• Question: what does your job involve?

    Asked by to Amar on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Amar Joshi

      Amar Joshi answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Hi,

      My current job at the University of Leicester is in a Cancer Research Laboratory. I am working on finding a new treatment for myeloma – a blood cancer that forms tumours in bones.

      I help to understand the interactions between the potential drugs and the target. The target of the drugs is a particular protein. First I have to purify this (with the help of some sophisticated machines). I then make crystals of my protein, yo might have made crystals in a science class. The crystals look similar to salt of sugar crystals.

      I the add in the potential drugs and use X-rays to see how the drug binds in atomic detail. With this information, the drugs can be modified to make them more effective.

      As you can see I do quite a few varied things in my work, and it usually takes a month to go from purifying the protein to analysing the crystal data. Once I have advised the team of chemists, they make better drugs and I see how they bind.

      I really like the nature of my job as it is varied and I know my work will help lots of people with myeloma.

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