Modern research areas are a great and broad endeavor in which thousands of laboratories around the world study their own highly specialized field from a much more significant whole. This is a logical intersection of scientific heritage and centuries-old technological achievements in order to promote an understanding of the world around us.
Particular attention should be paid to more and more specific disciplines, starting with retinal neural computing and ending with cosmic plasma physics. Which scientific areas exist and which of them are the most relevant?
Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics
This may seem strange, but some problems in medicine can only be solved with the help of technology. Such a scientific direction as biomedical engineering is an established discipline covering such diverse fields as protein engineering, measuring systems and high-resolution optical imaging of atoms and entire organisms. This desire to integrate physical knowledge with life sciences is a progress in human health.
Current research areas
Included in such areas of research as:
- Biophotonics - the development of imaging methods for cells and tissues with fluorescence. Optical methods are used to study biological molecules.
- Cardiovascular imaging - the creation of methods for identifying and quantifying the characteristics of cardiovascular diseases.
- Integrated biological systems - the development of new tools and mathematical models for understanding complex biological systems.
- Macromolecular assembly. The study of macromolecules, including the assembly of multicomponent complexes and molecular machines.
- Immunochemical diagnostics - the creation of new technologies for the identification of diseases, for example, “laboratory studies”.
- Non-invasive optical imaging - the development of real-time diagnostic methods for assessing and monitoring tissues and organs.
Recent advances include the development of several high-resolution optical imaging tools designed to study the microscopic and macroscopic worlds of cells and organisms.
Cell biology
Another important and constantly developing scientific field is cell biology. All living things are made of structurally functional units. Thus, cell failure plays a critical role in many diseases, ranging from cancer caused by abnormal cell growth to neurodegenerative disorders that result from the death of nerve tissue. Six key areas are identified, covering several biological systems:
- Apoptosis In every healthy body, cells die through a carefully regulated process of programmed death of structural units, known as apoptosis. It is common to many biological systems that are fundamental to neurobiology, immunology, aging and development, as well as pathologies such as cancer, autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
- Cell cycle - functioning mini-structures continue to grow and share in a carefully controlled manner throughout our lives. The molecular and cellular events that regulate this cycle are crucial for many diseases in which normal growth regulation is disturbed.
- Glycobiology. Glycans are a biologically important class of carbohydrates. Glycan-binding proteins (lectins) combine with specific structural glycans and play a crucial role in the recognition of cells, their motility and return to certain tissues, signaling processes, differentiation, cell adhesion, microbial pathogenesis and immunological recognition.
- Mitochondria. Known as the "home-based" structural units, mitochondria provide the energy that cells must use to survive, avoiding diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's disease.
- Motility - a microscopic nerve cell that originates in the brain and extends its processes to the base of the spinal cord, must move molecules over vast distances compared to its size. Scientists use various methods and approaches to studying how cells and their internal molecules and organelles move.
- Protein Transport Proteins are produced in the nucleus, and then they must be properly placed in order to fulfill their cellular roles. Thus, protein transport is central to all cellular systems, and its dysfunction is associated with diseases ranging from cystic fibrosis to Alzheimer's disease.
Cell basis of life
The cellular basis of life may seem obvious in the modern era of biology, but before the development of the first microscopes in the early nineteenth century, this could only be a matter of speculation. The size of a typical human cell is about five times smaller than anything we can see with the naked eye. Therefore, the progress in our understanding of the internal work of structural units, including cellular pathophysiology, goes hand in hand with the achievements in the technologies of this scientific field, available for visualization and study of them.
Chromosome biology
With the current excitement around the field of genomics, it is easy to forget that genes are simply short sections of DNA and part of much larger structures called chromosomes. The latter consist of chromatin-intricate DNA strands wrapped around proteins called histones, and now, as you know, play an equally important role in determining how organisms develop, function and stay healthy.
Epigenetics, literally “higher than genetics”, is a scientific field that studies the environmental changes in the genome, higher than those that can occur at the level of our DNA. These fluctuations in gene activity include modifications to the elements surrounding them, such as histone proteins, or modifications to transcription elements that control gene expression. Unlike DNA changes, epigenetic vibrations are usually specific for generation.
In other words, epigenetic changes are usually not transmitted from parent to child. This relatively new area of research has changed our understanding of both normal developmental processes and diseases, and is currently affecting the progress of the next generation of treatment methods. A variety of areas are being studied, including:
- Obesity. Epigenetic changes in our genome have long been suspected of the role of complex human diseases, such as the deposition of adipose tissue. A new scientific field is studying how environmental factors can affect the development of a disease.
