• Question: Hi what sort of drugs and medicines do you look at in the lab

    Asked by kanishkapaya to Jack, Jon, Tom, Yalda on 19 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Jack Heal

      Jack Heal answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      I’m studying a drug which helps people who have had organ transplants. Often the body sees the new organ as a “foreign body” and tries to get rid of it. The immune system goes crazy trying to fight the new organ, and this is called “organ rejection”. The drug I work on is an immunosuppressant – it suppresses the immune system. When people have an organ transplant they need to quieten down their immune system so that the new organ isn’t rejected.

      It’s tricky though because if they get infected with anything else during this time then you want the immune system to be ready. It’s a fine balancing act!

    • Photo: Yalda Javadi

      Yalda Javadi answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      At the moment, I am studying a protein that can target certain cancer cells and kill them.

    • Photo: Tom Branson

      Tom Branson answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      I’m working on making an inhibitor for Cholera toxin. It should bind to the toxin with carbohydrates and so stop the toxin interacting with your body.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      I don’t work in a lab anymore, i just write about what other people do in their labs. At the minute I look at two different cancer drugs – one for blood cancers and one for prostate cancers. When I did work in a lab, it was on fish rather than medicine. I spent a lot of time analysing their behaviour (no, I’m not lying!) which probably doesn’t fit the picture most people have in their heads about what a lab/scientist looks like.

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