Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!ANCHOR.RUTGERS.EDU!BABCOCK From: BABCOCK@ANCHOR.RUTGERS.EDU Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.bio-matrix Subject: No Insults Intended, But... Message-ID: Date: 5 Feb 91 19:29:00 GMT Sender: daemon@genbank.bio.net Lines: 119 "Science: The End of the Frontier?" a supplement to Science magazine January 1991 should be read by everyone in the Scientific community. The bottom line is that, with the present environment of funding, morale is way down, and those who would potentially enter the field are choosing alternative, non-academic career paths because of the dismal future they see. How do their findings effect anyone interested in cross-disciplinary research? It is because of this supplement along with the growing number of my acquaintances (and myself) looking for jobs, planning their goal directions and redirections, and generally sweating through layoffs that I place this on the bulletin board. Last year, at the Bio-Matrix meeting, the question arose: what should the purpose be for a Bio-Matrix Society? What would the group accomplish that could not or was not being accomplished by being a sub-discipline of another group (potentially AAAI, Biophysical Society etc.)? One viewpoint for the group would be for the exchange of scientific insights and provide a place for like minded people (who normally would not run into each other at the other societies meetings) to gather, and hopefully help the field to progress. In todays tough economic times however, a more important function might be to simply help the field survive. The bio-matrix, by definition, is comprised of scientists from multiple disciples with interests which are cross-disciplinary encompassing a biological or chemical science and computer science. In order for the network to work, collaborations and free exchange of information is imperative. One of the more frightening lines from the report (pg 11) was : "These scientists are also increasingly viewing their fellows as competitors, rather than colleagues, leading to an increasingly corrosive atmosphere." This growing attitude could be fatal to the lofty ideals of creating an environment where the present knowledge of biology was available through interconnected databases. Furthermore, as the economic situation get tighter, researchers that fit between disciplines will have more trouble getting jobs, grants, etc. Are the researchers interested in a Bio-Matrix doomed to become an endangered or extinct species? I especially want to ask question about the academic researcher trying to run a small research group. While most academic institutions can appreciate why a computer person interested in biological applications is important, the computer science department may not want to give a precious slot to a 'bio' type, and conversely a biologist interested in computer tools may have trouble getting jobs in a biology department since most of what they are doing appears to be computer science. (Yes, I know three schools at least have joint mol. bio. computer graduate degree programs, but that type of open-ness is a minority opinion from what I've been hearing). To what funding agencies should grants go? This has been answered to some extent at the bio-matrix meeting, but there is much research which doesn't fit into the neat categories of most agencies. Furthermore, since the research requires expertise in multiple disciplines, writing an understandable grant for a reader from only one of the disciplines makes it much more difficult, especially with grant page limitations. Even more important, there is usually a tendency to fund one's own field or what one would like to see accomplished, than something that would most likely appear in a journal the reviewer would rarely if ever read. There can even be some resentment as new areas take funds away from older well established fields. Additionally, since the field is fairly new, expectations tend to be unrealistic. There is an expectation of much better and faster results from both the researchers and external observers who would be interested in using some of the databases, tools etc. being created at this time. Databases are useless without a long term commitment in both money and time to create, maintain, update and create easy access to them by a user community. Unfortunately, there is a certain stigma placed upon database creation and maintenance which make it considered something less than 'real research'. This was brought up at the meeting during a discussion on how often the creator of a database managed to get tenure and thus stick around long enough to see the fruit of their labor. The discussion suggested too rarely. There are many researchers who are not involved in database creation, but who are involved in creating programs to analyze, synthesize and generally make new discoveries by utilizing one or more databases to gain new insights into their favorite problem. It is just as important to include their programs in some database so that the emerging databases can be better utilized. (Yes, many of the databases have people working on such programs, but individual efforts are still required). Again, there is an attitude that creating analysis programs is not 'real science'. How are these people going to get and maintain independent research positions in an academic environment? Increasingly, companies are performing the task of packaging the most popular programs and types of programs (e.g. Biosym, Intelligenetics, GCG). Will the student or researcher afford, or justify affording access to programs that they might never use again? How about the researcher who wants to maintain and extend their own programs and ensure that they absolutely freely (and with no charge) distributed? (Most of the commercial companies do an excellent job of making programs affordable for academic institutions. If, however, there are for instance limited computational capability or external connections (modem time can get expensive),individual programs on a PC or workstation may be the only possible, desirable or necessary way for some labs to use a program. There is still the problem of freelance researchers who is trying to avoid getting gobbled up by the larger projects. I refer to freelance as an individual who creates a program they really want to utilize and then make it available to others.) After all, a biologist who thoroughly knows the experimental side of the problem and learns or collaborates with a computer scientist has an excellent opportunity for creating a really good tool. Conversely, a computer scientist with a really powerful computer approach finding a biological problem that appears to be custom made for their approach will also have an edge. How can they compete with commercial companies or even the larger better funded databases who can throw many warm bodies on a project in order to get a product, when the individual academician spends so much time writing grants just to survive. And what kind of freedom will their students have to explore their own projects if the labs grant dictates otherwise? We can't solve the funding problem. But we should be working to help the little guy as well as the big databases survive. How about a database or clearing house for people who know of or are seeking to form collaborations for a particular project? How about a place to put research ideas that you may not have the time or expertise to do yourself but would like to see done? (This helps all the computer science students asking the number one question- "Do you know of a project in the biological field that I could work on and get a computer science degree?"). And last but not least, a job listing where those who know of a job, or are looking for a job can try and find the right environment to survive with there multi-disciplinary interests. Bio-matrix meetings will not be very interesting if there are few places and people working in the field because researchers have had to get 'practical' and stay within the confines of their own fields. How about trying to make the Bio-matrix something more than just a summer meeting? Our very survival may depend upon it.