WHO in retreat: is it losing its influence?

WHO says it has three main functions: to set normative standards; to provide technical advice and assistance on medical matters; and to advocate changes in health policy. During its 46 year history the first two functions have been a constant and uncontroversial backbone through which WHO has earned its reputation for scientific excellence. The third function, advocacy, came to the fore with the launch of Health for All in 1977, after which WHO took a key role in influencing international health policy. WHO''s friends and critics alike now say that the organisation is losing its influence and retreating into its technical and biomedical shell. This article maps the changes in WHO''s approach over the past 46 years and considers whether fears about its loss of influence are justified.     

Role for NMR in structural genomics

The 2nd EMSL Workshop on Structural Genomics was held on 28th and 29th July 2000 at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. The workshop focused on four topics: 1. The role for NMR in structural and functional genomics; 2. The technical challenges NMR faces for structural and functional genomics; 3. The potential need for a national NMR center for structural and functional genomics in the United States; and 4. Organization of the NMR community. This report summarizes the workshop proceedings and conclusions reached regarding the role of NMR in the emerging fields of structural and functional genomics.     

Bringing Biocuration to China

Biocuration involves adding value to biomedical data by the processes of standardization, quality control and information transferring(also known as data annotation). It enhances data interoperability and consistency, and is critical in translating biomedical data into scientific discovery. Although China is becoming a leading scientific data producer, biocuration is still very new to the Chinese biomedical data community. In fact, there currently lacks an equivalent acknowledged word in Chinese for the word ‘‘curation". Here we propose its Chinese translation as ‘‘审编"(Pinyin: sheˇn bi"an), based on its implied meanings taken by biomedical data community.The 8th International Biocuration Conference to be held in China(http://biocuration2015.tilsi.org)next year bears the potential to raise the general awareness in China of the significant role of biocuration in scientific discovery. However, challenges are ahead in its implementation.     

The next-generation sequencing technology: A technology review and future perspective

As one of the most powerful tools in biomedical research, DNA sequencing not only has been improving its productivity in an exponential growth rate but also been evolving into a new layout of technological territories toward engineering and physical disciplines over the past three decades. In this technical review, we look into technical characteristics of the next-gen sequencers and provide prospective insights into their future development and applications. We envisage that some of the emerging platforms are capable of supporting the 1000 genome and1000 genome and 100 genome goals if given a few years for technical maturation. We also suggest that scientists from China should play an active role in this campaign that will have profound impact on both scientific research and societal healthcare systems.     

How science will help us move forward in 2021

In 2021, the genetics and genomics community needs to communicate to policymakers how the field of human genetics and genomics is transforming biomedical research and medicine, including its essential role in combatting COVID-19. This is important for ensuring that policies enable a thriving scientific enterprise and provide resources for research advances.

In 2021, the genetics and genomics community needs to communicate to policymakers how the field of human genetics and genomics is transforming biomedical research and medicine, including its essential role in combatting COVID-19. This is important for ensuring that policies enable a thriving scientific enterprise and provide resources for research advances.     

Hatching Knowledge: A Case Study on the Hybridization of Local Ecological Knowledge and Scientific Knowledge in Small-Scale Atlantic Salmon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmo salar</Emphasis>) Cultivation in Norway

We investigate drivers of hybridization of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and scientific knowledge (SK) in small-scale Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fisheries in western Norway through a case study from the Ørsta River. We find three primary drivers of knowledge hybridization in local fishing groups as part of wild Atlantic salmon cultivation activities: facilitating intergenerational knowledge exchange, coping with regulatory change, and improving the perceived validity of local knowledge sets. We also identify three challenges to knowledge hybridization, and discuss how both drivers and challenges relate to once complementary SK and LEK sets that have diverged as SK has become more technical and complex. We examine the processes by which LEK and SK develop, evolve, and are used to facilitate wild salmon conservation in these fisheries and discuss the role hatcheries can play adapting and utilizing large-scale SK and salmon policy to the local environment through hybridization processes. We conclude with recommendations as to how reframing managerial views on hatcheries as facilitators of knowledge production and transfer may improve both the accessibility of SK to local communities and the integration of LEK into Norwegian wild salmon management.     

