Innovative Research in Life Sciences

Pathways to Scientific Impact, Public Health Improvement, and Economic Progress

E. Andrew Balas

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781119225881
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medical Theory, Practice & Reference

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as it has taken me on a journey through time, across the globe and through multiple disciplines. Indeed, we need to be thinking about these concepts and applying them every day to do our jobs better."

Farah Magrabi, Macquarie University, Australia

"The reader will find intriguing not only the title but also the content of the book. I'm also pleased that public health, and even more specifically epidemiology has an important place in this ambitious discussion."

Elena Andresen, Oregon Health & Science University, USA

"This book is very well written and addresses an important topic. It presents many reasons why basic scientists/researchers should establish collaborations and access information outside traditional means and not limit thinking but rather expand such and perhaps develop more innovative and translational research ventures that will advance science and not move it laterally."

Gerald Pepe, Eastern Virginia Medical School, USA

"This book gathers logically and presents interestingly (with many examples) the qualities and attitudes a researcher must possess in order to become successful. On the long run, the deep and carefully reexamined research will be the one that lasts."

Zoltán Néda, Babe?-Bolyai University, Romania

"I really liked the five pillars delineating the components of humanism in research. This book has made a major contribution to the research ethics literature."

David Fleming, University of Missouri, USA

A comprehensive review of the research phase of life sciences from design to discovery with suggestions to improve innovation

This vital resource explores the creative processes leading to biomedical innovation, identifies the obstacles and best practices of innovative laboratories, and supports the production of effective science. Innovative Research in Life Sciences draws on lessons from 400 award-winning scientists and research from leading universities. The book explores the innovative process in life sciences and puts the focus on how great ideas are born and become landmark scientific discoveries. The text provides a unique resource for developing professional competencies and applied skills of life sciences researchers.

The book examines what happens before the scientific paper is submitted for publication or the innovation becomes legally protected. This phase is the most neglected but most exciting in the process of scientific creativity and innovation. The author identifies twelve competencies of innovative biomedical researchers that described and analyzed. This important resource:

• Highlights the research phase from design to discovery that precedes innovation disclosure
• Offers a step by step explanation of how to improve innovation
• Offers solutions for improving research and innovation productivity in the life sciences
• Contains a variety of statistical databases and a vast number of stories about individual discoveries
• Includes a process of published studies and national statistics of biomedical research and reviews the performance of research labs and academic institutions

Written for academics and researchers in biomedicine, pharmaceutical science, life sciences, drug discovery, pharmacology, Innovative Research in Life Sciences offers a guide to the creative processes leading to biomedical innovation and identifies the best practices of innovative scientists and laboratories.

Part One
Outcomes of Research

1
Pathways of the Research Innovator

Scientists must have the courage to attack the great unsolved problems of their time.

Otto Warburg (1964) ¹

In recent decades, there has been remarkable progress in advancing life sciences. Discoveries are pouring out of laboratories and research universities all over the world. Science is bringing us closer to realizing the dream of understanding, treating, and preventing major diseases and opening up new, unprecedented economic development opportunities. We live in the exponential times of life sciences: not just the number of discoveries is growing, but also the benefits to people and society are multiplying.

In general terms, research has not done a great job in defining its end product. Better understanding how scientific ideas, life‐changing practices, or technologies are generated should help to see the trends of success and learn from the inspiring stories. By choosing areas of interest, researchers make decisions that shape futures and change lives. Ultimately, research should become better targeted, more accomplished, and effective more rapidly.

Scientific research is known for leading to peer‐reviewed, replicable, and generalizable knowledge. The dopamine neurotransmission model in the brain discovered many years ago will also work next year. It can be used to treat many patients with comparable effects anywhere in the world. The new model of physiologic function can be confirmed by other researchers. Peer review means disclosing methodology and findings to be evaluated by experts not affiliated with the study.

Eugene Wigner’s (1960) article on the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences elegantly describes the essence of reproducibility and generalizability in science. As Erwin Schrodinger (1932) noted earlier, certain regularities in the events could be discovered in spite of the perplexing complexity of the world. Wigner pointed out that the laws of nature are concerned with such regularities. There is also a “succession of layers of ‘laws of nature’, each layer containing more general and more encompassing laws than the previous one and its discovery represents a deeper penetration into the structure of the universe than the layers recognized before.” Wigner also highlighted the generalizability of the laws of nature: “it is true not only in Pisa, and in Galileo’s time, it is true everywhere on the Earth, was always true, and will always be true.”

