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A sound epistemological foundation for biological inquiry comes, in part, from application of valid statistical procedures. This tenet is widely appreciated by scientists studying the new realm of high-dimensional biology, or 'omic' research, which involves multiplicity at unprecedented scales. Many papers aimed at the high-dimensional biology community describe the development or application of statistical techniques. The validity of many of these is questionable, and a shared understanding about the epistemological foundations of the statistical methods themselves seems to be lacking. Here we offer a framework in which the epistemological foundation of proposed statistical methods can be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the how genetic research results can affect government policy on biosciences. He argues that government legislators often ignore the options available to them in recommendations of research papers when making decisions on government policies on science, in which these legislators are more concerned with economic calculations of the impact of a research. Meanwhile, researchers can only offer their best scientific advice for legislators.

The author reflects on the increasing trend of the use of a rat as a genetic model of complex traits and disease. It is noted that the laboratory rat was the first mammalian species domesticated for scientific research. In addition, the research encompasses papers that present both new biology and new resources for genetic analysis of the rat.