Research in Medical and Biological Sciences
From Planning and Preparation to Grant Application and Publication
- 1st Edition - June 23, 2015
- Latest edition
- Editors: Petter Laake, Haakon Breien Benestad, Bjorn R. Olsen
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 7 9 9 9 4 3 - 2
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 0 0 1 5 4 - 7
Research in Medical and Biological Sciences covers the wide range of topics that a researcher must be familiar with in order to become a successful biomedical scientist. Perfect f… Read more
Research in Medical and Biological Sciences covers the wide range of topics that a researcher must be familiar with in order to become a successful biomedical scientist. Perfect for aspiring as well as practicing professionals in the medical and biological sciences, this publication discusses a broad range of topics that are common yet not traditionally considered part of formal curricula, including philosophy of science, ethics, statistics, and grant applications. The information presented in this book also facilitates communication across conventional disciplinary boundaries, in line with the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of modern research projects.
- Provides a broad scientific perspective in basic, clinical and translational medical research, which is perfect for students with various professional backgrounds
- Contains easily accessible, concise material that makes learning about diverse methods achievable in today's fast-paced world
- Includes extensive examples, online resources such as further reading suggestions, and data files for statistical analyses
- Covers the breadth of topics, including research strategies, bibliographic tools and scientific communication, that a researcher must understand in order to be a successful scientist
Postgraduate researchers in basic life science and clinical research, postdocs, researchers and clinical researchers.
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Chapter 1. Philosophy of Science
- 1.1 Introduction
- 1.2 Philosophy of the Natural Sciences
- 1.3 What is Science? Differentiating Science from Nonscience
- 1.4 Knowledge and Truth: What is Knowledge and What Constitutes a Scientific Fact?
- 1.5 The Glue That Holds the World Together: Causation
- 1.6 Scientific Explanation
- 1.7 Modes of Inference
- 1.8 What Science is About
- 1.9 Scientific Rationality
- 1.10 Hypothesis Testing
- 1.11 The Aim of Science: Reducing Uncertainty
- 1.12 The Empirical Turn in the Philosophy of Science: Science in Society
- 1.13 Philosophy of the Social Sciences
- 1.14 Interpretation, Understanding, and Explanation
- 1.15 The Hermeneutic Circle, Horizon of Understanding, and “Double Hermeneutics”
- 1.16 Power, Ideology, and Interests
- 1.17 Validity
- 1.18 Reductionism and Emergence
- 1.19 Generalization
- Questions to Discuss
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 2. Ethics and Scientific Conduct
- 2.1 Why the Current Focus on Scientific Misconduct?
- 2.2 What Do We Know About Scientific Misconduct?
- 2.3 What is Wrong with Scientific Misconduct?
- 2.4 Scientific Conduct and Misconduct
- 2.5 Scientific Misconduct That Affects the Truth Claims of Scientific Findings
- 2.6 Authorship
- 2.7 Salami, Imalas, and Duplicate Publication
- 2.8 The Investigation, Prevention, and Punishment of Scientific Misconduct
- Questions to Discuss
- Appendix 1 ICMJE Recommendations on the Role of Authors and Contributors
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 3. Ethics in Human and Animal Studies
- 3.1 Basic Principles of Human Biomedical Research Ethics
- 3.2 International Regulation
- 3.3 The Ethics of Animal Research
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 4. Research Strategies, Planning, and Analysis
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.2 Identifying Scientific Problems
- 4.3 The Experimental Design
- 4.4 Data Types
- 4.5 Methods and Experimental Techniques
- 4.6 Experimental Research Checklist
- 4.7 Repeatability, Reproducibility, and Reliability
- 4.8 Multifactorial Relationships and Observational Studies
- 4.9 Validity, Effect Estimate, and Choice of Statistical Test
- 4.10 Research Protocol
- 4.11 Experimental Routines
- Acknowledgments
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 5. Literature Searches and Reference Management
- 5.1 Information Literacy
- 5.2 Literature Searches
- 5.3 Establishment of a Search Query
- 5.4 Selection of Relevant Sources of Information
- 5.5 Search Techniques
- 5.6 Critical Assessment
- 5.7 Bibliometric Measures
- 5.8 Principal Scientific Bibliographic Databases
- 5.9 Staying Up to Date
- 5.10 Medical and Scientific Internet Search Engines
- 5.11 Finding Research Protocols and Ongoing Projects
- 5.12 Reference Management
- 5.13 Open Access Publication, Copyright, and Self-Archiving
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 6. Basic Medical Science
- 6.1 Introduction
- 6.2 Long-Term Goals and Specific Aims
