Author: Neuroblast

One Day of the Life as a Researcher: PhD student

If I was to write this 6 months ago, my life as a researcher would be very different. 

Here is a little snippet of my ‘new normal’ day getting back into the lab as a 2nd year PhD student in the Cancer Bio-Engineering group post-lockdown. 

Although, in general the day-to-day life as a scientist can vary massively. So I would like to say I already had a flexible schedule pre-pandemic. This made adapting to the world of our ‘new normal’ a little easier. 

I commute to RCSI by Luas. I spend the morning carrying out my essential lab work in our new environment of 2-metre social distancing and face masks. Lunch is a little lonely these days with single tables in the previous busy 1784 restaurant. Although, RCSI’s campus is in the heart of Stephens green making it a fantastic location to stroll to the park for a coffee in between experimental incubation times. Great for catching the last of the summer sunshine! When all lab work is finished I come home to my new makeshift WFH office where I have a new furry work colleague to help me get through the evening data analysis and reading. 

The research consists of days of highs and lows. Behind all the failures come successes making the hard work all worthwhile! 

Ciara Gallagher, the IRC funded PhD student

One Day of the Life as a Researcher: Team Lead

During September Cancer BioEngineering group will share our experience of being researchers individually and as a group. We are a relatively young research group – our birthday is September 1st 2019. We are 1 year old! As a team lead I will start this challenge.

Our first-year journey was fascinating. We did research, scientific meetings, fundraising, trained undergraduate students, celebrated birthdays and success, received rejections of grants and papers, graduated an MSc by Research (RCSI) and BSc (TUD), said ‘Goodbye’ to team members and will welcome new in October.

Home office: my day starts here at 9 am and ends when job is done.

A typical day of my life as a researcher has changed since the COVID started to shape our lives. All activities are done remotely: team supervision, project management, troubleshooting, lab meetings and so on. Indeed, grant and paper writing has always been run remotely. No change here.

I configured our box room into a home office, upgraded the lights to brighten the north-facing room, surrounded myself with pics of loved ones, started to use active time planning via Teams, a proper headset for all my remote meetings and glasses for reading and typing, split the PC screen in two with a hope to double my effectiveness at least. 🙂

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Today marks the start of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Three girls fountain in Mainz Germany

I like this photo of a lovely fountain capturing 3 girls under umbrellas (Drei-Mädchen-Brunnen) in Ballplatz Mainz. It is about a happy childhood; every child deserves a happy childhood. So, I select it again to support #ChildhoodCancerAwarnessMonth.

Childhood cancer is an umbrella term for many other types of this disease. This month is a big channel to support and learn more about kids with cancer, their loving families, the doctors and caregivers who looking after them and treating them, the young survivors of cancer and those kids and teens who lost their battle, and the scientists who working hard to find a way to stop childhood cancer.

When it comes to a disease, we have to acknowledge that children are not little adults. They are constantly developing. So their diseases have a different way to progress and respond to treatment. This is very true for childhood cancers. For example, children diagnosed with neuroblastoma before a 1.5 years old mark will do better than older children.

Every 100th cancer patient is a child. Cancer is the 2nd most common cause of death among children after accidents. The most common types of childhood cancer are:

  • Leukaemia and lymphoma (blood cancers)
  • Brain and other central nervous system tumours
  • Muscle cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma)
  • Kidney cancer (Wilms tumour)
  • Neuroblastoma (tumour of the non-central nervous system)
  • Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)
  • Testicular and ovarian tumours (gonadal germ cell tumours)

The Race That Nearly Wasn’t – 20K

On April, 30th 2020, the 20K virtual race organized by Breakthrough Cancer Research came to an end. 1247 people participated and 496 completed this challenge. Together, we raised online over €50,000 to support their life-saving cancer research programmes.

As a scientist myself, I know that behind many current default living settings is intensive research in the past. IT would have never advanced if at some stage no discoveries in physics, chemistry have happened. We would have never been able to fight bacteria infection of no antibiotic was discovered. What about discovering of insulin? This list can go on and on… Just imagine if no research happens now. How we could cope with the current coronavirus pandemic? How we could help many people with cancer to have a healthier and longer life?

Breakthrough Cancer Research united many sports professionals and enthusiasts to build up a spirited community to support vital cancer research during the COVID-19 restrictions. I heard about this race by chance – my PhD student signed up to do it. When I read it, I thought it sounds achievable to complete 20K within a month. One small step at a time. It was a slow process. But it has transformed me. 

