With all the emphasis lately on translational research, Steve Caplan from the University of Nebraska Medical Center writes at The Guardian's Occam's Corner blog that he has "decided to come out of the scientific closet, and openly declare my support of non-translational, basic research."
Caplan adds that he finds the sharp focus on translational research — many grant proposals now center on disease — a bit worrisome. "My fear is that an entire generation of basic researchers in the US will be culled away from the fundamental questions in science, leading to a widening chasm between new discovery and specific applications over the next 10-15 years," he writes.
And many clinical discoveries stem from basic discoveries, he says, pointing to penicillin, the polio vaccine, and X-rays.