• Question: Do you just work with only animals, or do you test on humans as well?

    Asked by anon-234854 to Robert on 25 Sep 2019.
    • Photo: Robert Ives

      Robert Ives answered on 25 Sep 2019:

      Hi Carmel,

      Most of my training is as an in-vivo scientist and most of my work uses animals. However, I do sometimes help with planning of human studies and the work I do with the animals helps to guide any work we then do on humans.

      I have taken part in a humans study in the past as a volunteer and that was a very interesting and useful learning experience.

Comments

  • Photo: Yewande

    Yewande commented on :

    Hello Carmel,
    Scientists work on both humans and animals but we require what is known as ethical approval. This makes it a crime for us to use animals and humans for research experiment unless we have been granted permission.
    During my masters degree in pharmacology i worked on humans that were about to be operated upon after the University granted me permission. I took blood samples before they went for surgery, during surgery and after surgery to check that the amount of anesthetic: thats drug given to make them sleep while surgery is going on, is not too much. There can be serious complications during anesthesia and i discovered that women suffer more than men. I also found that the drug loves fatty tissue so a fatter person is likely to suffer more than a thinner person even though they weigh the same.
    Complications include nausea, vomiting, backache, headache and even coma or death. So it is an area that needs more work by scientists.
    This is just one of the abundant types of research out there. But whether the subjects are human or animals all mammals are treated with the same respect and service when conducting research.