The outlook from Leverkusen is optimistic. The proportion of elderly people in the general population will increase, thereby increasing the need for treatments of age-related diseases. By that I mean they have to know how to use their network of contacts, understand something about the financial and industrial aspects of making products from basic research, and even understand a little about the law behind it all. Health Somewhere between a company and a university, GSF is supported by both the local government of Bavaria and the federal government. We have to work out new therapies while also finding ways to preserve the environment.
Research thus ranges from gene therapy and bone marrow transplantation to bioremediation.
Because GSF comprises 20 separate research efforts, the range of expertise is quite broad, including biologists, molecular biologists, mathematicians, statisticians, MDs, and physicists. According to Afting, the health and prospects for European biopharma is very good indeed. Large pharmas will be purchasing more and more vanguard technologies from smaller companies, which in turn will be outsourcing most of their basic research discoveries for development and marketing. World science turns over every seven years, leaving a bewildering and exciting world in its wake. As Germany and Europe take a more and more vigorous role in world science, Afting and GSF are looking for the pianists who can play the right music for the dance.