- 6.3 Background and Significance
- 6.4 Experimental Strategies and Methods
- 6.5 Levels of Research—from Organisms to Cells
- 6.6 Research on Experimental Animals
- 6.7 The Three Rs
- 6.8 Animal Models
- 6.9 Mouse Models for Studies of Mammalian Development and Disease
- 6.10 Legislation
- 6.11 Notes on the Use of Experimental Animals
- 6.12 Commonly Used Experimental Animals
- 6.13 Cell and Tissue Culture
- 6.14 An Overview of Selected Technical Developments
- 6.15 Applications of Cell Culture
- 6.16 Manipulation of Cultured Cells
- 6.17 Possibilities Provided by Molecular Biological Techniques
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 7. Translational Medical Research
- 7.1 Introduction
- 7.2 An Old Success Story—Aspirin
- 7.3 Research Provides a Path to Understanding Mechanisms and New Drugs
- 7.4 The Importance of Understanding Drug Metabolism—The Rise and Fall of Clopidogrel (Plavix)
- 7.5 The Need for More Translational Medical Research
- 7.6 Translational Medical Research and the Development of Orphan Drugs
- 7.7 From Rare Disorders to Common Disorders
- 7.8 Target-Based Drug Development—Aquaporins
- 7.9 Training of Investigators for Translational Medical Research
- 7.10 Collaboration Between Academia and the Pharmaceutical Industry
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 8. Clinical Research
- 8.1 Introduction
- 8.2 The Research Process—Important Steps
- 8.3 Controlled Clinical Trials
- 8.4 Drug Development
- 8.5 Clinical Trial Protocol
- 8.6 Trial Designs
- 8.7 Target Population
- 8.8 Historical Controls
- 8.9 Randomization
- 8.10 Blinding
- 8.11 Choice of Endpoints
- 8.12 Sample Size Estimation
- 8.13 Statistical Analysis
- 8.14 Personalized Medicine
- 8.15 Noninferiority Trials
- 8.16 Sources and Control of Bias
- 8.17 Generalization of Trial Results
- 8.18 Regulatory Issues
- Questions to Discuss
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Chapter 9. Epidemiology
- 9.1 Introduction
- 9.2 The Definition of Epidemiology
- 9.3 The Role of Epidemiology
- 9.4 Target Population, Source Population, and Study Sample
- 9.5 Disease Occurrence, Risk, Association, Importance, and Implication
- 9.6 Epidemiological Study Designs
- 9.7 Effect Measures in Epidemiological Studies
- 9.8 Experimental Studies and Randomized Control Trials
- 9.9 Types and Sources of Error
- 9.10 Tests and Validity
- 9.11 Causes of Disease
- 9.12 Association Versus Causal Relationship
- 9.13 Causal Calculus
- Acknowledgments
- Question to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 10. Qualitative Research Methods
- 10.1 Introduction
- 10.2 What is Qualitative Research?
- 10.3 Doing Qualitative Research
- 10.4 What is Qualitative Interviewing?
- 10.5 Doing Qualitative Interviewing
- 10.6 What is Participant Observation?
- 10.7 Doing Participant Observation
- 10.8 Qualitative Data Analysis
- 10.9 Making Insights Portable and Applicable
- 10.10 The Quality of Qualitative Research
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 11. Statistical Inference
- 11.1 Introduction
- 11.2 Effect Estimate, Confidence Interval, and P-Value
- 11.3 Two Binomial Samples
- 11.4 Measures of Association in 2×2 Contingency Tables
- 11.5 Statistical Tests for Comparing Two Proportions
- 11.6 Normal Distribution
- 11.7 Comparison of Means
- 11.8 Nonparametric Methods
- 11.9 Linear Regression Analysis
- 11.10 Logistic Regression
- 11.11 Median Regression
- 11.12 Poisson Regression
- 11.13 Survival Analysis and Cox Regression
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Chapter 12. Evidence-Based Medicine and Systematic Reviews
- 12.1 Introduction
- 12.2 The Five Elements of EBM
- 12.3 Introduction to Systematic Reviews
- 12.4 The Research Question
- 12.5 Search Strategy
- 12.6 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria and the Selection of Primary Studies
- 12.7 Data Extraction from Included Studies
- 12.8 Study Characteristics
- 12.9 Methods to Assess Risk of Bias (Internal Validity) in the Included Studies
- 12.10 Methods to Estimate the Common Effect
- 12.11 Methods to Assess Heterogeneity
- 12.12 Methods to Assess Publication Bias
- 12.13 Additional Analyses
- 12.14 Systematic Reviews of Observational Studies
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 13. Scientific Communication
- 13.1 Introduction
- 13.2 Scientific Papers
- 13.3 General Guidelines for Tables and Figures (Graphs)
- 13.4 The Finish
- 13.5 Posters
- 13.6 Some Final Points and Caveats
- Questions to Discuss
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Further Reading
- Chapter 14. Successful Lecturing
- 14.1 Introduction
- 14.2 Preparing the Lecture
- 14.3 Lecture Content and Form
- 14.4 Lecture Manuscript
- 14.5 Delivering a Lecture
- Questions to Discuss
- Acknowledgments
- Further Reading
- Chapter 15. Guide to Grant Applications
- 15.1 Introduction
- 15.2 Getting Started
- 15.3 The Postdoctoral Fellow and the Junior Scientist
- 15.4 What Goes into a Successful Grant Application?
