Capitalizing on New Needs and New Opportunities Government-Industry Partnerships in Biotechnology and Information Technologies (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Panel III: Biotechnology: Needs and Opportunities
Panel III: Biotechnology: Needs and Opportunities
Pages 129-145
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From page 129... ...
EXPLOITING THE BIOTECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION: TRAINING AND TOOLS Marvin Cassman National Institutes of Health The marriage of biology and technology, said Dr. Cassman, is creating an incredible pace of change in the biotechnology field.
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From page 130... ...
Of course, there are other things happening in the cell, but understanding the baseline is the starting point for research into the cell. With the tools of molecular genetics, structural biology, and genomics, the question arises about the discipline's future path.
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From page 131... ...
Dealing with networks is a far more complex task than dealing with a linear path, and we need more sophisticated tools today to understand properly how these networks function. Similarly, dealing with human diseases will require understanding how multiple components interact, not just identifying a single gene defect.
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From page 132... ...
Understanding how the hormone affects the function of a single cell is presently difficult, but it is crucial to understanding how to develop therapies that will modulate a cell' s function. Biology and Complex Systems The challenge is how to accelerate biologists' understanding of organisms as complex systems.
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From page 133... ...
NIH' s "glue grants" do not support underlying research, as support for that is assumed to be in place, but are intended to facilitate interaction among diverse sets of researchers. It was surprising to Dr.
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That is, there may be different relative payoffs from training biologists in computer science versus training computer scientists in the life sciences.
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He noted the paradox of vastly improved communications technology existing alongside apparently growing geographical concentration of innovation in certain regions.
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As an example of NSF's efforts to use information technology to better understand complex biological systems, Dr. Colwell described NSF-funded projects that explore global and regional distribution of temperature, precipitation, sea level, water resources, and biological productivity.
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This is why NSF's Twenty-first Century Workforce Initiative is important to the agency's overall mission and the nation's economic future. This program establishes partnerships with the private sector and universities to expand training programs in math, science, and engineering.
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From page 138... ...
The upcoming challenges in bioinformatics mean that NSF's mission is ever more urgent, in terms of training graduate students to develop the new computational tools that will be necessary to exploit fully the promise of the biotechnology revolution. The scientific community must embrace the new methods and approaches in biotechnology research, and NSF stands ready to play a support role in encouraging this.
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From page 139... ...
Stephan said her remarks would focus on four dimensions of emerging gaps in the supply of workers trained to handle the vast quantities of biological data being produced. These are: An indication of strong demand; A summary of what is in the pipeline at present;
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From page 140... ...
Looking at the data more closely, the number of distinct position announcements grew by 68.6 percent from 1996 to 1997, with position announcements from firms growing by 70 percent, universities growing by 29 percent, and other non-profit institutions growing by 133 percent. Another way to assess demand is to explore the placement of students in formal or informal bioinformatics programs at universities.
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From page 141... ...
Stephan's survey, as of March 1999 formal training programs had 23 undergraduates enrolled, 35 master's students, 86 doctoral students, and approximately 25 post-doctorates. The strong demand for bioinformatics and growing enrollment occurs at a time of a "crisis of expectations" for young life scientists.
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From page 142... ...
Interdisciplinary Challenges Dr. Stephan said that the interdisciplinary nature of computational biology creates disincentives to establish new training programs.
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Stephan and Grant Black found that most had no math prerequisite for entry and that few had any math courses as part of the degree program. Moreover, data indicates that students intending to enter biological and medical sciences have lower mathematical aptitudes than their counterparts planning to enter computer sciences and mathematics programs.
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From page 144... ...
Researchers can then compare the differences and explore whether the normal cells have, for example, different regulator genes. Posing such questions enables researchers to develop priority gene targets for drug development.
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Dr. Stephan responded that, even though the field was new, many people contacted in the course of her research said that they had found it difficult to start computational biology programs within their academic institutions.
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