“I can tell you from my 16 years in Congress that this effort to tell these stories is important and influential because policymakers, like all of us, value stories and because we must ensure that science has the support it needs to advance and serve society,” added Holt in opening remarks. to behave in a defensive way even in an infection where no antibodies were present, such as tuberculosis. She’s the office’s associate director, and she’s heavily involved in efforts to get members engaged with policymakers and the public. It was somewhat inspired by the Golden Fleece Awards, given out by Sen. William Proxmire in the 1970s and 1980s. Each year, they speak at the ceremony about the importance of federally funded research. Cohen had been among the researchers who confirmed these findings, detecting in his own experiments both the presence and activity of lymphokines, the name given to the protein lymphocytes were producing in a type of cell-mediated immunity. And one of the key people behind the show is Erin Heath, who co-chairs the award’s steering committee. ", Health and medicine/Diseases and disorders/Cancer/Cancer immunology. in that field led him to uncover a key molecular component of our bodies' most complex activities. The award is also supported by a bipartisan group of members of Congress. At the time of Cohen's discovery, though, the notion was so revolutionary that the first paper he wrote on the topic was rejected by a number of publications. It’s those new, unexpected discoveries that actually lead to big, useful findings.”. His own curiosity about the big. It has to have had a demonstrated impact on society. Here, she talks a bit about the history behind the award and what’s involved in picking the winners. It's tremendously important that Congress, the President, everyone understands that basic research is very, very important, but more than that, you don't know where the next useful discoveries are going to come from.". read the stories . Each year a committee headed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, other scientific organizations and institutions of higher education present Golden Goose Awards to scientists to commend their seemingly obscure, federally funded research that has led to major scientific breakthroughs with significant societal impact. At the time, his discovery was a leap forward in our understanding of how the body coordinates such complicated projects as mounting a defense against disease, the context in which he identified cytokines. Cohen said, "It's an honor. It’s very easy to do. We accept nominations year-round on our website. Nosek developed a web-based tool in 1998, which has expanded the study of implicit bias and its impact. He was interested in research from the outset, because he wanted to do something "that would have an effect on the real world," he said, and he reasoned that medicine would be a good backup in case the research fell through. There are more stories out there. could activate lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. The Golden Goose Award has strong bipartisan support from the U.S. Congress, and awardees are honored each year at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. where Members of Congress from both parties speak to the importance of federal funding for scientific research. Cohen wondered if a virus might also trigger a cell-mediated immune response, and infected a number of fertilized chickens' eggs to obtain the virus. How does the award fit in with the AAAS mission? The Golden Goose Award has strong bipartisan support, and winners are honored every year at an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., where Members of Congress of both parties speak to the importance of the award and of federal funding of scientific research. The Golden Goose Award initiative was backed by AAAS, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Breakthrough Institute, the Progressive Policy Institute, The Science Coalition, and the Task Force on American Innovation. And, every once in a while, you’ll find a branch with a lot of nice fruit, but you don’t know in advance which branch it is. and got his first civilian job at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he began the work that led to his discovery of cytokines. The idea was hatched – yes, I said that – by Congressman Jim Cooper, of Tennessee. Or how mussels stick to rocks? Cohen joined the army during the Vietnam War, attained the rank of captain. What’s the response been to the awards, both among the scientific community and policymakers? Scientists had only recently discovered that the immune system involved more than the production of antibodies. The World's Largest General Scientific Society, © 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science, Stanley Cohen, 2018 Golden Goose Award Winner, Cohen, an experimental pathologist, began working in immunology during his medical residency at Harvard. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! The way science is done now, every experiment has so much information that comes out of it that human beings can't process it all. This was surprising, since the eggs do not contain any lymphocytes or other immune cells. “Who knew that studying geese, eggs and bias could improve cancer treatment and the understanding of how we think?” Cooper said in a statement issued Thursday morning. ", Says Cohen, emeritus professor of pathology and the founding director of the Center for Biophysical Pathology at Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School (RNJMS) in Newark, "If you insist on trying to find the answer, you're going to be stuck with what you already know.". He told an interviewer from the journal Cytokine in 2004 that he was proud to have been part of the cadre of young scientists who initiated the "study of one of the major hormonal integrative pathways of the body." The AAAS is the fiduciary for the Golden Goose Award. Whether you’re a scientist, engineer, teacher, or science advocate, together we can be a united voice for scientific progress. In a recent interview, Cohen called cytokines "the vocabulary of the language cells use to talk with one another." Cohen had been among the researchers who confirmed these findings, detecting in his own experiments both the presence and activity of lymphokines, the name given to the protein lymphocytes were producing in a type of cell-mediated immunity. “Discovery is like a tree,” said Cohen in a short video documentary that was played during the ceremony. In 1974, Cohen discovered proteins he called cytokines, which cells secrete to communicate with other cells. Cohen wondered if a virus might also trigger a cell-mediated immune response, and infected a number of fertilized chickens' eggs to obtain the virus. The subsequent experiment did not produce the results he'd hoped for, and Cohen was on the verge of throwing out the infected eggs when it occurred to him that the virus might have had some interesting effects on the eggs themselves. Other investigators had earlier discovered that the introduction of an antigen. AAAS brought the award program under its stewardship in 2017. And it has to have what we call that “goosey” nature, which is to say it may have sounded odd or obscure to start or feature some element of serendipity.. We continue to stay in touch with them; some previous award winners have been able to join us at subsequent award ceremonies or work with us on media outreach. Those are the really gratifying stories for me. Our ability to provide a voice for scientists and engineers and to advance science depends on the support from individuals like you. Sometimes those awards would go to scientific research, among other things. Upon further investigation, he discovered many different kinds of cells could make these proteins and that they influenced the behavior of other cells. Proxmire has been gone a long time, but you still hear similar rhetoric today. The discovery led to the concept of cytokines, a completely new way of thinking about general physiology, and thus new ways to treat abnormal cell growth inherent in cancers and other diseases. Each year a committee headed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, other scientific organizations and institutions of higher education present Golden Goose Awards to scientists to commend their seemingly obscure, federally funded research that has led to major scientific breakthroughs with significant societal impact. We now have a collection of inspiring stories about the unexpected benefits of science and the sometimes-serendipitous nature of science. Another thing we’ve done in the last few years is bring teams of researchers to the AAAS annual meeting for a session that tells their story, that talks about their research. We’re grateful to have the support of a bipartisan group of U.S. representatives and senators, including Congressman Cooper. We want to hear these stories. Cohen continued to do innovative research; he has taught and served in administration at several institutions. Golden Goose Award . Our ability to provide a voice for scientists and engineers and to advance science depends on the support from individuals like you. Our ability to provide a voice for scientists and engineers and to advance science depends on the support from individuals like you. This is science at its best, and the government must invest in it.”.