- 15.5 Investigator-Initiated R01 NIH Grants
- 15.6 Multiproject Grants
- 15.7 Horizon 2020
- 15.8 International Research Collaborations
- 15.9 Summary and Perspective
- Acknowledgements
- Questions to Discuss
- References
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Latest edition
- Published: June 23, 2015
- Language: English
PL
Petter Laake
Professor, PhD Petter Laake has since 1989 been a staff member of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo. He has 20 years of experience in lecturing, communicating and advising in statistics, at all levels and for various target groups. Since 2001, he has worked with the postgraduate studies programme at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, and has been in charge of the mandatory basic course in research methods. He has written and edited several text books in research methodology and statistics.
Affiliations and expertise
University of Oslo, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Dept of Biostatistics, NorwayHB
Haakon Breien Benestad
Professor, MD Haakon Breien Benestad has since 1968 been a staff member of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Physiology, University of Oslo. He has lectured students of medicine, odontology, nutrition and physiotherapy and has been an advisor for master and postgraduate students. He has held various basic courses for postgraduate students, compiled compendia for these courses and written a textbook of anatomy, physiology and immunology for social and health studies in upper secondary schools.
Affiliations and expertise
University of Oslo, Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Physiology, NorwayBO
Bjorn R. Olsen
Dr. Bjorn R. Olsen, Hersey Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Developmental Biology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, received his MD and PhD degrees in 1967 from the University of Oslo, Norway. In 1971, he moved to the United States and joined the faculty at Rutgers Medical School, now Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where he was Professor of Biochemistry from 1976 until he moved to Harvard Medical School in 1985 as Hersey Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology.
Research in his laboratory has uncovered fundamental roles of collagens, transcription factors and receptors that affect skeletal development and homeostasis, angiogenesis and blood vessel morphogenesis. Work on the roles of extracellular proteins in tissue development led to discovery of several novel families of non-fibrillar collagens and uncovered disease mechanisms in many collagen-based osteochondrodysplasias and other disorders. Other studies identified mutations in the transcription factors HOXD13 and RUNX2 in polysyndactyly and cleidocranial dysplasia. Mapping of the genes for craniofacial disorders, such as cherubism and craniometaphyseal dysplasia led to identification of causative mutations in the siganling regulator SH3BP2, and the pyrophosphate transporter ANK. In research on pathogenetic mechanisms of vascular anomalies, the Olsen laboratory discovered that activating mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase TIE2 cause venous malformations and identified mutations/ polymorphisms and signqling mechanisms associated with the rapid growth of infantile hemangioma, the most common tumor of infancy. By addressing questions related to skeletal development and vascular disease, the Olsen laboratory has been able to characterize complex developmental and disease mechanisms at the intersection between skeletal and vascular biology. This has recently led to new insights into unexpected intracellular mechanisms by which vascular endothelial growth factor A controls differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to osteoblasts and adipocytes during bone development and postnatal repair.
Dr. Olsen has received many awards and honors, including Honorary Doctor of Science Degrees from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, University of Oslo, Norway, Okayama University, Japan, and Oulu University, Finland; Research Prizes and Awards from American Association of Anatomists, American Society of Matrix Biology, International Association of Dental Research, International Society of Matrix Biology and British Society for Matrix Biology. He is Fellow of American Association of Anatomists and American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he has been the elected organizer and chair of three different Gordon Research Conferences.
Affiliations and expertise
Harvard Medical School, Department of Cell Biology, Boston, MA, USARead Research in Medical and Biological Sciences on ScienceDirect