This Article Full Text Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lenfant, C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Lenfant, C.

(Circulation. 1995;91:1901.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Integrative Physiology

Remember the Big Picture

Claude Lenfant, MD

	Introduction

 
When resources for biomedical research are scarce, the natural competition that exists between different investigative interests often intensifies. Given the current fiscal climate, it is not surprising that one overhears much discussion in the scientific community about the respective contributions that newer versus more traditional disciplines are likely to make toward our understanding of human health and disease. Although the promise of subcellular and molecular techniques is widely appreciated, there is much debate about their relative importance in the "big picture." These new technologies have been hailed by many as the final keys to unlock nature's mysteries—the ultimate path to future advances—and because they are in their infancy, they are being nurtured vigorously. At the same time, more traditional scientists tend to be wary of reductionist approaches and to view enthusiasm for these new technologies as symptomatic of a "tunnel vision" that will ultimately set back science.

It is time to bring it all together.

The great potential of the new technologies is so fascinating, so innovative, and, yes, so glamorous (as has been said) that it is impossible to overlook. With their simple yet powerful techniques, these new approaches can provide the instructions that specify the very structure of biological molecules and help us understand where natural processes go awry and how we can correct them. The implications for a variety of interventions—from gene therapy to rational drug design to tailored risk assessment—cannot be overemphasized.

Nonetheless, the determinism of genetics, for example, has its limits. Although information encapsulated in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. H. Hintze and E. Marban Two AHA Councils Become One : Ringing Out the Old and Bringing in the New Circ. Res., August 6, 1999; 85(3): 219 - 220. [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. F. Vatner, B. C. Berk, T. H. Hintze, L. A. Leinwand, P. Libby, E. Marban, K. Schwartz, H. C. Strauss, and Y. Yazaki Eight Years Behind the Masthead Circ. Res., June 25, 1999; 84(12): 1361 - 1364. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. O'Rourke and L. Reinlib Priorities in Heart Failure Research • Response Circulation, January 27, 1998; 97(3): 296 - 296. [Full Text]