Panel, Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat
Bioscience Discoveries That Will Blow Your Mind (updated)
Milken InstituteJack Andraka, David Baltimore, Francis Collins, Tejal Desai, Aydogan Ozcan, Margaret Anderson
- Jack Andreyka anticipates continuing development of cancer detection technology aiming for 100% accuracy in pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers, with expectations that shifting antibodies in the sensor will enable detection of diverse conditions ranging from HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer's to heart disease.
- Andreyka predicts the next few years will bring 3.5 billion new internet users, effectively doubling the innovator base, and foresees an order of magnitude increase in personal microscopes and diagnostic tools entering homes for chronic condition monitoring within the next decade.
- Tejal Desai projects that nanotechnology films releasing drugs over six to 12 months will enable standard care with reduced visit frequency, while her method of opening and closing tight junctions is expected to enable non-invasive protein delivery and advance precision medicine applications.
- David Baltimore believes gene therapy has matured beyond curing inherited diseases, noting current work with the Vaccine Research Center on human antibody delivery, a Los Angeles startup (Calimmune) testing HIV protection, Seattle-based Immune Design developing antigen-presenting genes, and UCLA collaborations treating patients with immune-system-fighting cancer therapies.
- Francis Collins expects continued reductions in human genome sequencing costs and predicts the Cancer Genome Atlas project will soon complete sequencing approximately 20,000 tumors to identify new targets for emerging targeted therapeutics.
- Collins anticipates the NIH must accelerate translational steps to convert basic science discoveries into therapeutics and views the recently announced Brain Initiative as a 10- to 15-year project aimed at understanding brain circuits and treating epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.
- Praveen envisions a "micro-internet" formed by networks of devices attached to cell phones and smart electronics, which will collect large-scale data to reveal rare patterns and allow systems to evaluate micro- and nano-scale disease evolution over space and time.
- Panelists identify significant risks regarding the future of the field, including Tejal Desai's concern that funding constraints and a lack of societal excitement for science may cause talented individuals, particularly young women, to leave the profession or delay their career paths.
- David Baltimore and Tejal Desai express fears that young scientists face uncertainty due to perceived reductions in national support for science compared to the Sputnik era and realities facing them two to three years down the road, while Francis Collins worries high school biology education may suppress enthusiasm for the field.
- To address these challenges, Praveen advocates for federal funding mechanisms like the Director's New Innovator Award to provide larger funding chunks for bold ideas, and Francis Collins expects to engage the scientific community and public in the Brain Initiative.