• Question: do you test on humans

    Asked by diggerlack to Rory, Juan on 12 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by rossabcd.
    • Photo: Rory Miles

      Rory Miles answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      My whole job is about testing on humans. We don’t give anything to the person, but hospitals send us blood samples from patients. We then use this sample to test for the microorganisms that they might be infected with. Other scientists work in what we call clinical trials. These are really strict studies in which real patients are given a new medicine or given a fake medicine (called a placebo). These are really important to see if a new medicine works well or not. These studies are monitored by lots of different organisations to make sure that the people taking part are not harmed.

    • Photo: Juan Carlos Lopez-Baez

      Juan Carlos Lopez-Baez answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Hey @diggerlack and @rossabcd

      I don’t test on humans, but what we have discovered (when I say we, I mean other scientists in my field 🙂 ) in zebrafish is now being studied by the British Heart Foundation to see whether it can be taken into trial for the treatment of heart attacks in humans. Zebrafish regenerate their hearts really well after they have been damaged, but we, as humans, we can’t. We have uncovered a lot of information on how they do it, so we are looking now to see whether it could be applied for human treatment!

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