Crowdfunding for medical research picks up pace

摘要

Mention crowdfunding and potato salad might come to mind. Last month, a man was able to raise more than US$50000 via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to make a potato salad. What started as a joke campaign by Zack Brown from Columbus, OH, USA, ended in a surprising amount of attention worldwide. Could this form of fundraising be the answer to the funding nightmares of medical researchers? David Hawkes, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Australia, thinks yes. So far he has raised $12 000 for his research into the use of viral vectors to treat neurological disorders through the crowdfunding website Pozible, with only $150 of that coming from his family and friends; the rest came from the public.