jjbearI’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Organs Zone. It has scientists studying health and disease in various parts of our bodies. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
Hi jjbear.
In the research I do, we do kill animals. But we never hurt them. We treat them with the respect that we would treat a human and there are vets and committees of people to make sure at we are always respectful.
In the type if research we do, we don’t have a choice but to use animals, and we use a mouse model. We are always very careful to use as few animals as we need, and to make sure we are as careful and respectful as possible. When we can, we use cells in a dish, or mathematical modeling, or non-animal models to do our research, but sometimes it’s important to use animals.
It’s a very difficult part of my job, but I try to remember that the research I’m doing, which sometimes uses animals, is helping answer important scientific questions.
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I am also required to kill animals for my experiments. I use mice to study Autism which is a condition that leads to problems with social interaction, language and restrictive and repetitive behaviours. We know that Autism runs in families and many gene mutations have been found. We also know that the environment may impact on Autism, as behavioural therapy seems to work in some children. There is no treatment, no cure and very little understanding of the causes of Autism.
When we introduce a Autism gene mutation into a mouse we are able to see for sure whether that change introduces a structural change in the mouse’s brain. Also we get a chance to learn how such a change impacts the mouse’s behaviour. For example, some gene mutations make normally social mice totally ignore other mice in a cage. Once we have a mouse that exhibits a particular autistic trait, it is then possible to experiment with therapies to correct the problems. We are also able to study the relationship between a genetic difference and the environment with mice. Some of my mice get to live in really cool and exciting environments. We can’t look inside the brains of humans with autism, or ask them to live in a particular environment. These experiments are only possible with mice.
Like Hannah, killing mice is the most difficult part of my job. Especially when I like mice so much. I try to remember that my job is about asking important questions that might one day make people healthier and happier.
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