Dr. Austin is director of the Country wide Center for Improving Translational Sciences (NCATS), area of the NIH. NCATS is wanting to find methods for getting new treatments and solutions for diseases sent to patients faster.
At NCATS, Dr. Austin minds a state-of-the-art laboratory that uses robots to find treatments.
Lately, groups of patients with uncommon diseases have made their way to the NIH to view the robots at the job in the $20 million, 30,000 square-foot system which includes refrigerators, automated computers and incubators. Machines work around-the-clock, examining thousands of ingredients against a number of exceptional diseases mainly.
Among the first parents to go to was a female whose college-age boy had a uncommon cancer. Throughout a travel in 2006, Dr. Austin told her that of 17 years to develop a new drug instead, he hoped that the laboratory could slice the right time to a decade.
" 'I love your technology,' '' Dr. Austin recalled the girl stating. " 'I love your robots. I really like this fancy products. But also for my child which disease, a decade, 15 years, isn't heading to work. Isn't there another thing we can do?' ''
It really is a question he hears over and over. There are 7 roughly,000 known diseases; no more than 500 have cure. Despite having robots morning and evening, Dr. Austin said, the arithmetic is discouraging.
Dr. Austin and the Journal's Amy Dockser Marcus will answer visitors' questions about unusual diseases and the study process. They are simply web host an AMA (brief for "Ask Me Anything). Ask your questions now.