Hello! Does your work and research affect people?

Question: Hello! Does your work and research affect people?
- Keywords:
  people,
  research,
  work
Asked by anon-196308 to Sebastian, Paddy, Lee, Jennifer, Fiona, Eleanor on 5 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-196023.
- Jennifer Harris answered on 5 Mar 2019:
  
  Hi Carina – great question! Something that scientists sometimes forget is the why? The Why is a very important question as medical science should always be looking to improve the lives of patients and the general public. During my PhD I was looking at how skin cancer develops in early stages and how you might be able to target the immune system to help it fight cancer. I then worked with Government looking at ways to improve the Mental Health Act, to help people with ill mental health. Today I work across the pipeline of drug discovery and development with the aim of bringing new medicines to patients.
- Fiona Scott answered on 5 Mar 2019:
  
  My work and research could potentially affect cancer patients in the future but because my drugs are in the very early development stage, they likely won’t be tested in humans for a few years. Instead, they are tested in cells in test tubes/plates which are analysed by a biologist. I suppose the existence of my work affects them because they are now also working on my project!
- Lee Steinberg answered on 5 Mar 2019:
  
  My work affects people indirectly. It helps synthetic chemists decide which drugs might be worth making, which in turn affects which could end up on the market. I feel it is important to know where my work might be being used in future!
- Sebastian Cosgrove answered on 5 Mar 2019:
  
  A very good question. Like Fiona and Lee, my work does not affect people directly. A lot of science happens in small amounts, so little discoveries can come together to sometimes paint a bigger picture that the scientists were not even aware of before they started doing their work.
  An example could be someone like Lee, who does a lot of work with computers that can predict something that might happen, would collaborate with practical scientists like Fiona or Myself who work in a lab to then see the real life applications of his predictions. This could then be developed further by other scientists in ways we don’t even know about yet.
- Eleanor Senior answered on 5 Mar 2019:
  
  My work could affect lots of people, particularly farmers and people in the beef and dairy industry. It will also help vets as fewer animals will get sick and will save hundreds of millions of pounds.
- Paddy Sudhakar answered on 6 Mar 2019:
  
  Well in the long run – yes indeed. Basic research sometimes has its pitfalls – mostly because it takes time to transform knowledge to practice. So, we do sometimes is to tie up with companies who can easily evaluate and absorb our research. For example, we have collaborations with Unilever which is a big multinational with lots of potential to translate our work to practice and products. So, using such strategies, we can have a beneficial effect on society at a faster rate.

Question: Hello! Does your work and research affect people?

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