Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine investing in basic biology
Dr James Berger has been appointed Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences (IBBS) in the US and will head up IBBS’s focus on basic science research. Over the next five years, leaders at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine plan to invest US$100 million in new faculty and support programmes to unravel the mysteries of biology. They say that such ‘basic’ science discoveries underpin virtually every medical breakthrough.
“The time is now to place a big bet on basic science research,” said Dr Paul B. Rothman, Dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “We are at an unprecedented time when advances in technology have positioned us to make the greatest achievements in biomedical research that mankind has ever seen.”
Dr Berger is a Professor of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Cancer Chemical and Structural Biology Program for the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. “Our ability to discover, decipher and visualise the molecular underpinnings of biology is key to the larger goal of improving human health,” he said. “The first step in research is to understand how and why biology works the way it does.”
The investment by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is part of a new initiative called ‘Betting Big on Basic Science’. Most of the investment will be used to support salaries and laboratory teams for newly recruited faculty members among nine departments that form the IBBS, while other funds will be used to develop new graduate programmes and to establish and equip the core facilities that provide access to sophisticated instruments and other research support.