In this TEDx talk, Nick Sireau discusses rare diseases and how they help us understand common diseases.
Currently we don’t fund research into rare diseases because so few people will be affected by any particular condition. But there are thousands of rare diseases affecting a significant proportion of us. More to the point: research into rare diseases is particularly important to understanding common diseases. A cure is likely to come from studying the exception, not the norm. We should perhaps think of rare diseases as ‘fundamental’ diseases, and fund research on them based on their real import to science and medicine.
(Source: youtu.be)
