This morning at the Lindau Nobel meeting we had a panel discussion about the Impact of Chemistry and Physics to Biomedicine. Where is the Future? I've summarized some of the highlights below, using the Twitter comments of this session (following the conference Twitter feed at #lnlm10 is highly recommended). The young researchers were asked to submit questions to the panel, and they were used as starting points for the panel discussion (the Lindau version of an unconference session).
Helmut Sies (chairperson): The first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 was awarded to Wilhelm Röntgen for X-Rays. This obviously had many implications for medicine, but they were not known at the time of discovery.
Question: Examples of integration of physics basic science into medicine?
Erwin Neher: on the list of important basic science contributions to medicine (as judged by a group of physicians), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is ranked #1.
Roger Tsien: there are interesting applications using neutrons in medical imaging. The problem is availability, as nuclear reactors are required, and they are becoming inceasingly scarce.
Roger Tsien: increasingly, data analysis of large data sets is required for complex biologic experiments. Theoretical physicists have traditionally gone on to careers in investment banking on Wall St. (financial engineering). Future graduates should reconsider this and rather help with the analysis of large biological datasets.
Harald zur Hausen: Medicine could be split into the areas of etiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Basic biological research is particularly important to study the etiology and prevention of diseases. Basic physics research might be particularly helpful to improve diagnostics.
Helmut Sies: I would like to turn the question around and ask what physics and chemistry can learn from biology?
Erwin Neher: my favorite problem is neuroscience. Here we are faced with two challenges: understanding the basic principles, and interfering with (i.e. treating) diseases. The bad news is that we still have a long way to understand how the brain works. The good news is that you don't have to completely understand biologic processes in order to treat diseases. Neurodegenerative diseases would be a good example where we could make progress.
Helmut Sies: Mind, machine and molecules (MMM) will be the theme of the 2011 interdisciplinary Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting.
Roger Tsien: I would like to throw out a challenge to our young researchers: find better noninvasive ways to study neuronal activity.
Erwin Neher: stochastics are important to understand free will and decision making, and it has been shown that neurotransmitters are released stochastically.
Question: can evolution be used to explain some of the biologic processes that we observe in diseases?
Roger Tsien: cancer and pathogens operate on Darwinian selection.
Harald zur Hausen: integration of viral DNA into the human genome can also be seen as part of evolution.
Question: how should the universities of the future integrate biology, chemistry and physics?
Harald zur Hausen: it is important that we can't train students to be good in everything. It is therefore important to teach teamwork.
Question: What will be the next big discovery in science?
Ivar Giaever: a computer that thinks.
Erwin Neher: if we knew, it would already have been discovered.
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