What Makes Living Cells Living?

``Gilbert N. Ling

Damadian Foundation of Basic and Cancer Research FONAR Corporation

110 Marcus Drive
Melville, NY 11747-4292
March 15, 1989

A Physical Theory, of the Living State was written in 1957-1961 at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia. Chapter 8 of the book describes research I conducted in the preceding five years; the results unequivocally disprove the traditional membrane-pump theory. Neither the experiments nor the conclusion have been disputed in print since their publication; the essence of the conclusion has been twice confirmed. Other chapters present the association- induction (Al) hypothesis, a first of- its-kind, coherent, and comprehensive theory of the living cell. The disproof of the membrane-pump theory and the development of the Al hypothesis prompted me to write the volume.

In the 27 years following 1962, three types of advances have been made: (1) further development of the theory (for example, the subsidiary polarized multilayer theory of cell water was introduced in 1965); (2) verification of the theory on inanimate models that satisfy the criteria that, according to the theory, underlie the physiological manifestation of their living counterpart (3) worldwide testing of the predictions of the Al hypothesis (and the membrane- pump theory). The results have been overwhelmingly in favor of the AI hypothesis.

In the last 10 years, I have written two more books: In Search of the Physical Basis of Life was published in 1984.’ A Revolution in the Physiology of the Living Cell will soon follow; though much shorter, it documents the completion of a scientific revolution.

These dramatic developments elicited enthusiastic endorsements as well as intense hostility, neither unexpected. However, the universal adoption of the peer review system has “thrown a monkey wrench” into the delicate balance between the old and the new in the renewal phase of biomedical science. Thus, my scientific opponents, unable to challenge the validity of my scientific positions by normal means, were nevertheless given the absolute power to decide whether or not my research (and others’ like mine) should receive continued support from public funds administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Based on their recommendation, NIH officials withdrew all my research support, forcing the closing of my laboratory on October 30, 1988.

However, a valid theory cannot be suppressed for long. For, among other reasons, such a theory generates useful products. Here the useful product magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. It was MRI that has provided one essential element that had made possible the preservation of my laboratory and what it stood for. Thus, my laboratory, forcibly closed in Philadelphia, has reopened in Melville, with the prospect that it will grow into a major Bell Laboratories type of research institution. The second, more important element that has made all this possible is, of course, Dr. Raymond Damadian.

According to Damadian, the inventor and patent holder of MRI, his invention of MRI “originated in the modern concepts of salt-water biophysics (introduced by the association-induction hypothesis.” (AI).

For his contributions, Damadian has received the nation’s highest honor for scientists and technologists, the National Science and Technological Award, from President Ronald Reagan on July 15, 1988. He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame on February 12, 1989, sharing the honor with such legendary inventors as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. I must add in gratitude that my survival as a scientist is an expression of his high mindedness.,

MRI illustrates the creative development from the associative aspect of.the Al hypothesis. The inductive aspect of the Al hypothesis may also benefit mankind, by opening-the door to the creation of a rational drug therapy. Such a rational drug therapy will one day enable us to cure cancer and other “incurable” diseases, as easily as a skilled auto mechanic repairs a stalled automobile.''


Taken from``This Week's Citation Classic.''