AAMC's Letter to OSTP on Instrumentation
April 21, 1998
Arthur Bienenstock, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Science
Office of Science and Technology Policy
424 Old Executive Office Building
17th and Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Dr. Bienenstock:
Thank you again for your thoughtful remarks to the Association
of American Medical College' s Council of Academic Societies
on March 28. We are encouraged that, as the OSTP undergoes
transition, the new team of which you are a part will continue
to meet the high standard of professionalism and integrity
set by Dr. Gibbons. As always, the Association offers
its support and assistance in efforts to strengthen the government-university
partnership that has been so successful for national health,
prosperity, and security.
On behalf of the AAMC, I am writing to call your attention
to a growing and critical need for state-of-the-art instrumentation
in biomedical research. As you know, investigation of
the structure, function, and dynamics of biological molecules
is at the heart of an ongoing revolution in the biomedical
sciences. This revolution is further impelled by gains made
in sequencing the genomes of humans and other organisms.
One of the most exciting prospects for research in the next
decade is to elucidate the paths by which information encoded
in the genome translates into the molecular components of
physiological and pathological processes. Detailed knowledge
about the molecular biology and biochemistry of disease has
already contributed to the development of protease inhibitors
for HIV therapy, a hepatitis B vaccine developed from a recombinant
protein, and cholesterol-lowering drugs for coronary artery
disease. Continued research on the structures of biological
molecules will aid in the design of a host of new therapeutics.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy exemplifies
an extremely powerful research tool that allows scientists
to capture the chemical, kinetic, and dynamic properties of
biological molecules. Innovations in NMR spectroscopy
have been sufficient to meet demand for increasingly complex
biological analysis, but the costs of new instrumentation
have risen exponentially. At present, an 11.74 Tesla
(500 Mhz) magnet employed for NMR spectroscopy costs approximately
$500,000, while an 18.8 Tesla (800 Mhz) magnet costs $2 million.
The next generation NMR with fields in the range of 21.1 T
(900 Mhz) to 23.5 (1 Ghz) will greatly extend the capabilities
of biomedical researchers, but will cost more than $5 million.
A second tool developed by 20th Century physics -- x-ray
crystallography -- provides the only other method enabling
researchers to resolve the three-dimensional structures of
biological molecules to the level of their component atoms.
The intense x-ray beams produced by synchrotron radiation
facilities are increasingly used to study the highly complex
structures and functions of biological macromolecules, and
the Department of Energy has reported that nearly half of
the new findings on the structures of these molecules published
in the leading scientific journals have been refined using
synchrotron data. The cyclotron facilities that generate
synchrotron beams alone represent an investment of hundreds
of millions of dollars to construct and maintain, and scientists
can extend the benefit of these light sources with sophisticated
detectors for use in analysis of samples exposed to these
beams.
Other research equipment, such as top-of-the-line mass spectrometers,
confocal microscopes, and FEG (field emission gun) electron
cryomicroscopes, also cost in excess of $1 million.
Mass spectrometers are usually used in conjunction with other
less expensive instrumentation, and require heavy demands
on computer support and software. Notice should also
be given to the emerging importance of positron emission tomography
(PET) imaging.
Expensive instrumentation is most efficiently utilized when
shared across research projects and laboratories. Shared
instrumentation provides for economies of scale in technical
support and maintenance and fosters collaboration among research
teams, which is highly beneficial to interdisciplinary research.
The NIH's National Center for Research Resources administers
the Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) award, a mechanism
that is highly successful and has been soundly targeted for
a funding increase in the President's FY 1999 budget request.
However, the SIG program contributes only up to a maximum
$400,000 per award in support of research instrumentation.
Given the increasing importance of studies of molecular structure,
and the opportunities afforded by the human genome project,
biology and other disciplines increasingly rely on technologies
like NMR, x-ray synchrotron beams, PET imaging, and mass spectrometry,
among others. We strongly recommend establishment of
a shared instrumentation mechanism to enable access to commercially
available research equipment in the range of $1 million to
$5 million. Equipment supported by such a mechanism
could be employed in biomedical research, materials sciences,
and other disciplines. Of course, awards made under
such a mechanism should be subject to merit review.
The critical importance of such instrumentation underscores
the dependence of biomedical research on advances in other
fields of science, including physics, chemistry, engineering,
mathematics, computer science, among many others. Continued
support of these fields, especially in merit-reviewed, fundamental
research, is essential for continued advancements in medicine.
For this reason, the AAMC applauds the President's recent
budget request calling for historic increases in the funding
of U.S. fundamental science.
Sincerely,
Jordan J. Cohen, M.D.
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