Why our patients (and we) need basic science research.

In times of fiscal austerity, the tendency is to seek instant, inexpensive gratification. In the case of biomedical research, this means the shortest path to practical clinical implementation. But fueling the translational pipeline with discovery depends critically on allowing the biomedical research community to follow their science where it takes them. Fiscal constraints carry with them the risk of squelching creativity and forfeiting the power of serendipity to provide the substrate for the translational engine in the future.