An open letter to the President-Elect of the United States of America
Dear Sir,
Throughout our history, the American scientific community has been the leader in science. Our diverse and talented community has made us a great nation. In 2016 science needs the full support of the federal government to maintain leadership. In the USA a successful public-private partnership has allowed creativity and innovation to flourish. You say that you want to Make America Great Again. While I disagree with the “again” statement, I do agree that we can make the United States of America even better for all our citizens. The Campion Fund is asking you to ensure robust funding of basic discovery science. Please put full support for discovery science high on your administration’s priority list. Nothing can be more critical to our success as a country. Do not be tempted to cut spending for science.
We have always been a creative, innovative people; qualities that have allowed us to lead the world in science, producing tremendous good for all of our people. Discovery science has contributed to advances in engineering, industry and medicine. We have been responsible for innovation in the development of air travel, computers and the internet. We would not have airplane flight if the Wright brothers had not first studied how birds fly. We have forged a revolution in our understanding of genetics and sequenced DNA through the partnership of many scientists working both in the public and private sectors. However, our scientific leadership can melt away without powerhouse funding for scientific discovery. I urge your administration to commit to vigorous funding for both the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and provide an environment where private and public foundations will flourish. Private foundations can do our part, but we cannot provide all the necessary funding.
Only by maintaining excellence in basic research will America continue to be great. Funding for discovery science must be free of restrictions, rules and regulations. What is discovery science? This is not science conducted to solve a particular problem in medicine or engineering per se. Discovery scientists study a natural phenomenon to learn about it, to ask what it is, how it works and how it fits into our world. Discovery science is approached with an open mind and an open heart. It is not dogmatic and one discovery leads to another. Scientists who discover something of value are creative and innovative. They are persistent because the work is hard and takes time. Scientific discovery is built layer by layer on the work of many other scientists. In 2016 discovery science is the work of teams. These teams are ethnically and racially diverse and are international in scope and composition. When successful discovery science leads to productive ends, such as drugs to treat disease. Myriad examples of discovery science exist.
Here is an example. Nitric oxide is a gas. It is a free radical, meaning that it has an unpaired electron making it a molecule that binds other atoms and molecules very, very easily and rapidly. Nitric oxide is formed by nitrogen and oxygen under very high temperatures. Thus, the lightening in thunderstorms will make it. It was produced in an experimental environment by Jan Baptiste van Helmont, a Belgian scientist about 1620, but it was Joseph Priestly an 18th century English clergyman and the discoverer of oxygen who first studied nitric oxide. It is said he lived near a Brewery and was fascinated in how mineral water was carbonated. He wondered, “How did the bubbles get in there?”. Later in his life, Joseph Priestly immigrated to America (Pennsylvania) and was a colleague of Benjamin Franklin.
By studying nitric oxide scientists historically demonstrated a great deal about atoms, molecules and chemical bonds. They found out it has only two atoms (a diatomic molecule). Oxygen is another diatomic molecule. The study of these molecules showed how atoms behave and how molecular bonds form. Without an understanding of atoms and how they behave science would not have advanced. So, nitric oxide is an important molecule.
Now we know that nitric oxide is one of the most important molecules in the human body. Even though is converts rapidly to nitrate and nitrite within seconds after it is produced by cells, it acts to “signal” cellular behavior. Nitric oxide mediates many actions of the body such as regulation of blood pressure by dilating or opening up blood vessels. Too much nitric oxide production can cause shock. Nitric oxide causes the blood vessels of the penis to dilate to produce and sustain an erection. We know these surprising facts because of the work of three American Scientists. They worked in different labs and came from different places; one was from a Jewish family in South Carolina, one was the son of an Albanian Muslim immigrant and one was the son of a man who came to this country from Italy. These American scientists, Robert Furchgott, Ferid Murad and Louis Ignarro shared the 1998 Nobel Prize.
There are many other systems in the body where nitric oxide works, including the brain and the gastrointestinal system. Nitric oxide is important for immune defenses against infection. Today we have many drugs that treat diseases mediated by nitric oxide. For instance, we treat heart disease with drugs that help release or synthesize nitric oxide. We treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension with sildenafil (Viagra), a drug that increases nitric oxide by interfering with enzymes in the nitric oxide pathway.
The story of nitric oxide shows us that when science explores a phenomenon it is not always apparent at first just how beneficial the finding is. New treatments for human disease often come about in surprising ways. By not funding discovery science America is in grave danger of losing our scientific leadership. Thus, I urge again your support for the federal scientific agencies without restrictions, unnecessary rules and regulations, and your backing for public and private foundations that support science and scientists. About a decade ago, I attended a meeting in Aspen, Colorado. At that time, I was working at NIH. While getting gas in the town of Basalt, I had a long conversation with a hard-working white man who was the station attendant. He was very unhappy with the federal government and all its regulations that he felt interfered with his life. I told him I worked for the federal government and he asked me all about my work. When I finished talking about the NIH and explained that the science it supports is important to help us find treatments for disease he remarked “that is what the government needs to do for us. I am for that.”
I know that all Americans need discovery science. I know that you will get this message to the American people and that you will work to keep American science great.
Sincerely yours,
Phyllis C. Leppert, MD, PhD,
President, The Campion Fund.