Conference Presentation, Panel
Bioscience Discoveries That Will Blow Your Mind
Milken InstituteJack Andraka, David Baltimore, Francis Collins, Tejal Desai, Aydogan Ozcan, Margaret Anderson
- Jack Andraka projects that adapting antibody sensors could enable detection of a wide spectrum of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and various cancers.
- Andraka predicts the internet user base will grow by 3.5 billion people in the next few years, potentially doubling the number of global innovators and allowing creativity to supersede age, gender, or degree.
- Andraka anticipates a shift in behavior where youth and individuals prioritize invention over social media consumption to address problems.
- Tejal Desai forecasts the convergence of nanotechnology and precision medicine to enable non-invasive drug delivery by transiently opening and closing tight junctions to target specific molecules at precise times and locations.
- Desai expects bringing STEM education to elementary school levels will help engage younger girls in the field.
- David Baltimore states gene therapy has matured to treat inherited diseases, cancer, and HIV, with current efforts testing antibody gene delivery in humans via the Vaccine Research Center.
- Baltimore plans to continue programs for over a decade using genetically programmed immune cells to fight cancer, noting this work relies on National Institutes of Health support.
- Francis Collins asserts the current rate of biomedical progress is unmatched, with human genome sequencing costs continuing to decline.
- Collins highlights a challenge to develop treatments for 6,750 of the 7,000 diseases identified by genomics, which currently lack therapies, positioning targeted therapies and precision medicine as the future.
- The BRAIN Initiative is expected to be a 10- to 15-year project aimed at understanding brain circuits to treat epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's, requiring full engagement from the scientific community and the public.
- Elif Bilgen Ozcan expects an order-of-magnitude increase in personal microscopes and diagnostic tools entering homes within the next decade.
- Ozcan forecasts the creation of a "micro internet" network of devices attached to cell phones to monitor diseases over space and time, using big data to detect previously unobservable rare patterns and achieve a transformation comparable to the personal computer to internet shift.
- Desai warns that funding reductions and sequestration are placing historic stress on biomedical research resources, necessitating resources to empower great work.
- Baltimore and Desai observe that constrained environments and lack of obvious country support are causing young scientists to question their career paths and whether to continue in the field.
- Baltimore advocates for the continuation and expansion of special federal funding categories, such as the Director's New Innovator Award, to protect bold, unconventional ideas from young investigators.
- Collins expresses concern that high school biology classes may still dampen enthusiasm for science.
- Desai emphasizes the imperative to retain bright scientists in the field given the many opportunities ahead, despite their current deliberation on continuing their path.