Munich

German scientists have rejected claims that lack of government funding for genome research is their own fault, for failing to convince politicians of its importance.

Although funding for the German Human Genome Project (DHGP) is expected to increase substantially next year, it will still fall well short of what many believe the country needs to compete internationally.

Walter Döllinger, a senior official in the research ministry, told a DHGP workshop last month that the scientific community and industry must share the blame for waning political support. Their lobbying activities have been ineffective, he said, and they have not put significant amounts of their own money into genomics research.

Döllinger said the research ministry is trying to maintain political momentum, which has slowed as government priorities changed. The ministry has drawn up a broad strategy paper for genome research that “covers the whole chain of innovation, from basic research to development”. He expects it to be approved during the 2001 budget talks in June.

This extends an earlier paper, based on input from the scientific community, that was to have been launched last year. To the dismay of researchers, the paper was shelved, apparently because research minister Edelgard Bulmahn felt that it lacked a sufficiently strong political message to persuade the cabinet to provide the level of extra funding it demanded (see Nature 402, 706; 1999).

The present paper brings together all the ministry's activities in genome research, including its new DM100 million (US$50 million) BioChance programme for start-up companies, along with the activities of research organizations such as the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany's main granting agency, and the Helmholtz Society, which runs national research centres.

It proposes a “significant increase” — possibly more than 50 per cent, Döllinger indicated — in project money for the DHGP, currently around DM50 million a year. The paper also proposes setting up a genomics programme for microorganisms and a fund for ‘competence centres’ to reward interdisciplinary programmes linking research groups from different institutions.

The new package would be more politically convincing than its predecessor, said Döllinger. But researchers say that its scientific aspirations will not be met unless the government supplies a lot more money.

Detlev Ganten, director of the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine in Berlin and head of the Helmholtz Society, rejects Döllinger's claim that scientists have failed to shift funds from old areas of research. The Helmholtz Society has created a small strategy fund in genomics and intends to redistribute its own core funding in favour of genomics, he says. Its genome-related research will be evaluated next month by an international committee. The Helmholtz Society's senate will use the results in its decision on genomics strategies in May.

“The research ministry is very well aware of our activities,” says Ganten. “It should not make up excuses to justify its own inactivity. It is naive to say that shifting our money would be sufficient; we need a lot of extra money.”

The Helmholtz Society was a co-signatory of a report to the ministry which argued for a tenfold increase in public funding. Other signatories included major research organizations, such as the DFG, and the Förderverein, a consortium of German companies that support technology transfer from the DHGP.

DFG president Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker says he is “surprised” that Döllinger considers scientists' lobbying activities inadequate. He points out that the heads of all German research organizations have written detailed reports and campaigning letters to the ministry, and have launched an initiative to lobby parliamentarians.

“We have taken all opportunities to air the debate in newspapers and the most important political circles,” says Winnacker. “Short of hiring a Zeppelin and flying it over Berlin, I'm not sure what more is expected of us.”

Werner Schiebler, director of technology licensing and alliances at Aventis, says: “Industry recognizes its responsibility for supporting technology transfer and this is why we support the Förderverein by around DM1.5 million a year.” But he adds that industry will only pay for basic research with clearly defined goals.