• Question: is there a goal u r tryin to meet to do with your work

    Asked by tamera1998 to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 20 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Natalie Stanford

      Natalie Stanford answered on 20 Mar 2010:

      Other than the immediate ‘pass my PhD’ goal, I am trying to increase understanding. I know this sounds a little ‘fluffy’, but I do something that is known as Basic Research. This means we are trying to understand something (in my case the metabolism) just so we can increase our pool of knowledge. It has no direct applications in its raw form, but this doesn’t mean it is not useful. As I’ve said a few times my work can potentially be applied to disease, biofuel generation and for computer testing drugs. Some of the major innovations that have revolutionized the world today have come from Basic Research. A great example is the Transistor. The Transistor drove the whole computer revolution. Can you imagine being without a computer now?

    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 21 Mar 2010:

      Good question!

      I have to meet lots of short term goals – many of my science projects build up a step at a time. So I am trying to modify a protein to make it a better blood substitute. This means cloning a gene into bacteria, modifying the gene, making the bacteria synthesise the protein and finally testing the function of the modified protein. If it doesn’t work I try a second modification; it it works I try and trick the bacteria into making a lot of it. So this project has a creative science goal. What shall I change? Followed by lots of engineering goals. I know what I want to do, but I just have to make it work. Sort of like planning to build a house and then actually building it. A lot of applied medical science works like that.

      But you may be more interested in my long term goals. These are:

      1 Just to have fun and do interesting science to find things out that no one has done before (it is good to always keep the fun bit in mind!)

      2 Create a blood substitute that will be long lasting and non-toxic in order to replace or, more likely, augment the current blood transfusion system

      3 Understand the mechanism of how toxic gases (nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide) can also play a normal role in the control of the body’s physiology and biochemistry

      4 Devise new ways of measuring oxygen in the body by shining light on the muscle and the brain. Currently I am trying to measure muscle oxygen consumption in elite athletes and sick patients.

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 21 Mar 2010:

      Well – not a single goal. It is a bit complicated.

      I guess the main goal of the project I work on is to build machines that make use of electronics that work like brains, not computers.

      This is cool exciting stuff if we get it to work! But it is just one step on the way to understanding our own brains and using this knowledge to help people and inspire new technology.

      We need a lot of time and a lot of help (like your help maybe? are you interested in a career in research?) to make progress toward a goal that is a LONG way away.

      But every step is interesting and valuable – even the very small steps. 😀

    • Photo: Emily Cook

      Emily Cook answered on 22 Mar 2010:

      My goal at the moment is to get a prototype version of the x-ray scanner I’ve been working on for the last four years into a airport to be tested by real people on real stuff.

      Our results on our test system look really good, but science is often about trying to get money to fund projects and we are still waiting for the money we need to build that machine…..donations anyone?

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