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Asked by anon-220092 to David on 4 Jun 2019.
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David Wilson answered on 4 Jun 2019:
I’m hopefully about to publish some work that describes what happens when the tubes in your Liver, called bile ducts, become damaged and how they start to repair themselves.
I found that macrophages, which are a cell involved in your immune system, send chemical signals to the cells that form the tube and tell them to start making scar tissue, also known as fibrotic tissue. Scar tissue sounds like a bad thing and it can be if you end up with too much of it or it forms out of control but actually it’s an essential part of repair and acts like the scaffold you’d see around a building getting built. It keeps the organs shape while other cells and structures grow.
Understanding this signalling system is really helpful as it means we can think about how to fix it if it doesn’t work properly or even how to make it work better than it already does.
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Comments
Ambre commented on :
I learn a lot and I keep learning everyday, that is the beauty of a career in science. Some days you learn new techniques, some other day you read some papers and learn some new interesting information about your own research or other research. Your skills in different domain also increase and adds up, I never feel like being on a routine with this job. But, you also learn a lot as a person. For example, I was very introvert and shy and during my study I add to gave talks and do networking to exchange information, and now I am way more confident and even enjoy communicating about science with others. You learn as well to be resilient as frustration can be a big part of your day when experiment are not working, but you keep going because the Eureka moment is the best feeling ever. I very think I learn everyday to be a better scientist technically and personally.
Lorena commented on :
Ah, this is a great and gigantic question! I have worked in a few different fields of research, and I have learned so many things from all of them, for example:
– Some letters in your DNA affect your height, your weight and how likely you are to have certain diseases – but the effect most of them have is so tiny we really struggle to find them!
– Cells in your body sense and talk to each other and seem to be able to stop cancer cells from growing. However if you prevent them from talking, they can’t stop cancer cells at all.
– You can make stem cells from skin and blood cells, and then use those stem cells to make other types of cells in the lab. I have learned how to make immune cells, for example!
– Immune cells (white blood cells) can detect cancer cells, but only sometimes. The cancer cells use all sorts of tricks to hide from the immune cells, and we are now learning how to stop some of the tricks from working, and how to make immune cells better at avoiding the tricks
A lot of what I have learned is also not entirely related to research, but general skills – how to keep trying when things go wrong, how to maintain a positive attitude, how (and when!) to ask for help, offer help to other people and build a good team spirit.
Ettie commented on :
The biggest thing I learn everyday is that there is so much out there that I don’t know, but it’s great that I have some time to sit down and learn it. A recent fact I learnt recently is that Ebola can be sexually transmitted for along time if the person recovers and so could potentially start another outbreak.