NCI's publication affiliation conundrum: Reframing innovation to incentivize an equitable path for advocate representation

Advocacy engagement has been at the forefront of National Cancer Institute (NCI) efforts to advance scientific discoveries and transform medical interventions. Nonetheless, the journey for advocates has been uneven. Case in Point: NCI publication affiliation rules of engagement pose unique equity challenges while raising questions about structural representation in biomedical research. Abiding by the core rationale that publication affiliation should be tailored to employment status, the NCI has systematically denied research advocate volunteers the opportunity to specifically list NCI as an institutional affiliation on academic publications. Unpacking advocate NCI publication affiliation restrictions and its links with advocacy heritage preservation and convergent science goals poses unique diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges and opportunities. Improving the quality of structural representation in biomedical research requires new theories of action and flexible planning to advance, promote and build capacity for strategic advocacy inclusion and equity within publication affiliation initiatives. Here we highlight several opportunities for how leadership might formulate a radically different vision for NCI's approach. This perspective interrogates the best way forward for ensuring that biomedical employee and volunteer advocate workforce publication affiliation intersections are characterized by increased creativity and representation parity. Imbuing the scientist and clinical researcher archetype with social dimensions, we join NCI critical thinkers in urging employees, funded academics, and volunteer citizen scientists to collectively assume the role as paladins of science and integrity who view the triumphs of making a difference in science alongside the social responsibility of promoting transdisciplinary professionalism and the democratization of science.     

Communicating about ocean health: theoretical and practical considerations

As anthropogenic stressors threaten the health of marine ecosystems, there is a need to better understand how the public processes and responds to information about ocean health. Recent studies of public perceptions about ocean issues report high concern but limited knowledge, prompting calls for information campaigns to mobilize public support for ocean restoration policy. Drawing on the literature from communication, psychology and related social science disciplines, we consider a set of social-cognitive challenges that researchers and advocates are likely to encounter when communicating with the public about ocean health and emerging marine diseases—namely, the psychological distance at which ocean issues are construed, the unfamiliarity of aquatic systems to many members of the public and the potential for marine health issues to be interpreted through politicized schemas that encourage motivated reasoning over the dispassionate consideration of scientific evidence. We offer theory-based strategies to help public outreach efforts address these challenges and present data from a recent experiment exploring the role of message framing (emphasizing the public health or environmental consequences of marine disease) in shaping public support for environmental policy.     

Cellular dimensions and cell dynamics, or the difficulty over capturing time and space in the era of electron microscopy

The introduction of electron microscopy profoundly altered biomedical research, providing a tool for a more detailed but at the same time a spatially and temporally more restricted visual analysis. Examining the case study of Golgi apparatus research in the 1950s and 1960s, it will be shown how microscopists handled these challenges, and how these confrontations modified the general concept of cellular organization. This will also shed light on the artifact debate and on the question of scientific realism in the field of microscopy.     

Computational models for mechanics of morphogenesis

In the developing embryo, tissues differentiate, deform, and move in an orchestrated manner to generate various biological shapes driven by the complex interplay between genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Mechanics plays a key role in regulating and controlling morphogenesis, and quantitative models help us understand how various mechanical forces combine to shape the embryo. Models allow for the quantitative, unbiased testing of physical mechanisms, and when used appropriately, can motivate new experimentaldirections. This knowledge benefits biomedical researchers who aim to prevent and treat congenital malformations, as well as engineers working to create replacement tissues in the laboratory. In this review, we first give an overview of fundamental mechanical theories for morphogenesis, and then focus on models for specific processes, including pattern formation, gastrulation, neurulation, organogenesis, and wound healing. The role of mechanical feedback in development is also discussed. Finally, some perspectives aregiven on the emerging challenges in morphomechanics and mechanobiology. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 96:132–152, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Stems and Standards: Social Interaction in the Search for Blood Stem Cells

This essay examines the role of social interactions in the search for blood stem cells, in a recent episode of biomedical research. Linked to mid-20th century cell biology, genetics and radiation research, the search for blood stem cells coalesced in the 1960s and took a developmental turn in the late 1980s, with significant ramifications for immunology, stem cell and cancer biology. Like much contemporary biomedical research, this line of inquiry exhibits a complex social structure and includes several prominent scientific successes, recognized as such by participating researchers. I use personal interviews and the published record to trace the social interactions crucial for scientific success in this episode. All recognized successes in this episode have two aspects: improved models of blood cell development, and new interfaces with other lines of research. The narrative of the search for blood stem cells thus yields a robust account of scientific success in practice, which generalizes to other scientific episodes and lends itself to expansion to include wider social contexts.     

