A. We feel a real responsibility to pay attention to the right balance of basic discovery in the laboratory — genetic and molecular findings — while at the same time making sure we can translate those findings into new approaches that can make a difference.
More broadly, we aim to relate our basic discoveries in cell biology to human disease its treatment.
In the above video, Vance, a professor of molecular and cell biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and IVRI researcher Sarah Stanley discuss how basic discoveries in one field trigger insights in the other.
At the same time, the basic discoveries in cell biology, including embryonic and adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, genetically modified cells and others, have moved regenerative medicine into the center of biomedical research worldwide with a major translational impact on tissue engineering as well as transplantation medicine.
For basic discoveries in human biology to have real impact in medicine, engineering developments need to draw on adequate understanding of the biological mechanisms that lead to disease and that determine the action and performance of medicines and therapies.
As predicted by Matthew Freeman and Daniel St Johnston in their inaugural editorial entitled Wherefore DMM? (Freeman and St Johnston, 2008), the application of basic discoveries in model organisms has accelerated the study of human disease in recent years.
I have a lot going on in the lab with medical trials right now as well as with basic discovery, in fields that are very strong at Harvard, especially systems biology.
I am really excited about the potential for developing the translational potential of more basic discoveries more rapidly and effectively in this type of model.
The Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Program at Stanford became the first graduate program at Stanford to bridge this gap with specific intent to provide young scientists with expertise in both basic discovery and in the application of discoveries to improve human health and wellbeing.
As Childe remarked, these depended on the same basic discoveries as those exploited in Egypt or Mesopotamia, but in each case the crafts acquired a significance of their own.