- Clinical trials and drug development. The role of epigenetic anticancer treatment methods for various tumors is being studied, in the hope that they will be able to target and “reprogram” abnormal cells, rather than kill both cancerous and normal structural units, as in standard chemotherapy.
- Healthcare Diet and exposure to chemicals at all stages of development can cause epigenetic changes that can turn certain genes on or off. Scientists are exploring how these elements negatively affect the general population.
- Behavioral science. Epigenetic changes are associated with many diseases, including drug addiction and alcohol dependence. Understanding how environmental factors alter the genome may clarify new ways of treating psychological disorders.
Quantum biology
Physicists have been aware of such quantum effects for more than a hundred years, when particles challenge our senses, disappearing from one place and reappearing in another or being at two points simultaneously. But these effects are not classified as covert laboratory experiments. As scientists increasingly suspect that quantum mechanics may also apply to biological processes.
Perhaps the best example is photosynthesis, a wonderful effective system where plants (and some bacteria) build the molecules they need using the energy of sunlight. It turns out that this process can actually rely on the phenomenon of “superposition”, where small packets of energy explore all possible paths, and then settle on the most efficient one. It is also possible that bird navigation, DNA mutations (through quantum tunneling) and even our sense of smell rely on quantum effects.
Although this is a very speculative and controversial area, those who practice it are waiting for the day when the information obtained in the course of research can lead to the emergence of new drugs and biomimetic systems (biometrics is another emerging scientific field where biological systems and structures are used to create new materials and machines).
Social and Behavioral Sciences
In addition to the molecular and cellular levels, the study of how behavioral and social factors influence disease and health is vital for understanding, treating, and preventing diseases. The study of such sciences is a large multifaceted field, covering a wide range of disciplines and approaches.
The concept of an intra-professional analysis program combines biomedical, behavioral and social sciences to work together on solving complex and urgent problems in the field of healthcare. The focus is on the development of scientific areas that study behavioral processes, biopsychological and applied fields through the following methods:
- A study of the effects of illness or physical condition on behavior and social functioning.
- Identification and understanding of behavioral factors associated with the onset and course of the disease.
- Studying the results of treatment.
- Research on health promotion and disease prevention.
- Analysis of institutional and organizational health effects.
Exometeorology
Exo-meteorologists, like exo-oceanographers and exogeologists, are interested in studying the natural processes occurring on planets other than Earth. Now that astronomers can be more attentive to the inner workings of nearby objects, they are increasingly able to track atmospheric and weather conditions. Jupiter and Saturn, with their incredibly large potential systems, are the first candidates for study.
For example, dust storms regularly occur on Mars . In this scientific and technical direction, exometeorologists even study planets outside our solar system. And, interestingly, they can ultimately find signs of extraterrestrial life on an exoplanet by discovering organic signatures in the atmospheres or elevated levels of carbon dioxide - possible signs of civilization of industrial age.
Nutrigenomics
A priority research area, also known as food genomics, is nutrigenomics. This is a study of the complex interaction between food and DNA. Indeed, food has a profound effect on human health - and it begins literally at the molecular level. Scientists working in this area seek to understand the role of genetic variation, dietary response, and the ways in which nutrients affect our structures.
Nutrigenomics works in both directions - our genes influence our dietary preferences and vice versa. The key goal of this area of scientific activity is the creation of personalized nutrition - the comparison of what we eat with our own unique genetic constitutions.
Cognitive economics
Economics is usually not associated with deep knowledge, but this may change as this area integrates with traditional research disciplines. This direction of scientific work should not be confused with behavioral economics (studying our course of action - what we do - in the context of economic decision-making), cognitive economics is how we think. Lee Caldwell, who has a blog dedicated to this area, gives the following definition:
“A cognitive economy (or finance) ... looks at what actually happens in a person’s mind when he makes that choice. What is the internal structure of decision making, how does information penetrate consciousness, and how is it processed, and then ultimately account, how are all these processes expressed in our behavior? "
If we look at it differently, a cognitive economy is a physics whose behavioral economics is engineering. To this end, scientists working in this field begin their analysis at a lower level and form the fundamental micro-samples of human decision-making for the development of a model of large-scale economic behavior. To help them in this, cognitive economists consider related areas of this discipline and computational economics, as well as the main areas of scientific and technical research in the theory of rationality and decision-making.