• Question: Have you ever tried to find a cure for cancer? and if so what experiments did you carry out and what part did you get stuck on, to not be able to find a cure

    Asked by jadeburge to Laura, Nicola, Norman, Sandra, Thanasis on 12 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by aimeewildex, chloeball, aliceredington17.
    • Photo: Laura Soul

      Laura Soul answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I haven’t no, I don’t do that kind of science, but I definitely think its very important and difficult work. I think that the most tricky things about cancer are that there are so many different types, it can spread very quickly before you know it has, and also that it is the body’s own cells that go wrong, so the researchers who try to find cures have to find ways to attack the cancer cells and not the body’s healthy cells even though they are basically the same.

    • Photo: Sandra Phinbow

      Sandra Phinbow answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I haven’t tried to find a cure for cancer as a disease, but I do help to cure patients of cancer.

      For example I have prepared tissues or cells in a way that allows a pathologist to look at them and diagnose cancer. I have helped them by being good at the technical side and by providing them with a high quality slide.

      Also, I look at cells on slides in cervical smears, and by knowing what is normal, and what is abnormal I make a decision on how a patient is investigated and treated. My diagnosis is checked to make sure I am correct, this is something that happens for everyone looking at slides, we check someone’s diagnosis to make sure nothing has been missed.

      There might be 150,000 cells on a slide, they all need to be looked at to make the correct diagnosis.

      We are not looking for cancer itself, we look for cells that are not normal – cells that are abnormal, or ‘dyskaryotic’. Dyskaryotic does not mean they are cancerous, they are not.

      By detecting cells that are abnormal, we can refer the patient for any further tests she might need, and treatment.

      Those cells have the potential to turn into cancer if they are left untreated.

      So I guess I can say I cure cancer – in a round about sort of way but before it has the chance to happen.

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