Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Interdisciplinary Research Encouraged

Interdisciplinary Research

Encouraged in NRC Report

Encouraging investigators from more than one discipline to collaborate 
on research could profoundly affect not only clinical medicine, surgery, 
and disease prevention, but the industrial economy as well in areas of 
pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices.

Thus concluded a report recently released by the National Research 
Council and the Institute of Medicine, "Interdisciplinary Research: 
Promoting Collaboration Between the Life Sciences and Medicine and the 
Physical Sciences and Engineering," prepared by the Committee on 
Promoting Research Collaboration, cochaired by George B. Benedek, MIT's 
Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Physics, and Professor S. James Adelstein 
of Harvard Medical School. 

Progress in breaking down the boundaries between conventional 
disciplines has been slow, the report also says. The authors suggest 
that the revolution in our understanding and control of disease has come 
from advances in areas such as diagnostic instrumentation, medical 
devices, rational drug design, and synthetic and genetically engineered 
biological materialsÑcoupled with quantitative and computer-assisted 
mathematical analysis. A flow of people, knowledge, and inventions 
across conventional academic and industrial boundaries has been 
essential to these successes.

Drawing on information gathered through hearings, interviews, and 
workshops, as well as a national survey of interdisciplinary research 
programs in biophysics and bioengineering, the committee made several 
recommendations:

¥Universities and Teaching HospitalsÑWhere possible, there should be 
financial support especially for short-term exploratory collaborations 
that may lead to external funding. Administrative policies should also 
promote interactions among normally separate internal departments. 
Faculty could also organize more effectively to conduct collaborative 
research by creating, for example, a cross-disciplinary "center," or 
gathering faculty with the relevant cross-disciplinary expertise into a 
single department.

¥Academic-Industrial RelationsÑAlthough academic-industrial interaction 
has become an important stimulus for interdisciplinary research, it has 
also highlighted such issues as conflicts of interest, the preservation 
of academic integrity, and the ownership of intellectual property. To 
facilitate collaborative research and technology transfer, the committee 
recommended establishing academic-industrial liaison programs and 
technology licensing offices that maintain clear guidelines for 
licensing and patent protection.

¥Federal Funding AgenciesÑAgencies such as the National Science 
Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of 
Energy fund the great majority of basic research in the US. They are 
thus in a position to play a key role in encouraging collaborative 
research. This will require an adequate mechanism for evaluating 
interdisciplinary proposals. Agencies can direct funds into the support 
of cross-disciplinary sabbaticals and postdoctoral fellows.

¥Private FoundationsÑThese independent organizations can take advantage 
of their inherently greater flexibility to support innovative 
collaborative ventures, helping to explore new ideas and develop 
productive guidelines and models that could be adapted to other 
settings, including government agencies.

A copy of this NRC report is available from the Board on Physics and 
Astronomy, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, 
Washington, DC 20418.