The Covid-19 pandemic: An urgent need to remove silo mentality in science and tackle global health challenges through coordination, cooperation and collaboration

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, represents a major global health chal-lenge. It is devastating the lives of people around the world. The scientific community, through the application of advanced scientific techniques, can play an important role in helping to relieve some of the suffering. However, for this to be effective, changes are needed in the way scientific research is conducted. Silo mentality in science has slowed down progress, despite greater awareness regarding breaking barriers between different spheres of knowledge. The story of five blind men [Fig. 1] each giving their description about the elephant, on the basis of what they touched, is equally applicable in the way scientific research is carried out. Often it is not possible to get the “full picture” of a particular system due to research being confined within boundaries set by specific techniques or disciplines. The Covid-19 pandemic provides a window of opportunity to break down such barriers and develop better coordination, cooperation and collaboration to achieve scientific breakthroughs, at least in areas where saving human lives is concerned. There is no doubt that one such area is disease diagnosis and the development of drugs and vaccines. Spectroscopic imaging