Transcript Trends in Science and Research

Trends in Science
and Research
Michael M. Crow
Executive Vice Provost
Columbia University
August 2000
Scientific questions are growing
more complex and interconnected.
We know that the greatest
excitement in research often occurs
at the borders of disciplines, where
they interface with each other.
Trends
Information Technology
Nanotechnology
Molecular Computing
Biocomplexity
Genomics
Intellectual Property
Social Outcomes
Impacts of
Science and Technology
• Economic
– New economy is knowledge-driven
– Technological advances have driven recent
economic growth and productivity gains
• Social
– New social structures and institutions
• Political
– New Federal initiatives
Increasing Attention to S & T
• International
– The world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland this year gave
unusually high attention to scientific and technological issues
– PRC President Jiang Zemin has stated that “science and
technology should be the driving force for China’s rejuvenation
and sustainable development”
• States
– California plans three interdisciplinary research institutes for
science and innovation
• Foundations
– 28% of MacArthur fellows this year were scientists (vs. 13% in
previous years)
Information Technology
No field of research will be left
untouched by the current explosion of
information--and of information
technologies. Science used to be
composed of two endeavors--theory and
experiment. Now it has a third
component: computer simulation, which
links the other two.
- Rita Colwell
Federal Initiative:
Information Technology
• Interdisciplinary teams to exploit advances in
computing
– Involves computer science, mathematics, physics, psychology,
social sciences, education
• Focus on:
– Developing architecture to scale up information infrastructure
– Incorporating different representations of information (visual,
audio, text)
– Access and workforce issues and innovative educational
technologies
– Research on social, economic and cultural factors affected by and
affecting IT usage
New Economy Workforce
• Information technology and services are a
large and growing part of the overall
economy, but workforce skills lag
• House bills introduced to improve math and
science education in U.S. elementary and
secondary schools
• France is to create a grande ecole dedicated
to the Internet
Nanotechnology
We are at the point of connecting machines to
individual cells
Atoms
<1 nm
DNA
~2.5 nm
Cells
thousands of nm
Federal Initiative:
Nanotechnology
• Interdisciplinary ability to
systematically control and
manipulate matter at very small scales
– Involves biology, math, physics, chemistry,
materials, engineering, information technology
• Focus on:
– Biosystems, structures of quantum control,
device and system architecture, environmental
processes, modeling and simulation
Molecular Computing
as an Emerging Field
Observing quantum interference
• Interdisciplinary field of quantum information
science addresses atomic system (vs. classical
system) efficiency and ability to handle complexity
– Involves physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer
science and engineering
• Quantum information can be exploited to perform
tasks that would be nearly impossible in a classical
world
Molecular Computing
• Building electronic circuits from the bottom
up, beginning at the molecular level
Single monolayer of organically
functionalized silver quantum dots
Journal of Physical Chemistry,
May 6, 1999
• Molecular computers will be the size of a
tear drop with the power of today's fastest
supercomputers
Biocomplexity
Planet
Biome
Ecosystem
Community
Habitat
Population
Organism
Organ
Tissue
Cell
Organelle
Molecular
Atomic
Federal Initiative:
Biocomplexity
• Dynamic interdisciplinary
interactions of the Earth’s
environmental systems
Biocomplexity
Initiative
– Involves biological, physical and social systems
• One promising area is geomicrobiology, the
examination of the Earth’s crust as a
microbial habitat
– Applications: recover secondary oil supplies,
bioremediation of contaminated aquifers
Human Genome
Sequence
Draft completed June 2000
• Next race: annotation
– Pinpoint genes
– Translate genes into proteins
– Assign functions to proteins
• Genomic tool example: DNA chip
– Array of genetic building blocks acts as
“bait” to find matching DNA sequences
from human samples
Entire yeast
genome on a chip
Genomic Collaborations
• An international consortium of 62 scientists from 13
labs determined the identities of 33.5 million bases of
the long arm and another 280,000 bases of the short
arm of chromosome 21
• The public consortium to map the human genome is
an international one, made up of academic centers
supported largely by NIH and the Wellcome Trust
• Consortium to map human genetic markers (SNPs, or
single nucleotide polymorphisms) is made up of drug
companies, IBM, and academic centers
• Celera and Geron have joined forces over stem cell
gene analysis
NIH Initiative: Genetic Medicine
• Isolation and identification of genes will help
develop new strategies for treating disease
• Simulations of molecular processes in cells and
predictions of drug effects in humans will advance
pharmaceutical research and speed up clinical
trials
• Computational prognostics and diagnostics that
combine clinical data with genotyping and
molecular profiling will cause fundamental
changes in the practice of health care
Building Science Institutions
• Italy: Plans for the creation of a public agency similar to NIH
– The current lack of such an agency means biomedical
research has become increasingly dependent on funding from
charities and industry
• Canada: New biomedical research institution modeled after
NIH
– Will be a national network of about a dozen virtual research
institutes, grouped by scientific theme
• Proposed InterAcademy Council would be a new mechanism
to provide impartial scientific advice to international
organizations
– Would be an international version of the U.S. National
Research Council
Intellectual Property
• Gene patents
– Ethics
– Stifling of research and innovation
– Overlapping rights and claims
• Broad business method software
patents emphasize competitive barriers over
innovation
Entrepreneurial Academia/IP
• Harvard Medical School may ease their
conflict of interest guidelines
– Would give researchers greater flexibility in
their commercial dealings and more
opportunity to profit from their work
• Japanese public universities may be
authorized to keep half the royalties on
patented inventions
– Would provide incentives for entrepreneurial
activities in academia
Science with a Social Dimension
• Social equity
– Equitable distribution of the benefits of science
• Social purpose
– Structural outcome of scientific investments
• Social enterprises
– Economic effects of research universities
Social Outcomes
• Energy
– Turbines on the Great Plains generate wind
power and energy
– Electric hybrid cars have become more efficient
and affordable
• Health
– NIH has boosted minority health research
funding
• New Zealand: New government has stressed that
research, science and technology will be integrated
with economic and social policy
Social Outcomes
for Developing Countries
• Biotechnology such as genetically altered
rice could help stave off malnutrition in
poor nations
• China: Encouraging scientists to conduct
basic research in “fields where the needs of
the state intersect the frontiers of science”
• UNESCO backs science for debt plan
integrating a science funding component
into negotiations for debt relief