Medicine Intro | Medical Research | Life & Death | Salt of the Earth | Viva la Revolution

Life and Death of a Cancer Cell
By Joanne Dudeney

___Dr Louise Lutze-Mann’s career path has spanned many years and two countries. She began university life at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), following an undergraduate degree with an honours year and a PhD. At the end of her PhD, Louise asked herself the question, 'What am I passionate about?' The answer was cancer research. Her main research interest was the processes that cause normal healthy cells to change into cancerous cells and, fundamentally, the underlying causes of cancer. Louise worked on this research at the Children’s Cancer Research Institute. From the institute, Louise moved to the USA, working in San Francisco and with NASA. After 12 years, it was time to head back home, and Louise wanted to contribute to research at the institution that trained her - UNSW. She applied for the position of lecturer and moved to Sydney, bringing her cancer research from the States with her.

___This journey has led her to today, the 15th April, and to her laboratory at UNSW, focusing on cancer research and cells. A typical day for Louise is not all lab work. Now, most of her research is carried out by her team of honours and PhD students. Today, she spends time with them making sure everything is running smoothly. Her team is growing cancer cells in lab culture so that humans and animals do not have to be used for research. After they have grown the cancer cells, their aim will be to find a way to kill the rapidly dividing cancer cells without killing other rapidly dividing cells, such as the cells of hair and the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT). Current cancer therapies do not differentiate between different kinds of rapidly dividing cells, which is why hair loss and GIT problems are side effects of cancer treatments.

___A day in science with Louise involves more than just overseeing lab work. As she is also a lecturer, she spends part of the day preparing for lectures and lab classes with her students. She finds this one of the most rewarding aspects of her job. She enjoys working with the students and communicating to them her love of science. Throughout the day, Louise conducts meetings with fellow staff and students and, of course, writes research proposals. She spends any spare time reading about new and exciting discoveries in relation to cancer cell research.

___As Louise is replying to emails on her computer, she explains to me that there are both advantages and disadvantages to her job. The worst part is preparing research proposals for financial grants. Grants are very hard to obtain, and career promotion depends on money from grants to help develop her research. However, the aspects of the job she loves, research and teaching, far outweigh her dislikes. She has a passion for standing in front of a class, exciting the students with her enthusiasm for Science. She will never lose her sense of wonder at the human body; there are always new discoveries to be made. The biggest advantage of her job is traveling. She travels across the world to different universities in different cities, learning as much as she can about Science and about different cultures.

___Louise’s life is not all work and no play; she believes too much focus on work might consume her. In her spare time, Louise loves reading, going out for dinner, making stained glass windows, and going to the theatre with friends. For Louise, the theatre is a way to escape into another world where she can leave any troubles at the front door and work her way into the mind of another character.

___As we leave Louise, she is in the middle of putting the final touches on a new biology textbook that she is editing, another example of how varied the life of a scientist can be. Louise’s life as a scientist is more exciting, interesting, and relevant to the human body than I could have ever imagined.

Medicine Intro | Medical Research | Life & Death | Salt of the Earth | Viva la Revolution