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Asked by mcluvin to Darren, Gavin, Liz, Panos, Vijay on 4 Dec 2011.
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Liz Murchison answered on 2 Dec 2011:
If we save the Tasmanian devil the world will be a better place.
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Panos Deloukas answered on 2 Dec 2011:
knowing early on in life whether you are say at high risk for heart disease will allow you to adjust you life style accordingly but also take appropriate preventive medication.
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Darren Logan answered on 2 Dec 2011:
Good question. Some scientists do what we call “applied” research – their experiments are directly aimed at solving a human problem like a disease. They can easily tell you how their discoveries will affect the public.
Others, like my group, do what we call “basic” or “foundational” research. That means we study the basic biology the makes us tick. Its not always easy for us to say in advance what affect our research will have in the future, but it is really important that somone does this as a foundation for the applied researchers. An example of this is the discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge in the 1950s. Without that basic research, none of us could do the current genetic research that we now do.
My biggest discovery to date showed that a part of the mouse brain that was thought, for many years, only to be involved in sexual behaviour is actually also involved in controlling fear behaviour. We believe that this will serve as a foundation to understand how the brain processes behaviours, so we can better study behavioural disorders such as autism or depression. One day the basic studies we do should help people that suffer from these conditions have better treatments or even cures.
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Gavin Wright answered on 4 Dec 2011:
One of my biggest discoveries so far is to find a protein which is needed by the parasite that causes malaria to invade our red blood cells. This could be important because it may contribute to the design of an effective vaccine for the disease. If this were the case, and malaria were eradicated, then it would save the lives of millions of children and pregnant women. How would it affect you? Well, we don’t have malaria in England but if you travel to areas where they have malaria then you’ll need to take anti-malarial drugs. Sadly, because the parasite is very adaptable, scientists are finding that some parasites are becoming resistant to those drugs so that they don’t work anymore. Therefore, if we did manage to develop an effective vaccine and you wanted to go on holiday or work in a country with malaria then you’d be wise to take this vaccine.
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