• Question: Does your work save lives?

    Asked by Erin Ciara and Elsie to Simonne, Senga, Pete on 3 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Senga Robertson

      Senga Robertson answered on 3 Nov 2017:

      Hi Erin, Ciara and Elsie

      This is a brilliant question.

      The answer is, at the moment no. My work involves finding a way to help food crops grow well using special bacteria so that farmers don’t need to spray lots of chemicals on them for them to grow well. It will reduce a lot of the pollution caused by the chemicals farmers need to use at the moment. In the future though I hope I can find special bacteria that will allow plants to grow in places where they don’t grow well just now like in some developing countries that have very dry soil with little nutrients for plants to grow. A lot of people die of starvation or starvation related illnesses in the developing world so maybe one day my research might save lives. That would be one of my big dreams.

      Senga 🙂

    • Photo: Simonne Weeks

      Simonne Weeks answered on 6 Nov 2017:

      Great question. Yes. If someone lost a lot of blood during an operation or an accident as biomedical scientist I will do laboratory tests so that I can provide compatible blood that will save their life. Win!

    • Photo: Pete Gwynne

      Pete Gwynne answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      i hope it does one day. we’re trying to invent a type of laser beam that can kill germs, so if we manage to make it work then hopefully we can use it to cure diseases.

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