Intravital observatories. Dream or necessity

Among the major challenges confronting biomedical studies today two stands out above all others: 1. The need for a better interrelation of the remarkable findings of molecular and cell biology to living systems through careful intravital observation; and 2. The need for a more rapid and skillful application of the findings and methods of intravital observation to clinical applications. Major progress on either or both of these problems will require much greater emphasis on multidisciplinary studies of living animals involving a considerably wider variety of disciplines than has been brought to bear on them to date, plus the availability of the finest and most advanced technology. The cost in both money and manpower to achieve major breakthroughs is such that these goals can only be accomplished by having a few centers of excellence in which both a diversity of skills and of equipment can be made available to as wide a spectrum of the biomedical community as possible. It is the contention of this author that this can best be achieved by establishing a few methods-oriented centers of excellence for Intravital Observation which he has called Intravital Observatories. It is urged that the community of microcirculationists, which has long been a leader in a multidisciplinary approach to physiological studies and has made many of the outstanding advances in intravital microscopy, take the lead in making this major contribution to biomedicine.