Dec. 1st, 2006

if I'm in exactly the right sub-field, when I could be having so much fun if I skittered sideways a little bit.

Case in point, I'm perusing articles on bacterial pathogenesis for a suitable submission to a journal club presentation I'm giving next week. I find a potentially interesting paper and then lose it completely when I come across this line:

As the bacteria multiply, they produce many toxins, such as the Mcf (Makes Caterpillars Floppy) toxin...

I mean, seriously, who doesn't love a gene product called "Makes Caterpillars Floppy"? (Of course, the entomological geneticists have lots of fun, as they have dubbed particular genes with such delightful names as sonic hedgehog, gherkin, and decapentaplegic)
The Wundergrad was looking over internship possibilities for the summer, and asked me about what the differences are between corporate and academic science. After some thought and some description of my experiences, I summed it up thusly:

Academic science is hypothesis-driven. The academic lab then designs experiments to prove or disprove that hypothesis.

Corporate science is product-driven. The corporate scientist designs an experimental system to demonstrate meaningful results with the likely product.

An example:

Academia: We observe that the SS1:O826 mutant is not as pathogenic as the parent strain SS1. Our hypothesis is that the O826 gene product plays some role in causing disease, possibly via a mechanism of cell-to-cell adhesion.

Corporate: We observe that the SS1:O826 mutant is not as pathogenic as the parent strain SS1. Our goal is make a product that reduces the SS1 strain's ability to cause disease by blocking the function of the O826 gene product.


The difference can be subtle; and the end results, at least in publication, can look very similar. The mindsets, however, are worlds apart.

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