Tag: funding

Resistance is futile

13th June 2016 / / 0 Comments

I wouldn’t say that I am an anxious person, or overly scared by things. But antimicrobial resistance is terrifying. The concept that we, as technically and medically advanced as we are, can even get to the stage whereby we don’t have any lines of defence against pathogenic organisms, genuinely frightens me.

I am fairly lucky. I have only ever had one course of antibiotics (which of course I completed!), but that doesn’t mean much. I may not be contributing to the overall issue of resistance directly, but as I type this, all over the world there are thousands of livestock being administered antibiotics to keep them healthy and infection free, there are people demanding antibiotics for their cold, there are people being prescribed antibiotics, but only taking half and feeling better then not bothering with the rest. These are the scenarios that scare me more than most. Now consider those that genuinely need antibiotics; those that have a severe infection (or not even severe, but an infection that they are struggling to fight), which, without a course of treatment, would mean substantial consequences.

I know it is all over the news, and the media have a tendency to hype things, but this is real. This is a very real situation with very real and dire consequences if we don’t do something about it. Luckily we have monitoring by the WHO and other international bodies, and masses of research going into discovering new antimicrobials, but this can be a slow and very expensive process. Resistance is happening now, and spreading.

It is somewhat reassuring however, that Horizon 2020 is here, part of which is a drive for the discovery and development of novel antimicrobial compounds or treatments. Eighty billion euros (that’s right,  €80Bn – so we need to remain in the EU!) worth of funding, to tackle a range of current questions. Hopefully this push will succeed and give us more time…because inevitable we will be in the same position one day..

Do the hokey cokey

9th June 2016 / / 1 Comment

“You put your left leg in, your left leg out. In, out, in, out, and shake it all about.”

Being a father to two young children, and married to a wife that does baby and toddler music and movement classes, this song is very familiar indeed.

“You do the hokey cokey and you turn around…thats what it’s all about!”

Now, if there are things I’ve learnt in my 29 years of living, it is not to debate/argue over religion, or politics. So i won’t. However, this impending EU referendum is beginning to get on my nerves a bit. The scaremongering by both sides using the same facts is pathetic. The facts and figures given by each campaign with a complete and blatant disregard to the actual factual content is not really acceptable in a situation where it could mean huge consequences after a decision. I don’t know who to trust more..the politicians leading these campaigns, or the children putting their left leg in, their left leg out and shaking it all about!

I’m not afraid to say that we need to remain as part of the EU. And I will of course be voting that way myself, and it frustrates me to think that there are people who want to vote out (which is fine of course – opinions are to the individual, democracy and all that), but have based their decision on propaganda from the media. Immigration is obviously a big issue for some people. But what about those of UK origin currently living in other EU countries. What about those that come to the UK that do find a job, pay their taxes, establish themselves as part of the bigger community and contribute to society etc. As far as I can see, there is no justifiable reason for them not to be allowed to come here. Surely it is a good thing that they want to come to our incredible country in the first place. We live in a fantastic country, and yes we do get a lot of benefits of being here – we are a rich country, have a good economy, good housing, healthcare, security etc. Just because we have it, and others were born into a situation whereby they don’t have the same as us, who are we to say others can’t have it. It is not a right.

I don’t want to generalise too much, but those that do want to come here, want to in order to have a better life – get a job, more security etc. They want to work. Want to contribute, and this effort is far in excess of even some of our own, which is a real shame.

For me personally, I am a scientist, a very early career scientist, but will rely on getting funding from charities/funding bodies to support research in the wider world. This funding is very often as part of a collaboration – that can be intra-UK, or inter-country. A significant portion of funding that the UK research community gets is EU sourced. There is a very significant, and scary risk that this will stop, or at the very least become much much more difficult to obtain if we leave the EU. I have a family, house and commitments, and cannot afford for this to happen. That might be a selfish way of looking at things, but in all honesty, I can’t afford not to think of it this way. Another way of thinking about it (particularly for those not involved in research/science/academia etc) is research will suffer without funding. We will not be able to make the progress and findings without the money in order to support it. It’s a fundamental issue.

I’m not going to go on, because I don’t need to. Leaving the EU is a ridiculous prospect which as far as I’m concerned, should not even be on the table.
DM