Key Lab of Endemic and Ethnic Diseases of the Ministry of Education of China in Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550004, P. R. China.
Molecular Biology Center, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550004, P.R. China.
Int J Med Sci. 2018 Jan 19;15(4):309-322. doi: 10.7150/ijms.23215. eCollection 2018.
Biomedical research has advanced swiftly in recent decades, largely due to progress in biotechnology. However, this rapid spread of new, and not always-fully understood, technology has also created a lot of false or irreproducible data and artifacts, which sometimes have led to erroneous conclusions. When describing various scientific issues, scientists have developed a habit of saying "on one hand… but on the other hand…", because discrepant data and conclusions have become omnipresent. One reason for this problematic situation is that we are not always thoughtful enough in study design, and sometimes lack enough philosophical contemplation. Another major reason is that we are too rushed in introducing new technology into our research without assimilating technical details. In this essay, we provide examples in different research realms to justify our points. To help readers test their own weaknesses, we raise questions on technical details of RNA reverse transcription, polymerase chain reactions, western blotting and immunohistochemical staining, as these methods are basic and are the base for other modern biotechnologies. Hopefully, after contemplation and reflection on these questions, readers will agree that we indeed know too little about these basic techniques, especially about the artifacts they may create, and thus many conclusions drawn from the studies using those ever-more-sophisticated techniques may be even more problematic.
近几十年来，生物医学研究进展迅速，这在很大程度上要归功于生物技术的进步。然而，这种新的、并非总是完全被理解的技术的快速传播也产生了大量虚假或不可重现的数据和人工制品，有时导致了错误的结论。在描述各种科学问题时，科学家们养成了一种习惯，即说“一方面……但另一方面……”，因为不一致的数据和结论已经无处不在。造成这种问题局面的一个原因是，我们在研究设计时并不总是足够深思熟虑，有时缺乏足够的哲学思考。另一个主要原因是，我们在将新技术引入研究时过于匆忙，而没有吸收技术细节。在本文中，我们提供了不同研究领域的例子来证明我们的观点。为了帮助读者检验自己的弱点，我们提出了关于 RNA 逆转录、聚合酶链反应、western blot 和免疫组织化学染色等方法的技术细节问题，因为这些方法是基本的，是其他现代生物技术的基础。希望读者在对这些问题进行思考和反思后，能够认识到我们确实对这些基本技术了解甚少，尤其是它们可能产生的人工制品，因此，使用这些越来越复杂的技术进行的研究得出的许多结论可能会更成问题。
