Success of transdisciplinary science requires mono

Authors: Douglas S Richardson

Publish Date: 2016/03/22

Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 5-6

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Abstract

Traditionally academics applied to and were welcomed into a singular department at a university or college This department often had its own building that sat isolated from the others on campus creating literal walls between disciplines It was rare to see biologists interact with physicists or chemists talk to mathematicians and even rarer to see basic scientists interact with applied scientists or fellow faculty members in the humanities However when these interactions did occur often great science was the result Today many of these traditional academic departments exist in name only or have been disbanded all together In their place centers and programs that unite principal investigators with a wide range of backgrounds and expertise have arisen as the new standard of transdisciplinary research on campusOne of the most positive impacts of transdisciplinary science has been the interactions of engineers and physicists with the various ‘ologists’ biologists toxicologists physiologists etc These cooperative research efforts have resulted in technological advances that are facilitating discoveries that were previously thought impossible One example of technology developed through the collaboration of transdisciplinary researchers is the recent advances in light microscopy sample preparation and instrumentation Subfields such as superresolution Eggeling et al 2015 lightsheet Reynaud et al 2008 tissue clearing Richardson and Lichtman 2015 and highcontent screening Zanella et al 2010 have the potential to accelerate biomedical research but they are not without their barriers to useHistorically there existed a subset of ‘ologists’ who were selfdescribed microscopists However in today’s transdisciplinary environment this title is rarely applied A lifescientist needs to be a microscopist a geneticist a cell biologist a pharmacologist a behaviorist and a toxicologist all at the same timeData acquisition in each of these subfields is driven by a number of core technologies that are constantly and now quite rapidly evolving Although these systems are highly complex and technical they are often described by manufacturers as ‘turnkey’ instruments with intuitive software and controls In fact many scientists can sit down at a new piece of equipment and acquire data in a matter of minutes or hours but is this data usefulLearning to drive a car is a skill that is easily learned by most people Within a few hours a new driver can reliably pilot a car down a road that many other people have driven before However this does not qualify someone to participate in high level motorsports or drive the vehicle into previously unexplored areas Knowledge of the technology behind how a car functions and its limitations are all required to become an elite driverSo it is with science To develop an assay that can provide accurate reliable and reproducible data a high level of technical knowledge regarding the scientific instrument to be used must first be acquired This knowledge of how the system works its abilities and its limits will influence all aspects of the experiment from initial design to data analysisFor example examining the intricate spatial relationships of the various components of the nuclear pore complex NPC is impossible with a widefield or confocal microscope No matter how bright the signal or how sensitive the detectors the molecules of interest lie too close to one another—below the diffraction limit of a light microscope A researcher needs to understand this limit and have the knowledge to select a superresolution light microscopy technique or utilize the higher resolving power of electron microscopy to investigate spatial relationships within the NPCTherefore the ideal transdisciplinary scientist is not only a master of many life science ologies but also the applied science ‘techn’ ologies The truth is very few scientists if anyone can be expected to be knowledgeable in all of these areas Therefore as we press forward with our desire to train transdisciplinary scientists let us not forget that they will still need support and collaboration from a cohort of monodisciplinary specialists who have an extensive knowledge of their subject and its associated technologies Only with monodisciplinary specialists working in support of multiple transdisciplinary research groups will science be able to move forward most efficiently

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