• Question: What is your best invention so far??

    Asked by anon-292573 to Sian, Ross, Rosie, Rebecca, Carmen on 21 Apr 2021.
    • Photo: Rosie Goodburn

      Rosie Goodburn answered on 21 Apr 2021: last edited 21 Apr 2021 11:14 am

      Hi Lucia,
      This is such a fun question – I had a think and realised the best things I’ve done have been in collaboration with other scientists. I really wish I had some cool groundbreaking invention I could say I made all by myself, but I have played parts in some pretty cool projects that were working towards larger inventions!
      .
      One of these inventions is the MRI-Linac, which is a huge hybrid machine that combines an MRI machine and a Radiotherapy treatment machine. This lets us treat cancer patients with beams of radiation and at the same time see their organs really well with MRI! This invention was the culmination of 1000s and 1000s of hours of work by many people from across many research centres across the world based on many decades of experience and research. While the MR-Linac can’t truly be said to be the invention of one person only – it couldn’t exist without the collaboration of all of us together!
      .
      As Isaac Newton said we are “standing on the shoulders of giants” 🙂
      .
      However, I did make a new hook for my bag last week out of a bull-dog clip and some twine!

    • Photo: Ross Low

      Ross Low answered on 22 Apr 2021:

      Hi Lucia,

      This is a tough question because I don’t really invent anything as part of my job. most of the time I use tools that other people have made on new parasites and new situations. I’m afraid my answer is a bit boring but I have written lots of computer programmes that help me with my work. Do they count?

    • Photo: Rebecca Reed

      Rebecca Reed answered on 28 Apr 2021:

      Hi Lucia,

      I haven’t invented anything yet! I have found out small things that no-one else knew before, but I wouldn’t call it an invention. For example, I found that if I treat old cells with certain drugs, it makes them change where they get their energy from. I was also the first person in my lab to do one particular experiment with cells instead of flies, so I had to figure out how to make it work myself!

Comments

  • Photo: Steve

    Steve commented on :

    I had to think hard about this because in pharmacology we don’t do “inventing” in the same way you might think about it. But “inventing” these days in science isn’t always about machines. It can be new ways of doing things as well.

    But Rosie is absolutely right – it’s very unusual for someone to invent something all by themselves. Science these days takes a team of people, all with different skills and ideas. It’s the bit I like best about it, to be honest!

    However, the group I work with have invented some really cool scientific tools – the glow-in-the-dark medicines – that lots of other scientists are now using. This has meant we can watch where these medicines go in cells using our microscopes. But other scientists have used them lots to study other kinds of pharmacology Qs about how medicines and their targets work.