Designing the Microbial Research Commons Proceedings of an International Symposium (2011) / Chapter Skim
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2. Microbiology in the 21st Century
2. Microbiology in the 21st Century
Pages 3-12
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From page 3... ...
Microbiologists have had to be experimental. Many of common microbial techniques were developed by 19th century bacteriologists.
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Infectious diseases are those that spread from one person to another. An infectious disease can be more formally defined as a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and the aberrant proteins known as prions.
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The Society also publishes a monthly magazine called Microbe, formerly ASM News, as well as an education journal. Early in its history, ASM was deeply involved in the publication of Bergey's Manual, which has been the premier reference book for compiling the names of microbial strains.
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How do the increasingly blurred lines between basic and applied research affect the discipline? What economic, legal and institutional dimensions of the existing research infrastructure shape our ability to create a digitally integrated research commons?
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The symbol of microbiologists traditionally has been that of the light microscope because of the dependence on microscopy to see individual microbial cells. The microscope often appears in the logos of professional societies.
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Culture collections contain microbial materials, deposited by scientists, which are associated with the scientists' publications and patent applications, or are used in teaching or for other purposes. The governing organization here is the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC)
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However, research by Sanger, Maxam, and Gilbert made such sequencing possible, originally using laborious radioactively labeled sequencing gels to determine the different bases in a large DNA polymer.
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Finally, material transfer agreements raise many new issues within the research community. There was a time when you sent your money in to the American Type Culture Collection, and it sent you a culture.
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I will conclude by mentioning a few major issues and organizations that we will be speaking about more in detail at this symposium. The Convention on Biological Diversity's Article 15 on Access to Genetic Resources gives states sovereign rights over their natural resources, and provides that "the authority to determine access to genetic resources rests with the national governments and is subject to national legislation." Many unresolved issues arise from intellectual property treaties concluded at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
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From page 12... ...
Finally, to return to where I started, infectious diseases continue to emerge, and while it is bad news for humankind, these diseases make continued microbiological research essential -- and fundable. Every time there is a major new human health problem it is more likely for governments to spend money on the relevant research.
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