• Question: are u working on a cure for the zica virus or cancer

    Asked by 442parf23 to Mark, Linda, Koi, Franco, Claire on 11 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 11 Jun 2016:

      I am personally not working on a cure for zika. Last year, you would have asked us whether we are working on a cure for the Ebola virus, the year before, SARS, or Bird flu, or many years ago, HIV. The truth is that there are constantly new emerging diseases and as a scientist you cannot switch from one topic to the next all the time. There are many very important scientific topics and challenges that I would say are more important than Zika: climate change and resistance to antibiotics to name the two most pressing in my opinion.
      This is not to say that Zika is not important. It is, and I am confident that a vaccine will become available soon, but bear in mind that many more people worldwide are killed by flu, malaria, and a whole range of parasitic diseases, and that we still don’t have a vaccinationation for any of them, and for some parasitic diseases, the treatment can be as bad as the disease itself.

      Of course cancer is a very important disease, but there are many scientists working on this issue. There are far fewer working on diseases which kill more people than cancer, the so called neglected tropical diseases. This is what I work on. But in a way I am also working on cancer, although indirectly, as I work on the stomach bug Helicobacter pylori, which is responsible for most of the stomach cancers worldwide.

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Hi

      No, I don’t work on developing new cures. I am more interested in working on asking why a particular cure -e.g a medicine, does not work as intended. Any new medicine has to be tested extensively in a laboratory, under controlled conditions. But as soon as it becomes available to the public, there are many other factors that become important – this is true of treating parasites as much as cancer caused by lifestyles

    • Photo: Linda Anagu

      Linda Anagu answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      442parf23, although these are interesting areas of research, my research does not involve any of these diseases. I work with malaria parasite and have worked with other microorganisms except viruses. Every scientist chose a unique area based on their interest and develop their research around that area.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Hi 442parf23,

      My work is not on the cure for zika virus or cancer, but I’m glad to see research going into those areas (or as many areas as possible!). Interestingly though, zika virus actually has been around the world for quite some time but it got much attention only after it became an outbreak. With cancer, it is indeed has been with humans for a long time and some animals have it too.

      Did you know that some parasite infections can also cause cancer? That’s how I found biology fascinating – when things that seem unrelated appear to be actually related! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33095945 😉

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      I do not study zika virus or cancer, but they are fascinating diseases that are being studied by lots of other scientists as we speak. Here’s hoping that a cure or an improved treatment can be found for both.

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