Coaching confidence in communication
10 April 2019
How do we attract tomorrow’s brightest research students? Step 1: Make sure they know we exist. We don’t teach undergraduates; you can’t study oncology at A’ level. We need to give them a chance to explore how physics can cure cancer. How biology leads us to a better understanding of cancer, and how chemistry helps us design imaging agents that will guide therapy choices.
When Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book character Charlie Bucket buys a Wonka bar and finds the final golden ticket, he starts his now famous journey of discovery at Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Charlie, like most children, loves chocolate and his visit to the factory not only indulges his passion but also inspires deep scientific curiosity. In the end, the boy’s humility and desire for discovery convinces Wonka to name Charlie as his successor.
Galileo is said to have muttered ‘E pur, si muove!’ – ‘And yet, it moves’ as he left the courtroom in which he had been forced to concede that the sun moved round a fixed earth. Today, these words could be used to under-pin the value of MR-Linacs in radiotherapy.
No cure for cancer; just cures
28 February 2019
The cure for cancer, often hailed as the holy grail of medical research; something everyone is searching for and no one is finding, doesn’t actually exist.
The Researcher and the FROG
4 February 2019
Readers will remember the blog from Timo Reislander, who wrote about his time spent with the FROG group; in this guest blog we hear from Jean, Co-ordinator of the FROG
Calculating age with DNA
24 January 2019
How would you react if I told you I could calculate your age if I took a sample of your blood? I wouldn’t be lying! Every day our cells are exposed to damaging agents that can cause harmful changes which accumulate over time and lead to ageing related diseases such as cancer. Quantifying these changes has allowed scientists to develop models that calculate a person’s biological age, a measure of the “well-being” of their cells.
Engaging the public is not just for researchers
9 January 2019
Researchers are always encouraged to reach out and tell the story of their work outside the University. Researchers should not have all the fun!
I was a Final Year medical student when David Weatherall was appointed Professor of Haematology in Liverpool University in 1973. He was an outstanding Lecturer, extremely popular with the students and helped to make Haematology an exciting and popular subject.
Cancer Immunologists Win Nobel Prize in Medicine
20 November 2018
Researchers James Allison and Tasuku Honjo have won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for their pioneering work on cancer immunotherapy. Hailed as a revolution in the treatment of cancer, immunotherapy works by boosting the body’s natural defences against cancer. The immune system has an innate ability to seek out and destroy cancer cells. However, cancer cells can develop cunning ways to avoid this surveillance system.
In October 1843 Ada Lovelace published a set of notes which included a description of an algorithm to compute Bernoulli numbers on Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. Ada Lovelace Day in early October celebrates the achievements of women in science. It also marked the start of Sylvana Hassanieh’s journey towards her PhD at the Department of Oncology, University of Oxford.