Skepticism might seem like an enemy of innovation, but when it comes to research, sometimes it’s the key. Dr. Johanna Joyce grew up in Ireland, earned her PhD at Cambridge, and used her “Irish skepticism” to create a major paradigm shift in cancer research at UC San Francisco and Memorial Sloan-Kettering. When everyone else was working to fight cancer by attacking the cancer cells themselves, they dismissed the white blood cells that surround tumors as “harmless garbage trucks.” But Joyce doubted how harmless they might be, and started critical studies in her lab to find out if attacking the white blood cells could treat the most common and most deadly forms of cancer. Joyce’s groundbreaking research turned into clinical trials that are attracting others to investigate similar methods. This bit of skepticism might just mark a major step toward curing cancer.
Tag: cancer research
Meet the 16-Year-Old Einstein Who Found a New Way to Detect Cancer
Seems nobody told Jack Andraka that he was too young to invent a revolutionary fast, cheap and accurate early-detection test for pancreatic cancer. Oh that’s right. A whole bunch of scientists did. But that didn’t stop him from pursuing his invention, which uses a special kind of test strip paper, sort of like the kind diabetic use, to show the presence of a protein linked to cancer. He walked away with $75,000 for winning the grand prize at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and a really fun appearance on the Colbert Report. So no excuses. If you’ve got a great idea, don’t give up until the world sees it.