• Question: How long does it take for you to find any cure?

    Asked by 237dagk27 to Hugh, James, Katherine, Matt, Shannon on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Katherine Benson

      Katherine Benson answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      At the moment my research focuses on diagnosing patients rather than curing them. The process of diagnosing a patient can take a month or longer, but finding a cure could take a lot longer than that. This is definitely something I’d like to work on in the future!

    • Photo: Hugh J. Byrne

      Hugh J. Byrne answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I also work on developing diagnostic techniques – the earlier you can diagnose a disease, the less developed it is, and therefore the easier it is to cure.

    • Photo: James Brown

      James Brown answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I work on a what we hope will one day be a treatment for breast cancer (its really hard to ever say that a cancer is “cured” and there are many many different types that all need different treatments.)

      Typically it can take between 10-20 years from a discovery till a product can hit the market (think a new drug). and thats just product development (making sure its safe in people, making the drug….) the research behind a product can take a very long time, if it ever leads to product (the vast majority of research is for knowledge discovery- not to make a product).

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