Editorial pubs.acs.org/ac
Analytical Chemistry and Our National Science Initiatives
I
If you are interested in learning even about the Microbiome Initiative, look for an upcoming multipart Web series from the ACS. In August 2016, Analytical Chemistry will be partnering with ACS Nano for the webinar on technologies relating to the microbiome, with participants including Pieter Dorrestein and Paul Weiss. Additional webinars are planned related to the microbiome in health and the microbiome in the environment. While these national initiatives will certainly include engineers, biologists, and other experts, it is an exciting time to be an analytical chemist as we assume a central role in these national agency-spanning efforts.
n conversations with fellow analytical chemists, I often hear negative comments about how our specialty is regarded by other chemists. This is exacerbated by the reality that in most chemistry departments, analytical scientists are among the smallest faculty groups. As I visit departments in Asia and Europe, I find our international colleagues share similar concerns. Often, I am told that this negativity reaches to the critical area of research funding for our discipline, which is the topic of this editorial. While I understand that funding is difficult to obtain, there are also many exciting developments that demonstrate the importance of our field. Case in point, the latest multiagency funding initiatives issued by the United States government have been centered in the analytical measurement sciences. A few years ago, the White House announced the BRAIN Initiative, a federal agencyspanning effort to create new toolsets for advancing our understanding of the brain. While the long-term goal may be to elucidate brain function, the initial years are focused on tool development, with many analytical chemists being in on the action. Some of the strategic goals may more closely fit with engineering or biophysics, but many are centered around analytical chemistry. The BRAIN Initiative has been promoted as a follow-up to the Genome Initiative, which also started by funding the creation of new approaches for high throughput sequencing. Unquestionably, analytical tools are essential to many research endeavors. Analytical-centric national initiatives have not ended with the BRAIN Initiative. Most recently, in May 2016, the White House announced another agency-spanning initiative: the National Microbiome Initiative, which states in part: “...Microbiomes maintain healthy f unction of these diverse ecosystems, inf luencing human health, climate change, food security, and other factors... Although new technologies have enabled exciting discoveries about the importance of microbiomes, scientists still lack the knowledge and tools to manage microbiomes in a manner that prevents dysf unction or restores healthy f unction.” And yes, once again a large part of this half-billion-dollar initiative involves the creation of new analytical tools and measurement strategies. A major part of this latest initiative is to create improved approaches “...to foster the integrated study of microbiomes across dif ferent ecosystems...” Intriguingly, while several federal agencies are contributing funds, philanthropic and other organizations, and universities have committed $400 million to help fund the initiative! For example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is contributing $100 million over the next four years to study the microbiome’s role in human nutrition and crop protection. More details on this exciting initiative are available, including a C&EN article and a well-written feature in ACS Nano, which detail the tools needed for understanding the microbiome, including its interactions and composition. Many of the approaches outlined involve analytical tool development across multiple platforms, including nanotechnology, mass spectrometry, and optical spectroscopy. © 2016 American Chemical Society
■
Jonathan V. Sweedler AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
Published: July 5, 2016 6629
DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b02358 Anal. Chem. 2016, 88, 6629−6629