Race, ethnicity, and health: can genetics explain disparities?

Over the past decade, numerous studies have documented profound racial and ethnic disparities in disease in the United States. This essay examines how popular and scientific concepts of race and ethnicity converge with dominant understandings of genetics to inform the design and interpretation of research, public health policy, and medical practice. Although there is some acknowledgment in the biomedical community that racial and ethnic categories are social and not genetic, ideas about race and ethnicity that circulate in biomedicine are contradictory. Thus, in practice genetic explanations for observed differences are common both in the scientific literature and in popular media accounts of biomedical research. Such explanations naturalize racial and ethnic difference and create a conceptual barrier to developing a research program that explores the complex ways in which social inequality and experiences of racial discrimination interact with human biology to influence patterns of disease. Importantly, genetically based ideas lead to disease prevention policies that are bound to be ineffective.     

Perspectives on an Education in Computational Biology and Medicine

The mainstream application of massively parallel, high-throughput assays in biomedical research has created a demand for scientists educated in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBB). In response, formalized graduate programs have rapidly evolved over the past decade. Concurrently, there is increasing need for clinicians trained to oversee the responsible translation of CBB research into clinical tools. Physician-scientists with dedicated CBB training can facilitate such translation, positioning themselves at the intersection between computational biomedical research and medicine. This perspective explores key elements of the educational path to such a position, specifically addressing: 1) evolving perceptions of the role of the computational biologist and the impact on training and career opportunities; 2) challenges in and strategies for obtaining the core skill set required of a biomedical researcher in a computational world; and 3) how the combination of CBB with medical training provides a logical foundation for a career in academic medicine and/or biomedical research.     

The Crisis of Reproducibility,the Denominator Problem and the Scientific Role of Multi-scale Modeling

The “Crisis of Reproducibility” has received considerable attention both within the scientific community and without. While factors associated with scientific culture and practical practice are most often invoked, I propose that the Crisis of Reproducibility is ultimately a failure of generalization with a fundamental scientific basis in the methods used for biomedical research. The Denominator Problem describes how limitations intrinsic to the two primary approaches of biomedical research, clinical studies and preclinical experimental biology, lead to an inability to effectively characterize the full extent of biological heterogeneity, which compromises the task of generalizing acquired knowledge. Drawing on the example of the unifying role of theory in the physical sciences, I propose that multi-scale mathematical and dynamic computational models, when mapped to the modular structure of biological systems, can serve a unifying role as formal representations of what is conserved and similar from one biological context to another. This ability to explicitly describe the generation of heterogeneity from similarity addresses the Denominator Problem and provides a scientific response to the Crisis of Reproducibility.     

Methods in vascular infusion biotechnology in research with rodents

Infusion of experimental compounds into the vascular system of rodents and the need to collect blood and other biological fluids from small animals comprise an area of emerging importance to biomedical research and drug discovery and development. The advances in the development of transgenic rodents coupled with technical progress in the manufacture and commercial availability of various catheters, swivels, tethers, infusion pumps, and sample collection systems that are described have enabled biomedical scientists to miniaturize vascular infusion and sample collection systems previously used in animal species larger than the rat or mouse. Use of these advanced, miniature vascular infusion systems in rodents is possible only when careful planning of experimental design, expert surgical technique, adequate postoperative care, and fundamental animal welfare considerations are meticulously taken into consideration. Use of these vascular infusion systems in rodents promotes animal welfare and scientific progress through the reduction and refinement of animal models.     

A natural history of "agonist"

This paper constructs a brief history of the biochemical term agonist by exploring the multiple meanings of the root ag?n in ancient Greek literature and describing how agonist first appeared in the scientific literature of the 20th century in the context of neurophysiologists' debates about the existence and properties of cellular receptors. While the narrow scientific definition of agonist may appear colorless and dead when compared with the web of allusions spun by the ancient Greek ag?n, the scientific power and creativity of agonist actually resides precisely in its exact, restricted meaning for biomedical researchers.     

