A small piece of ice which lived in a test
tube fell in love with a Bunsen burner.
"Bunsen, my flame! I melt whenever I see you!" said the ice.
The Bunsen burner replied, "It's just a phase you're going through."
"Bunsen, my flame! I melt whenever I see you!" said the ice.
The Bunsen burner replied, "It's just a phase you're going through."
Good morning and welcome back!
It’s been a crazy time at the lab, with no signs of
stopping. To begin with, we’ve hit a bump in the road with our experiment.
Having received unexpected results, we’ve decided to back up a little and try
to understand what went wrong and to recreate the biotech company’s experiment
to make sure that we are able to arrive at the same conclusion. Despite our
trial and error, the biotech company has been great at collaborating and
helping us continue with the experiment.
In addition to this small bump, one of the cell lines is
dying. And this time, it wasn’t on purpose. This particular cell line tends to
thrive in crowded conditions, so we suspect that its sudden demise is due to
our dilution of it (which the experiment required). No worries, we have a
second batch ready to go and we will be holding a bleach funeral for the sad
first batch.
With all this, something good was bound to happen. And it
took form in understanding. On Friday mornings, the lab staff gather to hold a
meeting in order to discuss their experiments. Dr. Bergsagel presented his
findings regarding patients who were going through the clinical trial. It was
only then that I realized what a host of treatment myeloma patients must go
through. Multiple myeloma is not curable as of today. Part of this is because
every person reacts differently to the drugs given to them. There are about
5-10 different genetic groupings for myeloma, and there are double that many
drugs to treat it. So, each patient had to go through at least 4 different
phases of drugs, some with good reactions and others not. Each patient receives
a trial-and-error of cocktail drugs that hopefully have an effect. Through this, it became clear to me that individualized medicine (medical treatment that is
fitted specifically to each person) may hold the brightest future for myeloma.
With so many different genetic lines that can lead to myeloma, which all differ
in treatment, it becomes almost crucial for us to study myeloma in terms of
genetics. And now understanding this more, I feel certainly blessed to have
been given the opportunity to help begin this journey.
Until then, thank you for reading.
Angela
This is amazing, Angela. It sucks that your first batch died, and I hope the second batch yields desired results! We all mourn for the loss. Do you think there will come a point in the future where research will get to a point where individualized treatments will be easily created based on a person's genetics, as opposed to a trial and error type of process?
ReplyDeleteDaria,
DeleteThat would be the dream, and is really the larger focus of my research. But that kind of technology is a little far away, and is still in a bit of a foggy fantasy state. There is so much complexity in each person's genes so that even in just a set of 5 different categories of mutations, there may be much more that affects a certain disease.
But hopefully we can get past the complexity and find a simple solution that works best for both patient and practitioner.
Thank you so much for reading!
Hi Angela...first, I will be sure to share your opening story of the ice and the bunsen burner with Mr. Zuggi. I am sure he will add it to his repertoire, as it is consistent with those that he regularly tells. Secondly, and more relevant to your SRP, you are seeing up close just how complex it is to find a drug (or combination) that works. You didn't mention, but I suspect I know the answer. Are there patients receiving a placebo to each of the trials? That is sad, but necessary to determine the efficacy of the drug.
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. Nishan,
DeleteThanks. I'm sure that my sister will be very pleased to hear that I'm now fueling her teacher's wonderful jokes.
As far as I'm aware, there is no need for a placebo in this particular case. All of the drugs have already been clinically tested, so there is no need to determine the efficacy of the drug. I think that the point of the experiment was actually to see how different genetic groupings of myeloma react to different drugs and combinations. So, happily, everyone is being treated. But, it still remains somewhat of a mystery when one patient is treated with the same drugs as another, with opposite effects.
My research in particular though, does involve testing the efficacy of a drug and I have been using placebos according to my AP Bio class.
Thank you for reading!
I can sympathize with your unexpected results. At this point I think it's important to remember that these things happen. I'm sure the next batch will work out fine.
ReplyDeleteWith the drug cocktail and trial and error process for providing treatment to patients, do the doctors actually know which drugs are having an effect?
ReplyDeleteVal,
DeleteWe actually know that the drug being tested are having an effect. They've already been tested clinically, so they have a more significant effect over the placebo. What we don't know is which patients the drugs will work on. And that's part of the experiment. Predicting which drugs work on which genetic groupings and why.
I like the idea of personalized medicine, but do the drugs react differently if they're mixed in different batches? For example, will there be side reactions between the drugs, instead of between the drugs and the myeloma?
ReplyDeleteLauren,
DeleteThat's a really great point. And the answer is yes. But, the doctors make this work to their advantage. Unfortunately, I don't have as much information as I'd like to on this. But, I can give you a vague example. Many times, the doctors would treat their patients with one drug, which would intentionally force the progression of myeloma. This throws the disease off balance and allows a second drug to be administered which will dramatically reduce myeloma's expression. Again, I'm not entirely sure on the details of this process. And hopefully I can learn more as I go.
Love love the intro! I remember reading somewhere that cancer drugs only work right for 50% of their target population? Might be an oversimplification but shows you how important personalized medicine is! Which pharmaceutical company are you working with, if that's not confidential? Related to Lauren's comment--are you testing for synergy as well, when two drugs together work better than one drug alone?
ReplyDeleteAnvita,
DeleteI am not specifically testing synergy, however others in the Lab are.
Hi Angela,
ReplyDeleteYour research sounds so interesting! That's unfortunate that your first batch died, but I'm sure your second one is going to be perfect. How long had you spent on the first one before it died?
Carly,
DeleteThank you! It was about a week in.