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Happy Canada Day! =] It’s July 1st (where did June go?), so as a Canadian citizen by birth, it’s time to wish my first homeland a happy birthday. It’s also Wednesday already, which means I have two blog posts to catch up on (oops!)
Responsible Conduct in Research:
From the one-sided portrayal of Dr. Robert Gallo in And the Band Played On, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that Gallo was unethical and immoral in trying to claim the glory of the HIV discovery for himself. But rarely can docudramas properly address all sides of an issue as controversial as Gallo’s role in early HIV/AIDS research. Of course it was wrong for Gallo to try and claim all credit for discovering HIV, when, in reality, the discovery was first made by the Pasteur Institute in Paris. But the movie also glossed over the fact that it was Gallo’s work that linked HIV and AIDS; the French were the first to isolate the virus, but did not confirm virus’s connection to AIDS.
Perhaps it is a natural part to scientific research to always have this competitive drive to produce research that is more “cutting edge.” And it’s not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it’s part of what drives our constant search for knowledge forward. For one, this competitiveness ensures that fraudulent results are caught when reported results can’t be reproduced. Additionally, the desire to produce research that is more relevant, more significant drives researchers to make discoveries that perhaps have greater potential to make some sort of positive impact. But when does this competitive sprit cross that fine line and become unethical and even destructive? Is it when researchers start squabbling over awards and titles and lose sight of the real value and meaningfulness of their work – the potential to better others’ lives? Is it when they start faking data? What drives a scientist to a point where he feels the need to fabricate data? Is it the pressure to produce results in a highly competitive or prestigious lab? Or is it the desire for personal glory? I don’t know that falsifying data can ever be forgiven, but can we forgive a researcher for having selfish motives if his/her research produces results that are impactful to the human race?
Other: Week 4 in Kirby Lab
I’ve spent the past three days this week sectioning zebrafish embryos. When I started the process on Monday, I honestly hated it. The blade on the machine was dull or dirty or something and my ribbons kept on shredding; then, the ribbons I had worked so hard to cut and arrange would stick to the glass slides and get hopelessly tangled and torn up when I put them in water. After two very aggravating hours and two sets of uselessly jumbled zebrafish sections I swore that I would avoid doing any more sectioning for the remaining four-and-a-half weeks at all costs. Yet somehow, I found myself back at the same bench the very next day with seven more embryos to section. This time, I forced myself to stay calm and be careful, instead of getting aggravated every time I messed up. And surprisingly, I started seeing my slides turn out nicely with the ribbons laid out smoothly, instead of ending up with tangled blobs of wax. If there’s one thing I really learned this week, it’s that science does take patience, which I must slowly, but surely, learn to develop.