A better understanding of long‐term outcomes should make research more streamlined and dissemination of discoveries more effective. When producing peer‐reviewed, replicable, and generalizable results, researchers always make important disclosure decisions, either knowingly or not. Examining various choices and their practical implications should improve understanding of consequential scientific discoveries, support researchers striving to innovate, and facilitate the development of more useful research infrastructures. This chapter clarifies concepts, defines terminologies, and introduces a model framework for biomedical research innovation.

Diverse Outcomes of Science

Among the many possible outcomes, models of important relationships, laws of nature, represent a crucial stepping stone in the progress of science. Some of them are complex, while others are simple relationships. When widely published, greater understanding and new models can not only change the usual course of health care but also serve as launch pads for further successful research.

The research concepts of better understanding, new knowledge, and penetrating insight can often be captured by scientific models: verbal, graphic, physical, or mathematical representations of an important feature of the world. The double helix of the DNA, the causative role of Helicobacter pylori in gastric ulcer, and rituximab‐mediated immune destruction of lymphomas are all examples of models abundantly validated by subsequent studies and patient experiences.

The creative process in academia is called research or scholarly activity. When productive, the creative process leads to results that have great theoretical significance and practical value. Innovative biomedical research has repeatedly proved its value by finding cures for major diseases, improving public health, and generating economic prosperity.

In most academic institutions, the peer‐reviewed research article and competitive extramural research funding have become the gold standard in expectations and most common pathways of delivering scholarly productivity results (Anderson et al. 2013). Most academic institutions require a certain quantity and impact factor of peer‐reviewed research articles. It is noteworthy that the health sciences area is unique in its singular focus on peer‐reviewed articles (Anderson et al. 2013; Gelmon et al. 2013; Smesny et al. 2007).

With advances in applied life sciences over many decades, there have also been growing numbers of biomedical innovations – not only to improve human life but also contribute to economic development. Major categories of results generated by biomedical research innovation include (i) products, (ii) services, or (iii) practice recommendations (i.e. guidelines, processes, systems, and organizational structures).

Of the top 10 Achievements in Public Health from 2001 to 2010 identified by the CDC, a decline in vaccine preventable diseases was among the most spectacular scientific achievements (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011). Two vaccine products, in particular, were singled out: the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and the rotavirus vaccine. An estimated 211 000 serious pneumococcal infections and 13 000 deaths were prevented during 2000–2008 after the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was introduced (Pilishvili et al. 2010). Similarly, vaccinations for the rotavirus now prevent an estimated 40 000–60 000 hospitalizations each year according to 2011 statistics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2009; Tate and Parashar 2011; Yen et al. 2011). Rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines also resulted in practice recommendations by the CDC to include these products in the regular schedule of vaccinations for infants and children.

The top 10 Achievements in Public Health also include successful breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening services. Particularly, colorectal cancer death rates decreased from 25.6 per 100 000 population to 20.0 for men and from 18.0 per 100 000 to 14.2 for women between 1998 and 2007 (Kohler et al. 2011).

Working in Switzerland, Andreas Grüntzig developed the first balloon angioplasty and successfully used it in patient care in 1977. This product and practice recommendation have saved numerous lives and made them more comfortable. Further refinement included the addition of a heart stent product, left behind after the procedure. The resulting nonsurgical service is used in multiple ways, allowing for devices and drugs to be utilized directly (Gruentzig 1982; Holmes et al. 1984).

According to the classic definition, innovation is the design, invention, development, and implementation of new or altered products, services, processes, systems, or organizational models to create new value for customers and financial returns (Schramm et al. 2008). Removing barriers to the development of innovative biomedical research has the potential to affect millions of people by finding solutions to major global public health concerns.

Successful biomedical research innovation cannot be equated with business success. Many new initiatives highlight the need for much more innovation in areas where business success is limited or nonexistent. For example, there is a great need for innovation in the treatment of rare and esoteric diseases as highlighted by the NIH Office of Rare Diseases Research Bench‐to‐Bedside (B2B) Awards and the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development. These programs seek to advance the evaluation and development of products for the diagnosis and treatment of often overlooked rare diseases. Increasingly, public–private partnerships are recommended for the development of noncommercial innovations (Nwaka and Ridley 2003).

There have been many commercial successes that later turned out to be health outcome failures. For example, a major maker of pomegranate juice made sweeping claims, citing university studies and researchers, that its juice reduced the rate of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Part One: Outcomes of Research
• Part Two: Headwinds of Research Innovation
• Part Three: Boosters of Research Productivity
• Part Four: Atmosphere of Excellence
• List of Award-winning Scientists and Serial Innovators
• Subject Index
• End User License Agreement