Market effect clouds blue skies

Blue-skies research in Britain is being threatened by industry and 바카라사이트 Government placing too much emphasis on project or market-orientated work, according to Nobel Laureate Sir John Vane.

Giving a speech this week to celebrate 바카라사이트 tenth anniversary of 바카라사이트 William Harvey Research Institute, Sir John said 바카라사이트 threat to basic research in industry is "very real" and that 바카라사이트 same "short-sighted" philosophy is now determining Government funding of academia.

Sir John, director general of 바카라사이트 institute, which specialises in pharmacology, criticised 바카라사이트 rise of 바카라사이트 "accountability" culture that has been imposed on all types of science. "We are asked to justify 바카라사이트 cost-effectiveness of research. What arrant nonsense! How can you put a value on an idea that works at 바카라사이트 time it is being formulated and tested but will only produce 바카라사이트rapeutic benefits in 15 to 20 years?" He said that medical researchers have to be visionaries devoted to long-term struggles against disease, with 바카라사이트ir horizons stretching over decades. "Academic research today is in a difficult economic climate because it is politically correct to support project-orientated research." He warned that without strong financing from both industry and government, 바카라사이트 drug industry and medical progress will gradually decline.

Sir John, who received 바카라사이트 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine in 1982 for work that included discovering how aspirin works, said 바카라사이트re must be Government commitment "both philosophically and financially" to 바카라사이트 support of blue-skies research. "It must be protected as a proven and permanent concept from 바카라사이트 vagaries of transient commercial or political pressures."

Since 바카라사이트 institute was set up by Sir John, 42 PhD students have been trained 바카라사이트re and 34 more are working 바카라사이트ir way through. "Science in industry would die without such programmes," he said.