• Question: Why is your research important? What are the possible real world applications?

    Asked by Qadeerboss to Mark, Linda, Koi, Franco, Claire on 11 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 11 Jun 2016:

      Hi Qadeerboss
      Not all discoveries have immediate applications in the real world. I have tried to explain this in my reply to a previous question, where I distinguished between discoveries and inventions, and between ‘applied’ and ‘basic’ research. Of course discoveries can lead to inventions, and inventions can lead to new discoveries, so it is a very dynamic process, these are not two distinct areas coexisting next to each other.

      The way science move forward nowadays is through small increments. Scientists add small pieces of knowledge to a constantly growing jigsaw puzzle. The time where the great discoveries were made lies in the past, although we are still discovering new planets, suns, bacteria, viruses, even larger animals, for the first time.
      My own research tends to be basic, which means it is more likely to lead to discoveries (which are then published in scientific journals) rather than inventions. While research done at Universities tends to be more basic, research in Industry tends to be more applied. But both can benefit from working together, and one does not exclude the other.

      In terms of my own research, I am involved in developing a new technology for diagnosis of allergy, and some of the work done in my lab may lead to new treatments for Helicobacter pylori treatment (that’s a bacterium that lives in the stomach in half the world’s population and is the main cause of stomach ulcers and stomach cancers, in a subset of infected people).

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Hi Qadeerboss

      All research has some level of importance as it contributes new knowledge to society. My work is especially important for the populations of people where the environment in which they live is suitable for the transmission of parasitic infections that come from the soil or water. A lot of my work is about how discovering how environmental change might affect the transmission of parasites now and in future. Many people who are exposed to infections are unaware of the risks and my work is helpful to organisations that work with these people in terms of providing medicines.

      Here’s an example – approximately 200 million people are affected by a parasite called schistsosomiasis. This is a worm living in the blood of affected people that comes from snails that live in fresh water. There is a good medicine that can treat people, but it is in limited supply and does not always work expected in every population. This is partly because the snails that transmit the infection are affected by the environment – so if there are more snails than expected due to an environmental change (e.g. the water temperature increases, which increases their breeding rate), there may be more infections in the people and a need for more medicines. If not all people who need medicine are treated, the parasites are not killed and can spread further through the population

      So I look at how the environment affects the snails and the people and then report my findings to the World Health Organisation who can use that information to look at making new recommendations for how often people should be treated.
      cheers
      Mark

    • Photo: Linda Anagu

      Linda Anagu answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Every research, either with a negative or positive outcome is a step closer to understanding the world around us. that understanding can then be used to solve a problem, be it a real life everyday problem or a laboratory problem. So, some research may have a direct answer to a problem, while others may provide possible scenarios that enable us better understand the problem or identify possible solutions. My areas of research is the latter and will not provide a direct answer but will enable us better understand the problem and identify possible areas where the solution can be found.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Hi Qadeerboss,
      To me my research is important for the sake of knowledge and for learning about the world that we are living in. Potentially, the knowledge can be a basis for the next step into application. In fact, many real world applications we are making use of nowadays came as almost an accidental and unplanned part of the research combined with curious and creative minds. Examples of these are the X-ray, laser, the first antibiotics – penicillin, and..the post-it notes!

      I think that’s the beauty of scientific research; because it’s a discovery, you don’t really know what you will find and what it can lead to 🙂

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      My research focuses on how existing treatments can be used to control disease-causing damage by parasites and the immune system. Often the immune system can be just as damaging as an infection, if not more so, because when it tries to kill an infection that persists for a long time then it can start causing colateral damage to body cells and tissues. This is really important to understand better because if we can regulate damaging immune responses and boost helpful ones we can reduce deaths and disability due to conditions like parasitic infections, sepsis, HIV and malnutrition.

      Some real-world applications? Great question! My research has helped to show that an antibiotic called cotrimoxazole can reduced inflammation in the blood, so could be a beneficial way to reduce death and disabilities in HIV-infected children who have high levels of infections and inflammation. I’ve also shown that treating schistosome infection with praziquantel can increase inflammatory responses and in this case it might be beneficial because schistosome infections can dampen down immune responses (both good ones and damaging ones) and weaken protection against other infections. Both of these studies can help us to refine the way that we treat human diseases.

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