Understanding Cancer » research

Fashion in Science

Avril — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:48:40 +0000

Fashions come and go in science as they do in any other industry. New experiments are “trendy” and “hot” and are soon replaced by the next big thing. If you don’t work in science, it’s easy to think that science should be rational and above such petty concerns, but the life science industry is [...]

Cancer Research – Highlights and Opportunities

Avril — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:50:29 +0000

I’d like to draw your attention to a video on YouTube about cancer research. It is produced by the American Association of Cancer Research and it is in part, an advert for the American Association of Cancer Research and (the US) National Cancer Institute. Most of the statistics relate to research in America, however, [...]

Ig Nobels are coming to Dundee (and Aberdeen, sort of…)

Avril — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:44:20 +0000

The Ig Nobel awards are given to research that makes you laugh and makes you think. It takes place at Dundee University on Saturday the 13th of March at 6pm. The event is open to the public and tickets are free (but you need to book in advance). You can book tickets online (under [...]

David Cameron – Cancer in the UK

Avril — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:46:21 +0000

In September 2009 I drew your attention to an interview between Gordon Brown and the Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, Harpal Kumar. In the interests of fairness, I thought I’d point out that Cancer Research UK have posted a similar interview with David Cameron called “David Cameron speaks exclusively to Cancer Research [...]

Are you a student? Do you want to work in a lab over the summer holidays?

Avril — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:50:45 +0000

Are you a student? Do you want to work in a research laboratory in the summer of 2010? If so you need to start planning it now. If you are doing an undergraduate (first) degree in a biological/biomedical science then you can apply for money to work in a laboratory over the summer (a [...]

Support Leukaemia Research in Scotland in 2010

Avril — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:37:01 +0000

I received the Leukaemia Research Scotland Newsletter today. If you are interested in leukaemia then I highly recommend it, it’s a 12 page brochure and gives you lots of information on fund raising events and research going on in Scotland. It really does cover the whole country, very often these publications focus on Glasgow/Edinburgh, [...]

Why is cancer research so expensive?

Avril — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:05:41 +0000

The Huntly Relay For Life 2009 finished on Saturday with the announcement of the final total, a fantastic sum of £85,000 was raised for Cancer Research UK. Plans are already underway for another Relay in 2010.

At the final meeting I gave a talk called “Why is cancer research so expensive?”. Obviously £85, [...]

Does exercise help ease fatigue in people with cancer?

Avril — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:52:34 +0000

Many people with cancer have fatigue. Fatigue is tiredness that doesn’t get better when you rest. Fatigue is a very difficult thing to study, it may be caused by having cancer (e.g. the cancer itself might disrupt your normal biological process and that makes you feel fatigued) or it may also be caused by [...]

The Scientific Method – If we can’t trust science…

Avril — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:44:51 +0000

If we can’t trust science what can we trust?

This is a geeky post about how scientists do science. Science means many things to many people, but this post applies to virtually all branches of science, be that cancer research or global warning.

Science is a way of checking things out to see if [...]

Understanding how cells communicate

Avril — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:17:29 +0000

A research paper caught my eye this week (this is a geeky post…) it was published in Nature and shows that something called “TERT” talks to the “WNT” signalling pathway. You can read more about this on the Nature website “Telomerase link to WNT signalling“ You can read a slightly more reader friendly summary [...]

Scientists keep changing their minds….

Avril — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:31:19 +0000

“Scientists keep changing their minds, it’s better to ignore their advice.” That is the gist of a new survey published this week. The survey was commissioned by the World Cancer Research Fund, a charity that promotes a healthy diet and lifestyle as a way to avoid some types of cancer.

The BBC have a [...]