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A basic paradox in funding policy is that policymakers want to guarantee maximum welfare benefits without violating the independence of scientists and their organisations. This article contends that this problem can be adequately conceptualised in terms of delegation and principal-agent theory. In the past, blind delegation and incentives were used to resolve the tension: more recently, efforts have been in quite a different direction. The 'steady state' succeeds in realising more society-oriented research but fails to reduce the tensions. 'Delegation by contract' and 'delegation to networks' attack the estimation of costs by scientists linked to the efforts in politically or user-inspired research and can thus reduce the likelihood of moral hazard by scientists. They are 'opening up' the scientific system to user systems by changing the functioning of the basic structures of science whilst embodying two very different solutions. 'Delegation by contract' maintains a strong belief in the rationalisation of funding policy and in political guidance, while 'delegation to networks' makes the state a 'facilitator' helping scientists and their institutions to self-organise networks of co-operation with user systems.Professor Dietmar Braun is at

The adherence of Bordetella pertussis to human respiratory cilia is critical to the pathogenesis of whooping cough. To explore the development of agents that could interrupt adherence, the structure of the receptor on the ciliary surface was investigated. Using an in vitro adherence assay to human ciliated epithelial cells, galactose, lactose, and complex carbohydrates containing lactose eliminated adherence when preincubated with the bacteria. 10(-2) M galactose eluted adherent bacteria from cilia. B. pertussis and its two purified adhesins bound specifically to natural lactose-containing glycolipids in a TLC assay. mAbs to eukaryotic glycoconjugates with specificity for substituted galactose-glucose moieties blocked adherence when preincubated with ciliated cells. The carbohydrates that serve as receptors for B. pertussis on human cilia are galactose-glucose-containing glycolipids. Receptor analogs and anti-receptor antibodies effectively block adherence of B. pertussis to cilia and thus should be considered candidates for therapeutic intervention against disease.