Lu

Lu:

Graduate Student

Fischbach Lab

What’s the hardest part about your research?

“The research is hard in general. That’s because human knowledge is like this circle and PhD is like poking holes. And you don’t even know if you can poke the human knowledge in order to push the boundary further.”

What’s the most rewarding thing about your research?

“Now if you go back to your family members you know more about the cancer. If you know people that have cancer, they can turn to you. You feel more comfortable comforting them or exchanging ideas. If someone gets [cancer], they are not guaranteed to die so soon. So you can tell them, ‘We have therapies, we have ways to target the cells.’ So that’s kind of the reward…the research gives you the foundation to know more and make people feel more comfortable dealing with the disease.”

How has your research changed any of your viewpoints about cancer?

“I guess so. I had many family members who passed away from cancer. When I used to hear about cancer, I assumed if someone got it then they were going to die. That was the impression. But, now I can confidently tell them that even if they have the cancer there are so many ways to deal with it. They can still have ten, twenty years ahead of them. And if they are lucky, they could even live longer. That’s how my viewpoint has changed. Cancer is still life threatening but it can be managed. And also, [before starting this research], I didn’t realize that obesity was such a major problem in causing cancer. ”

What’s your stance on public engagement in science in cancer research?

“So I did an rotation in a hospital and I think the doctors there were engaged with the patients. I guess they care more about the person-to-person interaction. Where as here, we are more isolated. It is almost like the people who research cancer don’t get to interact directly with the disease. It is more about the biological problem for people here. People are interested about it but that’s about it. It doesn’t feel like a mission or something that needs to be pushed forward urgently. So I do think in that case scientists need to be more engaged and they should know about the importance of their research. For the patients, they always want to know more about the progress and the research. But, they don’t always necessarily have the means to obtain that information. I do think that a lot of the non-profit organizations are doing a great job telling both sides about all the information that is necessary. But I feel more recently that events such as a 5k run are less effective because people have been doing them for so many years that they are getting tired of it. If you have been advocating something for a long time and it isn’t appearing to be effective, then people will lose interest. I think it is the time to reconnect with the public.”