As these changes occur in sex cells, they are also propagated to a person’s posterity.

As people go through life, they acquire more and more of these changes, and it varies from person to person depending on lifestyle factors such as diet, smoking, environmental exposures, etc. This may explain why one identical twin gets a heritable form of cancer while the other does not, even though they have exactly the same DNA (and no mutations have occurred).

One key realization is that the way we choose to live can not only impact us negatively (or positively), but it can have a real impact on our posterity. Another realization is that if scientists can better understand epigenetics, they can devise treatments that address it. The PBS video explains it in an understandable way.