I just spent September in Dublin for a research visit to the Cancer Bioengeneering group as part of the Mac4Me project. The project brings together researchers who develop models that we can use in cancer research, including on neuroblastoma. My role is a bit different. I’m do philosophy research, and my project is about how we should involve patients in cancer research. I was particularly interested in what patient involvement might look like in research on neuroblastoma and childhood cancer.
One of the things I did during my stay was shadowing. That basically means following someone around in the lab and watching what they do. I followed Pierluca, who showed me how he grows cells in plastic containers. At one point, he had to “split” the cells. This involves adding an enzyme that makes the cells detach from the bottom of the container, before transferring some of them to a new one where they can continue growing. Apparently cancer cells like to stick to the plastic.
For me, this was quite exotic. Back in Rotterdam, I spend most of my working days in front of a computer.
Another thing that surprised me was how old some of the computer screens looked. You have these very expensive machines, sometimes costing hundreds of thousands of euros, connected to screens that look like they’re from the early 2000s. I’ve noticed this in other labs too.
RCSI do a lot of patient involvement stuff. Ireland has actually come further than a lot of other countries when it comes to patient involvement. At the same time, lab researchers that I speak to find it hard to do patient involvement, even if they want to do it.
Outside the lab, I developed a nice lunch routine: buying something at Dunnes (pizza!) and bringing it to St Stephen’s Green, just next to RCSI, whenever the sun was out, and also when it wasn’t, which was most days during my stay, unfortunately.
Written by Simon Gramvik, Mac4Me MSCA DN