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Asked by carrietrewern to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 21 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by teamcarrot115, lewiswilson80.
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Pamela Lithgow answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi carrietrewern, lewiswilson80 and teamcarrot115,
I think my work is working towards new discoveries which we hope will benefit people and the world! My work is trying to work out things to do with African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), if we can work out enough we might be able to treat or prevent it. If we could do that it would definitely benefit not only the pigs but also the people. ASFV affects pigs in Africa where they really cant afford to lose pigs/food, if ASFV could be cured it would mean more food for African farmers.
I hope that answers your question
Pam 🙂
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Cat O'Connor answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi guys, thanks for such a hard question 😀
I think my work is important….well i’d have to say that. But i’m not going to over sell it. My work is going to be most important to a small sector of the community, farmers, vets and government style people. And it’s going to be most important in the UK so I don’t think it’s going to have a huge effect on the world. But I would hope that the methods I have used may be beneficial to other people, even in other countries, that want to look at diseases in the way I have done. And I hope that this will be of benefit to countries who are really struggling with the disease, say like Ireland 😀 and also Africa countries like South Africa where instead of badgers spreading the disease, Buffalo is the main culprit!
Hope this answers your question!
Cat
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Darren Braddick answered on 21 Jun 2011:
Hi carrietrewern, lewiswilson80 and teamcarrot115!
I honestly do think it is beneficial! Maybe to the world, and hopefully not really for me or the people around me. OK, well bacterial infection is a major and very important cause of human disease and death. If you consider also viruses, they are responsible for maybe the most human deaths in history, and currently the third biggest cause outside of starvation and cardiovascular issues. In the developing world, infection is the biggest, and just three diseases alone are in the top 10 causes of death.
In many cases, mankind faced these infections with drugs – against bacteria and against viruses. Unfortunately, life of all kinds if constantly evolving and utterly masterful at adaptation. Many viruses and drugs became resistant to drugs, and so far there hasn’t been much success in reversing this.
The bacteria I study are Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae – which kill millions and millions each year. In a growing number of cases, they are found to be resistant to our best antibiotics. The way they are resistant is very clear, but the way to defeat resistance is not. This is because there are many problems in making new drugs – for example, drugs cost money, and it is very hard to be sure if they work.
In the case of bacteria like the ones I study, the main target is the cell wall, which is basically a big continuous net which surrounds the cell. If you break that, cells die – so we make drugs against it! But if you want to make NEW drugs against it, you need ways of measuring exactly how it is being made – and currently that is very difficult. My work is to try and find ways to measure this change, and if the method is easy enough, it can hopefully encourage new drug design. With new drugs, we can hopefully fight back against these bacteria.
So, I think my work is quite important for the world in that sense! But most research is important in some way, and sometimes the value of work is not immediately understood. Consider the internet.. Once upon a time, it was never considered that it might become as useful and powerful as it is today, and I’m aware that many people were very skeptical about it at first! It has certainly changed the world though!
I hope this helps answer your question
Daz
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