-
Asked by courtneywilliamson to Chris, Dave, David, Fiona, Jack on 19 Jun 2013.
-
Jack Miller answered on 19 Jun 2013:
Yes!
Well, sort of. I’m working on something that can help diagnose cancer much earlier than we currently can see it, and, well, a diagnosis isn’t a cure. However, it’s interesting because a) diagnosing cancer earlier means we’re more likely to be able to treat it, as it’s less likely to have spread more widely throughout the body, b) my technique will also be able to see really quickly if particular types of anti-cancer drugs are _going_ to work in a particular patient. At the moment, someone’s given these drugs and told to come back in six weeks or a few months to see if their tumours have shrunk. If they haven’t, another drug is tried. This is fine, but, well, for some people six weeks is a very long time. What I’m working on should be able to see if the tumours are _going_ to shrink if the patient were to keep taking that drug.
Hope that helps!
— Jack
-
-
David Freeborn answered on 19 Jun 2013:
Not quite, but a lot of the work in my area is helping medicine, and is helping to cure cancer.
We can accelerate tiny particles called protons and neutrons and use these to create a beam capable to killing cancer cells by damaging their DNA. These beams are much safer than other techniques like X-rays because they only travel a little way into the body- they will travel to the cancer cell but are less likely to damage other cells.
Another technique we’ve developed is called PET scans or “positron emission tomography”. We use tiny antimatter particles called positrons and fire them into the body. They collide with particles inside the body and give off light. This allows us to create a 3D image of the inside of a person’s organs, like their brain or heart.
-
Chris Mansell answered on 19 Jun 2013:
My work isn’t related to cancer.
I think that cancer research can benefit from having all different types of scientists (biologists, chemists and physicists) working on it from different perspectives. I’d find it very cool if I ever got the opportunity to contribute to cancer research but at the moment, my topic is quite far removed from cancer.
-
Fiona Coomer answered on 19 Jun 2013:
No I’m not. Not because I don’t think it’s an important field to work on, but because I believe that there are areas of research that have the opportunity to affect far more people’s lives, and not just the lives of those in the developed world who will be able to afford expensive new cancer drugs. At the moment cancer research is disproportionately funded in comparison with other diseases and technology that could massively improve the quality of life of people the world over (cancer isn’t even in the top 10 causes of death of people in the developing world) – I believe that these are important problems to work on too!
-
Dave Farmer answered on 20 Jun 2013:
Hi Courtney,
Similar to Chris and Fiona, I’m not really in an area related to cancer treatment. I think it’s important to remember though, that even an area that can seem unconnected can produce results which have applications elsewhere. So while I’m not currently working specifically on devices to detect or cure cancer, it’s possible that someday the physics I’m researching might have an application in that area.
Dave
Comments