The same study section might not, however, place this appellation on a proposal that seeks to clone and sequence a gene. The premise that a molecular biological description is necessarily more informative than a morphological one puzzles me. The implication the knowledge of the sequence of genes will somehow magically improve the management or outcome of a disease needs to be examined. The precise amino acid substitution in the hemoglobin of patients with sickle cell anemia has been known for approximately 40 years. It is my contention that hypotheses based on incomplete descriptions are usually bad.
Research based on bad hypotheses necessarily leads to bad science.
I cannot knowledgeably comment on other areas of research, but in my own field of lymphatic filariasis, a widely held hypothesis postulates that individuals who have lived long periods of time in an endemic area are disease free because of immunological mechanisms. This hypothesis emerged from our imperfect understanding of the natural history of lymphatic filariasis. This hypothesis has in turn led to the axiom that the categorization of antigens recognized by these individuals will lead to the definition of putative subunit vaccine candidates. A great deal of research has been done over last 10 years to identify vaccine candidates using this strategy. It does not surprise me that no valid or even promising subunit vaccine candidates have yet been identified.