I spent some time a few years back doing consulting work for an unnameable organization that does cutting edge medical research, including work on cancer.
The researchers frustration at making progress is palpable. These are tough, tough problems.
One research team spend years devising a strip of RNA that can be delivered by a nano-particle into the nucleus of specific kind of cancer, and snip off a piece of DNA -- and only that piece of DNA -- which piece regulates the production of ONE essential protein for the cancer cell's survival. Through years of laborious effort, they got the particle size just right so it would enter the cancer cells and not any other cells, yet not so small it would pissed out through the kidneys. They worked years piecing together the RNA. Years seeing that, yes, it did cut the DNA and stop protein production. And in trials with animals, it seemed to work.
With humans? The trials failed.
I admire the hell out these researchers. They work hard. They are smart as shit. They are painstaking. It is sometimes unbelievably boring work. And then...failure. Years of work...then failure.
This is what we are up against gents. It is very very very hard.
The researchers frustration at making progress is palpable. These are tough, tough problems.
One research team spend years devising a strip of RNA that can be delivered by a nano-particle into the nucleus of specific kind of cancer, and snip off a piece of DNA -- and only that piece of DNA -- which piece regulates the production of ONE essential protein for the cancer cell's survival. Through years of laborious effort, they got the particle size just right so it would enter the cancer cells and not any other cells, yet not so small it would pissed out through the kidneys. They worked years piecing together the RNA. Years seeing that, yes, it did cut the DNA and stop protein production. And in trials with animals, it seemed to work.
With humans? The trials failed.
I admire the hell out these researchers. They work hard. They are smart as shit. They are painstaking. It is sometimes unbelievably boring work. And then...failure. Years of work...then failure.
This is what we are up against gents. It is very very very hard.