How the pandemic might change drug research

As I write, it seems possible to pick out the end of the pandemic in the distance. Mass vaccinations are starting to make a real difference in several countries, and that appears to be the way out of all this, as many had thought. So I’ll put on an optimistic outlook and ask how this experience could affect drug research once it’s all over.

On a personal level, I think that most people will take the opportunity to plunge back in (with great relief) to all the activities that the pandemic has curtailed. The experience of having travel and a lot of simple human association disrupted so thoroughly and so unexpectedly will sharpen many a person’s appreciation of them (at least temporarily). We’re not done with video conferences, though. There is no substitute for being able to work at the bench with the reagents and equipment you need, but I would not be surprised to see non-bench days and non-bench duties being handled remotely more often than they used to be. Being 100% off-site has not been a great experience, but being on-site just to be one of 30 people in a room watching slides go past is not necessarily a great use of one’s time, either.