The Biochemist Blog
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.

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.

Diversity

Where are all the trans scientists?

By Dorieke Grijseels, University of Sussex

Today (March 31) marks International Transgender Day of Visibility. This day is dedicated to showing the incredible diversity of the trans community. This community is often lumped together with the other parts of the LGBT+ community, but is unique in its challenges and achievements, which should be celebrated. Although we’ve got a long way to go, more and more trans people are getting positive representation in the media, be that actor Alex Blue, writer Juno Dawson or model Munroe Bergdorf. The question remains, where are all the trans scientists?

Biochemical Society / Policy

Voice of the Future 2018

By Adam Jellett, University of Bristol

How would politicians cope being quizzed by a room full of young scientists and engineers? That’s what I sought to find out when I travelled to Westminster to take part in Voice of the Future 2018. This event, organised by the Royal Society of Biology and in its seventh iteration, is unique in its reversing of a Select Committee meeting, where MPs hold experts and government ministers to account in various areas of policy. At Voice of the Future, it is the MPs who are questioned so that we, the scientific community, can gain a better understanding of the world of policy and their views on UK science. Can we change their opinions? Can they change ours?