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 Research Focus The Stowers Institute: A Focus on Basic Science The Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic biomedical research into the way genes determine our biological fate and how they can cause disease. Stowers Institute scientists do experiments intended to fill in the missing pieces to the puzzles of life and to broaden the base of knowledge on specific cellular and molecular changes involved in the onset of disease. The Stowers Institute brings scientists from many disciplines together to focus on analyzing how genes and proteins control cell multiplication, differentiation, migration, and death in the context of early development of organisms. This, along with our commitment to develop and use the latest in technology, will allow the Institute to create an intellectual environment in which questions of fundamental importance to biology and medicine can be answered. 
Stowers researchers do not concentrate directly on treating patients or on developing drug therapies. In many cases, the origin of a disease is unknown, making it difficult to design successful treatments or to plan specific experiments. Stowers researchers work to fill in the information gaps, allowing other scientists to one day translate basic research into treatments and cures. Modern biomedical research has already enabled society to conquer many bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases, including polio, diphtheria, smallpox and pneumonia. Now, it is focusing on diseases that result from disturbances of basic molecular mechanisms within cells and tissues, including heart disease, cancer, arthritis, kidney disease, and diabetes. Most of these diseases were once thought to be the natural result of aging, but it is now believed that they may be prevented, cured, or delayed if scientists can understand their basic mechanisms, allowing intervention at the initial stages. The Stowers Institute's approach to research allows scientists to probe the molecular mechanisms of particular gene-linked medical problems, to study the interaction between environment and genes in causing disease, and to discover how many genes are involved in particular diseases. Stowers research seeks insight into how specific genes are controlled and expressed — how they are turned on and off — by factors both external and internal to the organism. This research aims ultimately to achieve the ability to alter the expression of disease-causing genes so that illness is prevented.  |