At the finish line, I became addicted to my steady jogging within the allowed 2K distance every day. I have to confess that it is incredibly challenging for me to wake up, tie my sport shoelaces and go for a jog. My body wants a smooth transition from sleep to the active state, particularly when you are at home every day! This was normality in the past. 

What did I discover going through this transformation? My body knows better its needs. Every morning I start it slowly with just an intensive walk. In 2-3 minutes, my body requests more fresh air in my lungs and higher endorphin levels in my blood. I can’t resist and start jogging. 🙂

Why mornings one may ask? I have tried different times during the day. My body has decided on morning hours even it is challenging… No option to negotiate.

Break Through Cancer Research are launching 40K and 60K May race. Could it be your chance for a transformation? Sign up today at: https://yourvirtualrace.com/theracethatnearlywasnt/

Times of tough restrictions

In the time of tough restrictions when you and your team are cocooning and working remotely, we can stay together thanks to many PC and mobile apps. We tried different platforms starting with Skype and WhatsUp and advancing to MS Teams and Zoom. The bottom line: we want to see everyone simultaneously! It is essential. As expected not every app gives you that option in a standard free package.

After 4 weeks, everyone in a spiritual writing mode. I would not be surprised to see the exponential growth of literature review articles in the coming months. I hope to get one from each team member. Sure that the quality of introduction/background sections in PhD Theses will also happen!

Actually, it is possible to play games remotely, too. What great fun!

CoVID-19 Universe

Who could have thought that this nasty virus would spread fast? A new reality called CoVID-19 has started since all Irish education was shut down last Friday, March 13th 2020.

Initial 2 weeks of tough restrictions and self-control. Everything that seemed granted is not the same anymore. Now, it is a learning curve of how to live fully in a cocoon. Work, shop, gather and entertain.

A week of self-adjusting is gone. I am transforming from a regular IT user to almost advanced. Though, I am not sure it all up to speed. I do hope that at least my writing skills and typing speed will improve a lot by the end of this quarantine.

Stay Safe!

International Women’s Day – March 8th, 2020

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on the 8th of March every year around the world. It began as a point in the movement for women right back to 1908.  

Some countries do celebrate IWD, others don’t. It may take many shapes and forms. For example, Russians do celebrate it and have a day off! This Day is a big day for every girl and woman. To some of them, it is a recognition of their contribution to the family and work. However, indeed it is a St Valentine’s Day for teen girls. Around March, 8th the sales of flowers can double or triple!

It happened later in my life when I fully recognised the notability of both equality and the contribution of many women to what we have now. It was a long and windy road with so many outstanding females that shook the old societies and made these recognitions happened. But it is far from the completion.

Today, we can remember many gifted women that made breakthroughs in various areas of science. Some of them even got no proper recognition for their work like Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) or Alice Ball (1892-1916). But things are changing. They are changing for the good!

Happy International Women’s Day 2020!

Preclinical models for neuroblastoma: Advances and challenges

What a great start for 2020! Our long-lasting and productive collaboration with our colleagues from Tissue-Engineering Research Group Brough to live an important overview of the preclinical models for neuroblastoma. We particularly focused on the 3D in vitro models available.

During this exercise of searching and reading research papers, we found that researchers in neuroblastoma are looking for alternatives of traditional 2D culture. It is may be slow at the moment but the interest is there.

Nolan et al, Cancer Letters 2020

3D neuroblastoma models worked well in both validating known chemotherapies and screening new. The concepts and materials that were initially developed for bone or tissue regeneration can be used to a miniature model of neuroblastoma.

3D tissue-engineered models can accelerate drug discovery and development, reducing the use of animals in preclinical studies.

Full version is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304383520300239?via%3Dihub

3D Bio-printing: dream or reality?

Here we go. Our first attempt to bio print neuroblastoma cells using Rastrum technology.

A compact pink oven-like device with a user-friendly interface and ‘magical’ disperse of cells and 3D environments. We bioprinted two types of neuroblastoma cells. One-easily forming clusters or tight groups and the other with high individualism in two types of homes: friendly and unfriendly. ‘Friendly’ homes have lots of clues to help cells to attach and grow. ‘Unfriendly’ homes have just a 3D niche aka house without furniture. Let’s see which homes cells like most.