Research Report 2000 - MDC

Foreword
“Molecular Medicine”: Progress
by Interdisciplinary Research
At the beginning of the 20th century,
physics was the dominant and fastmoving
science. This has changed
towards the end of the 20th century,
when important progress was made in
the biological and life sciences. During
the last decades, the molecular basis of
life was elucidated in its fundamental
aspects. The basic mechanisms that
make and maintain a living cell, for
instance energy metabolism,
replication of DNA, RNA and protein
synthesis, are understood. The
information can now be found in
textbooks on biology or medicine in a
condensed form. The final goal of
modern life sciences, the understanding
of a complex organism in molecular
terms, is in reach. This implies that the
molecular causes of human diseases
can and will be elucidated.
Such knowledge must be applied to
the maintenance of health, the
diagnosis and treatment of human
disease. I see our mission at the MDC
in the establishment of a life science
that improves the human condition. To
fulfill the promises and expectations
that arise from this, modern medicine
must take advantage of many different
disciplines and their methods. In
addition to conventional anatomy,
physiology, biochemistry, genetics,
microbiology, pathology, and the
clinical disciplines, new research areas
such as genomics, proteomics,
bioinformatics, and even “phenomics”
have emerged. Other areas such as
physics, informatics, material sciences,
nanotechnologies etc. become
increasingly important. Today
disciplines are not as clearly defined as
in the past: The application of
molecular biology, genetics, and
genomics to classical disciplines has
blurred their traditional borders.
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“Molecular Medicine” requires an
interdisciplinary approach: on the one
side the understanding of
physiological and pathological
processes on basic levels and, on the
other side, the application of the
knowledge to clinical challenges.
Classical discipline-oriented research
and educational institutions do not
favor interdisciplinary interactions.
Progress, however, can only be made
through intelligent cooperations.
Creative scientists have always looked
beyond their own disciplines. We are
coming to a point where not only
individuals, but also entire research
organizations and institutions need to
think along such interdisciplinary
lines. In my view, an interdisciplinary
life science is the science of the
future, a “living science” in the
genuine sense of the word. When
applied to the human condition, it is
the essence of Molecular Medicine. At
the Max Delbrück Center for
Molecular Medicine, the “MDC”, we
foster such cooperations between
basic research and clinical disciplines.
Interdisciplinary research is persued
by the MDC, but also by all the other
15 members of the Helmholtz
Association of National Research
Centres. One of the aims of these
centers is the establishment of
programs that address complex
problems by interdisciplinary, crosscountry
cooperation. At the MDC,
this aim is addressed by assembling
biomedical and clinical disciplines at
one single center, and by fostering
their cooperation. I am convinced that
therein lies the future of medicine.
Let me look back in history and
consider the beginnings of Molecular
Medicine on a very selective bias,
focusing on the example of Max
Delbrück and his impact on
interdisciplinary research in medicine.
The Rockefeller Foundation, that
funded among others Max Delbrück,
had a pivotal impact on medicine and
the biological sciences at the
beginning of the 20th century. An
important medical textbook, the
“Principles and Practice of Medicine”
(Appleton and Co. New York, 1893)
written by William Osler, provided the
impetus for the establishment of the
Rockefeller Foundation. It was the
first medical textbook clearly
describing diseases in a manner
understandable to the layman. Osler’s
book was very honest on the subject
of therapy, which was basically nonexistent.
After he read this book,
Frederick T. Gates, a non-physician,
convinced the wealthy John D.
Rockefeller to create this philantropic
foundation. The researchers, which
were funded in Rockefeller’s program,
included scientists from many
different fields, for instance physics
and chemistry. Warren Weaver, the
director of natural sciences division of
the Rockefeller Foundation, named
the broad, well-funded program in
1938 with the new but now familiar
term “Molecular Biology”. Weaver
aimed to support “the application of
theoretical and experimental
procedures to the study of the
organization and reactions of living
matter”. This was the first major
interdisciplinary biomedical program.
Those at the Rockefeller Foundation
understood better than anyone else
that too many scientific efforts were
conducted in isolation, but needed
coordination. Born out of these ideas
was the “Science of Man” program, a
great success.
Max Delbrück from Berlin was one of
many researchers that contributed and
benefited from this program. He was
at the center of a well-funded and
intellectually fertile group, the
founders of today's molecular biology.
His career provides a lesson for the
advantages of interdisciplinary
research. Max Delbrück was educated
as a physicist. Another physicist, Niels
Bohr, challenged him to start a
revolution in biology similar to the
one that was occurring already in
physics.