Typically, a medical breakthrough involves an advance in diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease. Some of these advances can be truly transformative. Others might lead to more effective medicines or better surgical techniques. These advancements may also lead to new medical devices that will change the way we live and even create whole new ways of delivering healthcare.
For example, the mRNA vaccines that saved millions of lives during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic were made possible by decades of basic science research and applied science discoveries. Similarly, electronic health records and telemedicine have improved access to care and have altered the physician-patient relationship. Wearable and implantable devices can monitor and predict diseases, while individualized medicine is enabling more targeted interventions to treat patients with a range of chronic conditions.
Brigham and Women’s researchers identify a gene that leads to rheumatoid arthritis, and they develop a medication to target that gene. HMS Cell Biology researcher Jack Szostak co-discovers telomeres, regions of repetitive DNA that protect chromosomes from degradation but become shorter each time a cell divides, and the slot pulsa enzyme that maintains them, revealing a fundamental mechanism of cell aging and allowing researchers to design drugs to slow or reverse the process.
Historically, medical breakthroughs often come as a result of necessity (the need to cure an illness), opportunity (a chance discovery), luck or chance encounters, curiosity and ingenuity (the ability to see a problem’s solution). Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928 completely revolutionised the war against deadly bacteria.