• Question: Name your favourite experiment you've done so far in your career

    Asked by 394newp32 to Triona, Simone, Kieran, Julia, Hugh, Emily on 13 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Kieran

      Kieran answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      My favourite experiment has to be extracting the cells from the discs we get from patients.

      If a person has a damaged disc in their back, they might have to have spine surgery. In this surgery the damaged disc is remove and the bones (vertebrae) are fused together. We take these damaged discs and mix them with enzymes to break down the tough disc and release the cells inside. We then grow these cells and see how well we can make them grow on different materials to make them healthy again.

    • Photo: Emily

      Emily answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      So far, my favourite experiment has been looking at the effect of an injection of a seaweed-based gel into a degenerated intervertebral disc. I did X-rays, CT-scans, and mechanical testing on my samples and it was so neat to see the difference between the injected and non-injected discs!

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