Breakthroughs in Bioscience

1
Breakthroughs in Bioscience

• From NIH-Funded Basic Research to Improved Health

Alaska

2
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Nations medical research agency
• Funds the science that leads to medical
  advancement
• Campus in Bethesda, MD but most funding is
  distributed to university researchers throughout
  the United States

3
Research Enterprise Is Critical to Alaska
Economy

• The state of Alaska received more than 11.5
  million in NIH awards for FY08
• Construction of the Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks
  Biosciences facility will generate 174 million
  in direct economic output in Alaska
• University of Alaska created more than 6,700 jobs
  in 2002 and is the single largest employer in the
  state after federal employment
• The university also conducts 52 of all RD in
  the state for every dollar allocated for
  research, 6.30 in revenue is generated from
  other sources

4
NIH Grants Support Many Programs in Alaska

• NIH awarded 9.5 million to University of Alaska
  to strengthen infrastructure, increase capacity
  for biomedical research, support new faculty
  members, and recruit students into biomedical
  research in FY08
• The university is also developing a
  multidisciplinary Center for Alaska Native Health
  Research under a COBRE grant
• The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, which
  provides Native health services, received more
  than 600 thousand from NIH in 2007
• The Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, funded
  by NHGRI and NIHs Center on Minority Health,
  employs more than 700 Alaska natives to develop
  methods to understand family health history and
  promote a healthy lifestyle

5
NIH Saving Lives Through Science

• Current annual budget of around 29.3 billion
• Greater than 80 distributed throughout the
  country
• More than 50,000 grants
• 212,000 scientists
• 2,800 universities
• Portfolio of basic, translational, and clinical
  research

NIH has been involved in nearly all the medical
health related discoveries of the past century
6
How NIH Makes Science Happen

• Researchers working at local universities,
  hospitals and research institutions are dependent
  on federal support to fund their research, hire
  lab personnel and train young scientists
• They write research grant proposals to compete
  for funding
• Must explain why they think its a good idea, how
  theyre going to do the experiments, and what
  impact it will have on science medicine
• Proposals are reviewed in a two-tiered system
• Peer-reviewed by scientists to ensure highest
  quality science
• Reviewed again for applicability to scientific or
  health priorities by NIH officials and other
  stakeholders, including public members
• NIH review system is the envy of the world!
• Very competitive!!!
• Before - 1 in 3 proposals funded now closer to 1
  in 6
• High quality research is not being done for lack
  of funding

7
Basic Research From Bench to Bedside

• Much of NIH funding goes to basic or fundamental
  research
• Basic research is driven by interest in a
  scientific question
• The main motivation is to expand knowledge and
  understanding, not to create or invent something
• However, the insight into how the human body
  works and understanding of how diseases and
  disorders operate provides the foundation for
  medical progress

"People cannot foresee the future well enough to
predict what's going to develop from basic
research. If we only did applied research, we
would still be making better spears." Dr.
George Smoot, Berkeley National Lab
8
What about medical breakthroughs?

• Medical breakthroughs often come from unrelated
  areas of science or medicine
• Research on cancer biology has led to drugs for
  heart disease viral diseases like influenza,
  Herpes AIDS and osteoporosis
• Physicists studying the effects of magnets on
  atomic particles made the discovery that gave us
  MRI
• Usually based on years or decades of fundamental
  knowledge
• Over time, scientists solve or find different
  pieces of the puzzle
• This makes it difficult to predict where the next
  breakthrough will come from
• Makes it imperative to support a broad range of
  scientific research
• Much of this research is too basic for the
  private sector
• The federal investment often lays the foundation
  for advances in healthcare

9
Evolution of Research to Healthcare
Selected modern examples
10
Cardiovascular disease

• Information on the biochemical structure
  synthesis of cholesterol led to the development
  of statins
• Discoveries in basic kidney biology and blood
  pressure regulation converged with an unexpected
  finding involving snake venom to yield ACE
  inhibitors, one of our most effective
  hypertension medications
• Understanding how the blood clots, together with
  a new cancer treatment and the first commercial
  use of recombinant technologies, resulted in
  rtPA, a clot-busting drug that can prevent death
  from heart attack or stroke

RESULTS?? 63 REDUCTION IN DEATHS FROM HEART
DISEASE AND A 70 REDUCTION IN DEATHS DUE TO
STROKE MORE THAN 1 MILLION LIVES SAVED IN 2006
ALONE
11
Cardiovascular disease
60
70
Economic return of improved treatment
prevention 2.6 TRILLION
30-year Investment per American 110.00 Total
12
HIV / AIDS

• Fundamental knowledge of how viruses replicate
  gave scientists targets for therapy. Researchers
  looking for a new cancer drug hit one of those
  targets when they discovered a way to block
  replication, resulting in the development of AZT.
  
