Category: Research

Partner organizations, Research

Thinking differently to drive innovation in cancer research

By Jenni Lacey, Cancer Research UK

At Cancer Research UK, we invest over £350 million each year on high-calibre cancer research which we believe has the potential to provide the greatest benefit to the public and cancer patients. We are always looking for novel ways to spark and fund creative ideas, and encourage fresh thinking. That’s why we’ve developed new ways of supporting research and stimulating innovation. We have funding schemes that are open to researchers from all backgrounds, including biochemists, and those not currently working in cancer research.

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Research

Let the Trojan vesicles in

By Paulo Szwarc, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

Cancer sure is tricky. We try to starve it, cut it, stress it out of our bodies. We even bombard it with radiation until it dies. And yet, not due to lack of trying, many times we lose the fight. It escapes, evades our resistance. Its overly mutational nature leads it to adapt, dodging the deadly effects of chemotherapeutics. Not only that, but the lack of selectivity in many treatments means that while we harm the tumour, we also wreak havoc to our own healthy cells. It makes the battle much harder.

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Education & careers, Research, Student-focused

5 tips for getting into computational biology

By Fatima Vayani, King’s College London

I discovered computational biology (or bioinformatics, as it is also known) by chance during an internship when I was 17. I have always been a curious person, and from a young age was inclined to the life sciences. Having been surrounded by computers since childhood, however, I was excited by the notion of exploring nature without having to be in nature itself. Those who prefer not to work in the field or in a wet lab still have the ability to do biological research through computation!

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Research

Better biodegradables: taking ‘going green’ to a whole new level

By Michelle Dookwah, University of Georgia, USA

“Where should I put my recycling?” – a common phrase I’ll hear a house guest ask if they can’t spot the recycling bin in my kitchen. But unfortunately, this question is posing a larger problem when put in the context of a global scale. Recent changes in China’s policies for accepting plastic waste for recycling is leaving the UK facing the challenge of what to do with half a million tonnes of plastic waste. And this isn’t an issue only faced in Europe; these new restrictions leave the US with massive quantities of plastic waste to deal with as well.

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