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No crops without seeds: the risks in declining support for fundamental research

Over recent decades, shifts toward translational or applied research in many countries have come at the expense of fundamental discovery research. Here we discuss the historical importance of basic science in the cardiovascular field, the risks in its decline and the ongoing need for a strong foundation in fundamental discovery research.

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Fig. 1: The Hogan/Smith suburban vegetable patch in Melbourne, Australia.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Kelly Smith and Lizzie Mason for thoughtful comments.

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Correspondence to Benjamin M. Hogan, Mark L. Kahn or Natasha L. Harvey.

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Hogan, B.M., Kahn, M.L. & Harvey, N.L. No crops without seeds: the risks in declining support for fundamental research. Nat Cardiovasc Res 2, 193–195 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-023-00225-x

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