• Increased understanding of how HIV operates at
  the cellular and molecular level identified more
  targets, and eventually led to the combination of
  drugs knows as the triple cocktail.

RESULTS?? AIDS HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM AN ACUTE
FATAL ILLNESS TO A CHRONIC CONDITION THE
PROPHYLACTIC USE OF ANTI-VIRALS PREVENTED ALMOST
350,000 DEATHS WORLDWIDE IN 2005
13
HIV / AIDS
Survival rates for those infected with HIV has
increased by 10 years
14
Cancer

• Basic research into the shape and characteristics
  of the estrogen receptor gave us tamoxifen, which
  can reduce breast cancer incidence among women at
  risk by over 45.
• The breakthrough finding that human
  papillomavirus (HPV) could cause cervical cancer
  has led to a new vaccine that NIH estimated could
  reduce cervical cancer incidence by as much as
  90.
• While investigating the cellular machinery
  controlling cell growth, scientists developed
  bortezomib - now used to treat patients with
  multiple myeloma.

RESULTS?? FROM 1993-2002, CANCER DEATH RATES
DROPPED 1.1 PER YEAR MORE THAN 2/3 OF PEOPLE
DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER CAN EXPECT TO LIVE 5 YEARS
15
Cancer
30-year Investment per American 260.00 Total
16
Infant mortality

• Studies on lung function led to the discovery of
  surfactant. This protein-lipid mixture is crucial
  for the survival of premature infants, decreasing
  the number of infant deaths from respiratory
  distress from 15,000 per year to less than 1,000.
• The use of anti-virals to prevent mother to child
  HIV transmission has reduced the rate from 25 to
  about 1 in the U.S.
• Studies on a metabolite of progesterone, known as
  progesterone 17P, have led to the finding that
  injections of this compound can reduce pre-term
  deliveries by as much as 30, a particularly
  important result for African American women.

RESULTS?? IN LESS THAN A CENTURY, INFANT
MORTALITY IN THE U.S. HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 90,
TRANSLATING TO ALMOST 500,000 BABIES SAVED PER
YEAR
17
NIH Funding Supports Potential Findings in AK

• Univ. Alaska-Fairbanks is a partner in a 18.5
  million NIAID study of influenza viruses with
  pandemic potential more than 450 species of
  migratory birds come to Alaska in the
  spring/summer, presenting the opportunity to
  study bird flu virus transmission
• A research project at the Center for Alaska
  Native Health Research aims to identify genes
  that are associated with body weight/obesity, and
  focus on the interaction of genetic risk factors,
  diet, and behavior

18
The Bottom Line

• People are living longer, healthier lives because
  of NIH funded medical research
• What were once swiftly fatal illnesses have
  become treatable or manageable conditions
• For those suffering from diseases that have no
  current treatment or cure, medical research
  provides hope which has a major impact on
  quality of life

19
The Challenge

• NIH funding is entirely dependent on
  Congressional support
• In recent years, Congressional support has
  diminished, and the NIH budget is slowly eroding
  from lack of funding and inflation
• Lack of understanding in Congress about the
  importance of medical research and the treatments
  and hope it provides
• As the NIH budget falls, success rate also falls

• Diminished investment in NIH loss of talented
  researchers missed opportunities delays in
  medical progress

20
Alaskas Congressmen Need to Advocate for NIH
Funding

• Cancer is the leading cause of death among Alaska
  Native women
• Alaskan natives experienced 4.3 annual increases
  in cancer incidence rates in the 1990s compared
  with just 0.3 increases among white Americans
• Nothing should surpass improving our health as a
  national priority
• Opportunities for discoveries that translate to
  improved health for our citizens have never been
  greater
• Every increase in the NIH budget means additional
  funding for research in the state and new jobs

21
We Need Your HelpWorking Together for NIH

• Contact Senators Begich and Murkowski, and
  Representative Young
• Let them know that medical research is important
  to you and what a bargain it is
• Write a letter to the newspaper and talk to your
  friends
• Help educate policymakers and neighbors about the
  important work NIH is doing
• Nothing is more important than our health
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) should be
  an American priority

22
Want to know more??
Please visit http//opa.faseb.org
Federation of American Societies for Experimental
Biology (FASEB)