Council News Vol. 7, no. 2

WEAVING TOGETHER THE NIH MISSION AND YOUR
SCIENCE INTERESTS
Understanding how basic science and applied research feed each other may hold
the key to fusing your research interests with NIH's drive to fulfill its mission.
Study sections have been slow to recognize the value of research that leans toward
the applied, favoring pure basic research applications.

But this may be changing, as is evidenced by such
changes as the creation of the new NIH vaccine
study section (see the article on page 10), heightening credibility for research beyond basic immunology and other topics not geared toward vaccine
development.
The central NIH mission is to improve public
health.
Research Paradigm Linear Continu
Basic Applied Development Productio
research research & operatior
Viewing research as progressing in linear fashion
from basic to applied does not adequately define
areas of transition between basic research and
studies leaning toward applications that achieve
those ends.
Further, a linear model may simply be wrong.
Speaking at BIO 98 (see the article on page 11),
Dr. John McGowan, director of NIAID's Division
of Extramural Activities, suggested that the interplay between basic research and applied research is
not adequately portrayed by the linear model.
For example, basic research led to the development
of new tools, such as polymerase chain reaction
and microchip technology, that in turn spawned
new avenues of basic research.

Basic ond opplied reseorch feed each
other
A more dynamic paradigm builds a better framework for conceptualizing the interplay between
basic and more applied research that primes the
research enterprise.
This is very different from the linear model, which
presumes that basic research gives no thought to
practical ends.
Basic research does not exist in a
vacuum- technology inspires research
um as often as the other way around, and
both build the knowledge base. The
heart of NIH research, the RO1 grant,
floats in a fluid gray zone between the
n blurred edges of pure basic and more
15 applied, or "use-inspired," research.
Showing a link between research and
conquering public health threats is
especially salient for funding authorities; NIH alone spends more than $10 billion a
year of the tax payers' money on biomedical research.
When planning their research projects, therefore,
Dr. McGowan advised scientists to think in terms
of how their work fits into a larger framework.
Investigators who understand the NIH mission
will benefit from this perspective when seeking
partnerships and funding.
PC os on exomple
PCR technology illustrates the give-and-take between basic and applied research. Basic government-sponsored research of bacteria living near
thermal vents on the ocean floor revealed heatstable enzymes that can amplify tiny amounts of