Predators and the public trust

Many democratic governments recognize a duty to conserve environmental resources, including wild animals, as a public trust for current and future citizens. These public trust principles have informed two centuries of U.S.A. Supreme Court decisions and environmental laws worldwide. Nevertheless numerous populations of large‐bodied, mammalian carnivores (predators) were eradicated in the 20th century. Environmental movements and strict legal protections have fostered predator recoveries across the U.S.A. and Europe since the 1970s. Now subnational jurisdictions are regaining management authority from central governments for their predator subpopulations. Will the history of local eradication repeat or will these jurisdictions adopt public trust thinking and their obligation to broad public interests over narrower ones? We review the role of public trust principles in the restoration and preservation of controversial species. In so doing we argue for the essential roles of scientists from many disciplines concerned with biological diversity and its conservation. We look beyond species endangerment to future generations' interests in sustainability, particularly non‐consumptive uses. Although our conclusions apply to all wild organisms, we focus on predators because of the particular challenges they pose for government trustees, trust managers, and society. Gray wolves Canis lupus L. deserve particular attention, because detailed information and abundant policy debates across regions have exposed four important challenges for preserving predators in the face of interest group hostility. One challenge is uncertainty and varied interpretations about public trustees' responsibilities for wildlife, which have created a mosaic of policies across jurisdictions. We explore how such mosaics have merits and drawbacks for biodiversity. The other three challenges to conserving wildlife as public trust assets are illuminated by the biology of predators and the interacting behavioural ecologies of humans and predators. The scientific community has not reached consensus on sustainable levels of human‐caused mortality for many predator populations. This challenge includes both genuine conceptual uncertainty and exploitation of scientific debate for political gain. Second, human intolerance for predators exposes value conflicts about preferences for some wildlife over others and balancing majority rule with the protection of minorities in a democracy. We examine how differences between traditional assumptions and scientific studies of interactions between people and predators impede evidence‐based policy. Even if the prior challenges can be overcome, well‐reasoned policy on wild animals faces a greater challenge than other environmental assets because animals and humans change behaviour in response to each other in the short term. These coupled, dynamic responses exacerbate clashes between uses that deplete wildlife and uses that enhance or preserve wildlife. Viewed in this way, environmental assets demand sophisticated, careful accounting by disinterested trustees who can both understand the multidisciplinary scientific measurements of relative costs and benefits among competing uses, and justly balance the needs of all beneficiaries including future generations. Without public trust principles, future trustees will seldom prevail against narrow, powerful, and undemocratic interests. Without conservation informed by public trust thinking predator populations will face repeated cycles of eradication and recovery. Our conclusions have implications for the many subfields of the biological sciences that address environmental trust assets from the atmosphere to aquifers.     

IS EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY STRATEGIC SCIENCE?

There is a profound need for the scientific community to be better aware of the policy context in which it operates. To address this need, Evolution has established a new Outlook feature section to include papers that explore the interface between society and evolutionary biology. This first paper in the series considers the strategic relevance of evolutionary biology. Support for scientific research in general is based on governmental or institutional expenditure that is an investment, and such investment is based on strategies designed to achieve particular outcomes, such as advance in particular areas of basic science or application. The scientific community can engage in the development of scientific strategies on a variety of levels, including workshops to explicitly develop research priorities and targeted funding initiatives to help define emerging scientific areas. Better understanding and communication of the scientific achievements of evolutionary biology, emphasizing immediate and potential societal relevance, are effective counters to challenges presented by the creationist agenda. Future papers in the Outlook feature section should assist the evolutionary biology community in achieving a better collective understanding of the societal relevance of their field.     

Convergence of human pluripotent stem cell,organoid, and genome editing technologies

The last decade has seen many exciting technological breakthroughs that greatly expanded the toolboxes for biological and biomedical research, yet few have had more impact than induced pluripotent stem cells and modern-day genome editing. These technologies are providing unprecedented opportunities to improve physiological relevance of experimental models, further our understanding of developmental processes, and develop novel therapies. One of the research areas that benefit greatly from these technological advances is the three-dimensional human organoid culture systems that resemble human tissues morphologically and physiologically. Here we summarize the development of human pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation through organoid formation. We further discuss how genetic modifications, genome editing in particular, were applied to answer basic biological and biomedical questions using organoid cultures of both somatic and pluripotent stem cell origins. Finally, we discuss the potential challenges of applying human pluripotent stem cell and organoid technologies for safety and efficiency evaluation of emerging genome editing tools.