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This is an exciting project, but as a scientist I think that the data they present to support their rather bold claims is pretty thin, so far. If they want me t
by ThePhysicist 13y ago
This is an exciting project, but as a scientist I think that the data they present to support their rather bold claims is pretty thin, so far. If they want me to invest in their startup through crowdfunding, they should at least be able to answer the following questions first:
-What exactly do they mean when they say that animal studies have been successful? Have they just conducted a proof-of-concept experiment or do they have a working vaccine for mice? If so, how effective is it (1 %, 10 % or 100 %)?
-How mature is the delivery process they intend to use? In their FAQ they mention the use of microspheres and state that "in a petri dish we have been able to induce dendritic cells to take up the microspheres through a process called phagocytosis". Again this sounds like a proof-of-concept experiment, so how mature is this technology?
-Why are there no peer-reviewed publications about their work so far? On their website they state that they're "awaiting publication in a peer-reviewed journal". Which journal did they submit their work to and why can't they publish a preprint of their article? Did they publish some theory papers about the work they did between 2011 and 2013?
If you want my money, please show me the data first :)
- bdcs 13y agoI agree with your dissatisfaction with the dearth of data. Unfortunately in bio(chem) fields, pre-prints are rare. Usually theory papers are too.
- ThePhysicist 13y agoWell in physics it used to be like this, with most journals denying the authors the right to publish a pre-print because it would "spoil" the publication in the journal. Some interdisciplinary journals like Science and Nature still enforce this (harmful) policy but many others were already forced to open up by the scientific community, which really accelerated the dissemination of important results a lot. After all, with most journals it takes between six to twelve months to get something published, by then most results are "yesterday's news" already ;)