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Asked by mafficus to Alex, Claire, Kate, Marcus, Neil on 18 Jun 2014.
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Marcus Johns answered on 18 Jun 2014:
I actually have 3 scientific targets that are all ongoing at the moment!
Firstly I have to write my confirmation report that details everything that I’ve done in the past year. I then have to be examined by academics on the report that I write and pass the ‘test’ in order to be able to continue with my PhD for the next 2 years. This isn’t exactly a scientific target but it’s taking up a lot of my time and as I review what I’ve done over the past year, I come up with new ideas about how I could move my work forward.
Secondly, I’m involved in writing an article that covers some of the work that I’ve done in the last year that will hopefully be published in a journal so that other researchers can find out what I’ve been doing and perhaps change how they approach a problem as a result.
Thirdly, I’m trying to use a bacteria to combine two chemicals together into one and then, assuming that it’s successful, see if I can process the material produced to create something that I can grow my cells on. If this is successful I may travel to Brazil in order to find out about the physical and chemical properties of the material.
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Claire Brockett answered on 18 Jun 2014:
@mafficus
I’ve got a couple of targets at the moment. My research is all about ankles – and developing/testing implants and treatments for injuries and arthritis. I’ve got lots of things to think about for that – understanding exactly how the injuries occur, and what we can do to fix them more successfully. That’s the main goal, but to get there I’ve got lots of smaller aims – it’s like making a jigsaw puzzle with lots of pieces before we get the final answer.
Something I’m working on at the moment is building a couple of collaborations – one with a university in Iowa, and another with researchers in Hong Kong – they’ve got specialist skills and techniques that I don’t have, so we can work together to answer some of my questions (and the great thing is I get to travel too). -
Alex Lyness answered on 18 Jun 2014:
Hey mafficus,
That’s a pointy question… you sound like my boss!
On the admin side of things: I too am preparing some journal articles. These are the best way to tell the scientific community what research you’ve been up to and how it can be best applied. I am also trying to finish two patents that I have been working on for projects that I cannot write about until the technology and ideas are protected. So two papers and two patents by Christmas would certainly make me pleased.
The rest of my time will be spent developing prototype devices and putting them through a series of experiments to prove that they work. This should allow me to win more money in order to complete their development.
Finally, there is one device I am working on which will get used onto patients early next year. I hope to attend the clinical trial and see the device as it is used and provides a better way of delivering cells that the current method of using a needle and syringe. I look forward to talking to the patients soon after and hearing their feedback.
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Kate Niehaus answered on 18 Jun 2014:
My answers are similar to the rest of the group.
1. I’m working with some new data to see if there are certain “signatures” that suggest when an inflammatory bowel disease patient has a bad reaction to a drug
2. I’m making a poster for an upcoming conference that explains how I identified different subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease patients based upon some of their symptoms
3. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking about my “Transfer of Status” report, which is a paper summarizing my work so far. This is due at the end of the summer
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