• Question: In what ways would your work help saving lives?

    Asked by sachin to Lyn, Katy, Paul, PB, Ruth on 21 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by nicolacottrell.
    • Photo: Peter Balfe

      Peter Balfe answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      My work is on a human pathogen, so the answers easy. For many scientists this may seem a harder question, but it;s really surprising how things link together. For example would you say it is important to human health to study the immune system of llamas or the biology of armadillos? Probably not.

      Type “nanobodies” and “leprosy and armadillo” in google to find out if you’re right.

    • Photo: Ee Lyn Lim

      Ee Lyn Lim answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      I’m working on a treatment for cancer! Hopefully my research will produce a powerful new kind of medicine which will treat cancer without all the nasty side effects, so that fewer people die from cancer in the future.

    • Photo: Ruth Mitchell

      Ruth Mitchell answered on 23 Jun 2013:

      I hope to contribute to a new treatment to multiple sclerosis and potentially many autoimmune diseases.

    • Photo: Katy Brown

      Katy Brown answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I look at how viruses evolve – it doesn’t save lives directly, but it helps us look for treatment for diseases if we know as much about them as we can.

    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      My work is about pathogens that live in our water taps and pipes- these are things like Legionella, which causes a disease called Legionnaire’s disease. If we can work out how to prevent contamination in this way, then we will stop people from dying in hospitals from this, when they are supposed to be recovering from something else!

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