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It seems almost frivolous to say that I do “biomedical science research” in a country with a literacy rate below 30%, where the per capita income is less than $800 per annum, the cost of good healthcare is far beyond the reach of the common citizen, and government health systems are both insufficient and ineffective. Pakistan has the 6th highest global burden of tuberculosis. The immediate concern of health care professionals remains diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Therefore, although there is a real need to conduct basic research in pathogenesis of tuberculosis infections in order to study and develop new prevention, treatment and diagnostic modalities, there is limited public appreciation of “high-tech” research. Science education is expensive and laboratory support is even more expensive and difficult to provide. At universities in Pakistan, the brightest Master of Science degree students with good theoretical knowledge have at best only seen demonstrations of molecular and cellular biology laboratory techniques, with little chance to carry out the manipulations themselves. My own scientific training and development can be attributed to a privileged British education. I was completely hooked on science, particularly after taking a course on the molecular pathogenesis of infectious diseases. I focused my post-graduate training in a field relevant to my home country, the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections, and in the process was fortunate to gain research experience in laboratories in the UK and Europe.

Palabras clave: Biomedical science research.

2007-11-06   |   875 visitas   |   Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones

Vol. 1 Núm.2. Octubre 2007 Pags. 87-89 J Infect Developing Countries 2007; 1(2)