Panel discussion on OLIGONUCLEOTIDES

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Nearly four decades ago when I was a student, I read an article about scientists employed by pharmaceutical companies to travel the globe collecting plant and soil samples. Thousands of samples were collected and taken back to company labs to be screened for compounds with medicinal properties. The next blockbuster drug could be waiting to be discovered in a vial full of soil taken from the rainforest floor. The whole process seemed so romantic and exciting to my teenage brain. My adult brain sees that process for what it is, an expensive and inefficient way to discover new drugs.