• Question: Have you ever cured any medical conditions or diseases?

    Asked by 568rhed42 to David, Eva, Kate, Nicholas, Rachel on 12 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by raufii.
    • Photo: Rachel McMullan

      Rachel McMullan answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      Hi
      Sadly not yet. Most of my research is quite basic, understanding how things work so that we can design drugs in the future. It usually takes a lot of work to get to the stage of being able to give someone a drug. You need to understand the basic science first and then design a drug and test it really well before you even get a chance to give it to people. Then it has to be carefully tested in clinical trials. It can take years and years and normally requires lots of people working in lots of different areas of science. And of course sometimes it doesn’t work after all that 🙁

    • Photo: David Nunan

      David Nunan answered on 13 Nov 2015:

      Hi,

      Sadly not! But most medical conditions can’t actually be cured. What we do is try to help people live normal and comfortable lives with their medical condition(s).

      I work at the opposite end of the spectrum of science and research to Rachel, where I actually see if medicines help people and what side effects they might have. So I have been involved in lots of studies that have helped people live better with their medical conditions and I tell other scientists and doctors about these findings so they can apply them to their patients.

    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 15 Nov 2015:

      Hey,

      Not yet, but I’ll do my best!

Comments