Quote:
Originally posted by KSig RC
I worked for 2 summers in a lab doing gene therapy research, primarily with regard to cancer - the research is amazingly promising, and has been for years, but the process is painstaking and brutally slow. Our work with mice showed successes, failures, and really any intermediate you can imagine - as for not worth it, though . . . are you referring specifically to cloning?
Otherwise - we always felt the research, along w/ Stem cell actions, was honestly the best cutting-edge use of funding (which I'm sure you know, is 90% of research, unfortunately).
I'll PM you w/ specifics if you're down, but I'm still bound by my NDA.
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The issues with cloning animals are they are extremely sickly animals. Many die before any real experiments can be done on them. It is unknown why they die so quickly or rapidly. Over time, I think it will workout...
The price one has to pay to do that kind of project can sometimes be too much rather than doing "fundable" research that will get one published...
When one is young in his or her studies, research must be "cranked out" and rapidly published. No discourse on the "intellectual concepts" of the wonders of science can happen to advance into higher positions.
However, once a researcher has a "stable" position, then he or she can study whatever they want to study as long as they stay funded... But even that can be variable...
That is what I mean as worth it. It is not a matter of how much I believe it is a good idea, it is a matter of how often the experiments can be repeated by many others and if it was interesting to the "common good"...