How Important is Innovation to the Life Sciences?

By Sarah MooreReviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.

Innovation is vitally important to life sciences. The human pursuit of knowledge about the physical underpinnings of life began thousands of years ago. The ancient Egyptians are considered to have set off our exploration of the human body, particularly through their embalming techniques. Since then, many eras and schools of thought have helped us take significant steps forward in our understanding of biology. However, many aspects of the human body remain a mystery.

We still do not fully understand how it works when we are healthy, nor do we have the full picture of how disease establishes and progresses. Innovation allows us to continue taking steps forward, deepening our knowledge, and, importantly, developing new therapeutic, diagnostic, and preventative tools for the wide range of diseases that inflict our species.

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What is innovation and how is it beneficial to the life sciences?

Innovation can be thought of as a modern buzzword. Almost all industries talk about innovation and emphasize its importance. Often, it is used as a synonym for newness. However, while innovation does encompass novelty, the true meaning of innovation refers more to the creative application of ideas and existing inventions to solve a challenge. In life sciences, this also means establishing new ways of seeing things and evoking paradigm shifts.

Innovation has always been the cornerstone of science since science is about discovery, if the ideas we had about biology, physics, chemistry, etc had remained the same since these fields first emerged, we would have made no discoveries and our knowledge of humanity and the world around us would not have advanced. Innovation allows us to think differently about a problem, which is vital to scientific breakthroughs.

Darwin’s theory of evolution, our understanding of the structure of DNA, the development of antibiotics, and the invention of gene-editing techniques are just some of the many important advances in life sciences that would have been impossible without innovation. All of these steps forward were facilitated by looking at a challenge differently and in some cases applying already invented technology to a problem in a novel way.

The field of life sciences still has many challenges to overcome and unknowns to solve. For example, while many effective therapeutics have been developed for cancer, there are still a lot of types of malignancy without a cure. Additionally, some therapeutics are less effective for certain patients. There needs to be innovation in cancer research to establish new, effective therapies for all patients and all cancers.

Rare diseases present another challenge to life sciences. Due to their rarity, they have received less research focus over the years, and as a result, less is understood about the biological underpinnings of many rare diseases so effective therapeutics remain elusive in many cases. Recent data has revealed that 95% of rare diseases still do not have therapeutic options.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of innovation in the life sciences

At the outbreak of COVID-19, there was no treatment, no vaccine, and little understanding of the virus and how it spread and impacted the body. Scientists rapidly developed their knowledge of the virus and the disease it caused and teams around the world created multiple vaccinations to prevent transmission.

Without innovation, this would not have been possible. As the virus was novel, scientists had to use their knowledge of other viruses to help underpin their understanding.

The molecular basis of biological processes and disease

Innovation in the life sciences is happening in all sub-sectors of the field. Current trends occurring throughout the industry include the focus on the molecular basis of biological processes and disease, and the leveraging of nanotechnology, two trends that go hand-in-hand.

To develop next-generation therapeutics, cures, and even vaccinations, scientists need to understand disease and the biological processes it impacts at a molecular level. Nanotechnology is enabling 3-D visualization of inside cells in vivo, giving unprecedented detail of intracellular activity.

Nanotechnology is also being leveraged to create novel options for drug delivery. Biomarkers of disease are also being enhanced by nanoscale sensors that have increased sensitivity. Nanoscale bioengineering is facilitating the development of novel disease treatment options with synthetic biomolecules or via tissue regeneration.

Additionally, much innovation is currently happening in the field of infectious diseases via developments in nanotechnology. In the next few years, we will likely see innovations emerge for the treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV infection. These three diseases are particularly challenging to treat and have high mortality rates associated with them. Scientists are now focussing on developing nano-sized carriers for both new and existing drugs as a creative way of overcoming the barriers that have traditionally been associated with the treatment of these diseases.

Finally, such nanocarriers also have the opportunity to be used in the development of new vaccines, which will be important in the future fight against infectious diseases.

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