Exploring the interdisciplinary evolution of a discipline: the case of biochemistry and molecular biology

摘要

It is natural to subdivide science into disciplines that can focus on particular aspects of scientific inquiry. This becomes a problem when two or more disciplines are required to solve a complex research problem. For example, the successful development and delivery of a new drug to treat cancer could require close collaboration between cancer biologists, chemists, engineers, pharmacologists, physicians, statisticians, and so on. Thus, interdisciplinary science is needed to move some research forward.