• Question: Why did you decide to work with stem cells?

    Asked by florencina17 to Anzy, Aoife, Dave, Matt, Tomasz on 13 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by cookiejayden, faythe123, alewis7, thebigmacs, yoloswagg.
    • Photo: David Christensen

      David Christensen answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      I didn’t know what I wanted to do research in after my first uni degree – I just knew I wanted to do research. I liked the idea of studying stem cells and cancer and how our immune systems work and things like that. I ended up working with stem cells because I was offered a place on a course where I could study stem cells. The first year of my course allowed me to work in 3 different labs so that I tried working with embryonic stem cells and brain stem cells and growing bones. At the end of that year, I decided I enjoyed working with the embryonic stem cells the most, so here I am!

    • Photo: Matthew Tomlinson

      Matthew Tomlinson answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Hi florencina17

      I never really decided to work with stem cells, my PhD was on an organ called the thymus which doesn’t really have any stem cells. After I’d finished my PhD my boss had some money for a small project on stem cells from umbilical cord blood, bone marrow and also embryonic stem cells, so it was from there that I started to work with stem cells. I think the reason I still work with them is because of the potential they have, there’s so much they can do and the potential medical benefits are huge, I feel like it is great time to be involved with this research.

    • Photo: Aoife O'Shaughnessy-Kirwan

      Aoife O'Shaughnessy-Kirwan answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Hi florencina17, stem cells are unique in that they allow us to look at what happens as they change into other cell types and theoretically we have a neverending supply of them! So when it came to choosing a system to examine the job of a particular piece of cell machinery they’re a pretty good choice!

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