As Madoff pleads guity to one of the biggest scams in history, I want to point out an impact of his criminal activity that many may not appreciate. This sleaze's crimes are really far, far worse than any street criminal whose crimes may hurt some immediate victims because Madoff's crimes hurts many, many more people.

Back in January I was talking to a professor who had just given a talk at NYU Medical Center. One of the main topics of conversation was the economic collapse and, in particular, the Madoff scandal. He related to us an incident that illustrates just how disusting and damaging Madoff's crime spree was. Among Madoff's hardest hit clients was the Picower Foundation, a funding agency that funds neurological research. Work funded by these people studies the deepest aspects of how the brain works and how memory is formed. Some of the headlines coming from work they helped fund include:

Growth hormone could help reverse autism-like condition

Possible Treatment For Neurological Disorder Rett Syndrome -- Most Common Basis Of Autism In Girls

Team sheds light on Alzheimer's mystery

Spinal Cord Stem Cells May Act as Nerve Repair System

Pretty important stuff if you ask me.

Scientists who get funding from Picower Foundation would, of course, be expected to give updates on their work. Well, a story passed on to me went that one scientist was scheduled to give his update. In fact he was about to board a plane to go give his presentation when a call came in. The meeting was cancelled. Don't bother coming.

What had happened is that Madoff stole all of the Picower's money. The Picower ceased to exist. Madoff stole not only that money, but he made the breakthroughs that Foundation funded that much harder to achieve.

Scientific research is being cut back across the country because private foundations like Picower have either ceased to exist or have been severely hurt by Madoff's greed. Thankfully Obama has reversed the trend Bush followed of cutting government funding to scientific resarch, but the private funding sources are drying up faster than I have ever seen them. And Madoff is one of the key people responsible for that.

Madoff knew what he was doing. He knew someday he would take the money and those people who relied on him would be out of luck. He knew his crime would ruin the retirements of hard working Americans. And he knew full well his crime would hurt scientific research in America by devastating some of its key private funding sources. We will be feeling the impact of his crime spree for decades if not, when you take into account the delays in life saving research, a century. Quite literally, people will die because of Madoff's crimes and the damage it has done to scientific research.