• Question: what was your favourite experiment?? And why?

    Asked by emshepx to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 11 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by lauren, empillinger, ellie.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 11 Jun 2016:

      Hmm, my favourite experiment? Let me think.
      We do many experiments and it is difficult to pick one. I certainly like experiments involving very sophisticated types of microscopes (such as electron microscopes, or confocal laser microscopes) because of the beautiful images they generate – they add a touch of beauty and colour to my work, and sometimes I like the images so much, that I will print them out and hang them on my wall for a while.

      But what I like most is the whole sequence of events which ends with an experiment, from asking a question, designing the experiment, choosing the most appropriate technique, to carrying it out and recording the results. But that’ s not the end of the story, the experiments need to be repeated several times, to make sure that they are reproducible, and that can be a slow and frustrating process sometimes. And a successful experiment will generate usually spark new questions, and new experiments, so there is never an end.

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Hi all

      As an epidemiologist my ability to do experiments is limited (there are important ethical limitations!), but I have worked with colleagues to help design experiments that combine epidemiology with some other discipline. So for example, I have designed tests of medicines in populations that then follow those populations after treatment to see how effective the medicine has been. I combine the basic treatment design with other types of investigation that uncovers the social, genetic and other reasons why some people benefit more than others.

    • Photo: Linda Anagu

      Linda Anagu answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      Although we perform a lot of experiments, I enjoy looking under the microscope and experiencing the world of Invincible beings.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      There were quite plenty! What I like about all experiments is that I cannot really be sure about the outcome and there is always some sense of anticipation when I check for the results.

      I quite like growing cells in the lab. We put cells in a clean flask and give them food in liquid form then we leave them in a warm incubator and they “should” grow. Then I will check back in a couple of days by putting the flask under a microscope …and I have to say, cells that grow healthy are beeeautiful. (It’s like seeing my pet grow)

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      I am doing experiments all the time, so it is difficult to choose one!

      As someone who is interested in human diseases outside the laboratory, one of the most important experiments we can do it to compare how health and immune responses change before and after treating someone to clear an infection. The ‘experiment’ here is providing treatment, so it has the added benefit of making someone better as well as aiding scientific discovery. Personally I measure immune responses and I always find it very exciting to see an immune cell becoming activated – it looks different microscopically and it does different things to an inactive cell – relating that back to an infection or a treatment in a human is amazing.

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