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The next scientific revolution
Magnus Linklater
Reproduced from Scotland on Sunday
27th April 2003
http://news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=480262003
(Filed 28 April 2003)
www.land-care.org.uk
GORDON Brown came up to Scotland this week to
tell us where the economy was heading. He said we were entering
a new phase in Scotland’s development which required new skills.
It was no longer enough to rely on inward investment and electronics
manufacturing. Instead we must develop "centres of excellence"
and create our own indigenous industries. To which one can only
respond, "excuse me?" It seems it was just yesterday that
we were being told that inward investment and electronics manufacturing
were the way forward.
Come to think of it, it was just yesterday. That’s
the problem with modern thrusting economies. They tend to leave
us struggling in the slipstream before we’ve even had a chance
to join in the thrust.
However, I have a constructive suggestion to make.
The main emphasis of Mr Brown’s speech, as I followed it -
and it was a very long one - concerned the importance of skills,
technology and innovation. It suggested that Scotland should be
identifying areas where we could make a difference, and then go
on to create our own niche markets. He mentioned Edinburgh, Dundee
and Aberdeen as places which were, in research terms, ahead of the
game.
I know of one area where we could quickly and
effectively develop our own centres of innovation. It would involve
making Scotland once again a world leader in medical science. It
means building on some strengths that we already have. And it would
place us right in the heart of the most critical area of modern
research - identifying new viruses and taking steps to combat them
before they develop into full-blown epidemics.
The current outbreak of Sars, a disease whose
existence was unknown just a few months ago, is a lesson on how
critical this area of microbiology is. The key work has been done
remarkably quickly, in countries which are not necessarily those
with the largest resources. Holland has played a major role, as
have Germany, Hong Kong and France, as well as Canada and the United
States. Because the data was available worldwide within a very short
time - one German laboratory sequenced the entire genome of the
virus and put it out on the internet within 10 days - it has meant
that properly equipped medical laboratories could carry out their
own research without having to go to the source of the outbreak
to collect samples.
It is chastening, however, to learn that Britain
was not in the forefront of this cutting-edge research. The reorganisation
of the Public Health Laboratory Services, based in North London,
means that resources have been spread around the country, and those
scientists who are involved in the work complain that their facilities
have been cut back. There is, in short a vacuum to be filled. I
see no reason why Scotland should not be filling it - not least
because in Edinburgh and Dundee, we are already doing just that.
The universities in both places have important research facilities.
Where the Executive could help is in giving Scotland the platform
it needs to sell itself to the world - attracting scientists and
funding.
The timing could hardly be better. This month
saw the official launch of the UK’s new Health Protection Agency,
headed by a Scot, Sir William Stewart, former President of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh. He will have the responsibility for co-ordinating
research and for combating a whole range of epidemics, from avian
flu to the threat of bio-terrorism. With his knowledge of medical
science and his familiarity with Scotland’s science background
he could - not to put too fine a point on it - ensure that any useful
funds going were put our way. It’s called having a friend at
court.
But I have an even more practical suggestion to
make. Scotland could step in immediately to attract an innovative
piece of research which has the potential to be of world importance.
Last week Professor Alan Ebringer of King’s College, London,
learnt that the Department of Rural Affairs in London was withdrawing
research from his cutting-edge work on the causes of BSE. As a result
his laboratory is being closed. Ebringer is convinced that the current
theories about BSE are wrong, and he believes that there are no
links between it and vCJD, which attacks human beings. His views
are given credence by the fact that the CJD surveillance unit in
Edinburgh is reporting a decline rather than an increase in incidences
of vCJD.
Ebringer is convinced that BSE shares certain
characteristics with Multiple Sclerosis and other so-called auto-immune
diseases. He believes they were all caused by a microbe called Acinetobacter,
first detected in the wounds of US servicemen in Vietnam. If he
is right, this opens up a major new area of science, with huge implications
for future research and investment. Professor Ebringer is no maverick
scientist. He has important supporters, such as Tam Dalyell MP,
who has backed his work from the beginning, and Professor Gordon
Stewart, emeritus professor of public health at the University of
Glasgow, who says: "This work must not be neglected."
Both believe that it would be a tragedy if funding was not available
just as the breakthrough is about to be made.
Ebringer needs around a million pounds for the
next phase of his work. If he is wrong, then of course the investment
would be lost. But in research terms the sum is negligible; simply
offering Ebringer laboratory facilities and encouraging the work
would in itself send out an important signal about Scotland’s
willingness to take on interesting and challenging areas of research.
And this is not the only route we could take.
Professor Stewart is convinced that there is more potential for
us to exploit, such as Aids, and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
Let us hope that whoever forms the next government
has the imagination and the ambition to champion this new era of
research. And talking of friends at court, I know a certain Chancellor
of the Exchequer who would be delighted to pitch in and help.
Magnus Linklater
© Scotsman on Sunday
Further Reading Recommended by Land-Care
"Britain is a non-starter in the race to cure Sars".
(Filed 22 April 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
SARS virus: Just look at the speed of progress
(Filed 6 April 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click here to view).
Irvine, James (2003). World Famous Scottish Biotechnology sold off
to the States due to lack of funding and management resources
(Filed 14 April 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click here to view).
Irvine, James (2003). Where has UK Biotechnology gone?
(Filed 21 March 2003, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
Research in Europe - Lecture by European Commissioner Philippe Busquin
at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, 28 October 2002.
(Filed 31 October 2002, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
Editorial comment on the European Commissioner's Lecture.
(Filed 31 October 2002, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
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