Becoming a research scientist for a day

Sometimes the coolest thing about making a movie is you get to meet really cool people. People who you may never have gotten the chance to meet. This movie has allowed me to meet so many new people. One of those people has actually nothing to do with making movies at all. She is a doctor. Specifically, she is an oncologist at SickKids Hospital here in Toronto, and she works with a type of cancer called Neuroblastoma. Her name is Dr. Meredith Irwin and she is my new friend.

I met Dr Irwin when I went to do my research at SickKids. We spent a lot of time talking in between patient visits. I found out that she went to MIT which is where I want to go to college. She also went to Harvard! She made me feel a lot better about being nervous in a hospital. She explained that being around cancer all day can be difficult and that is why she also does research. She invited me to her research lab and on Monday I went. It was amazing!!!

When we arrived we walked into a very modern building. It was 21 floors. 21 floors of pure research of pediatric disease. Every three floors, was designed as a "neighborhood" Each neighborhood was focused on different fields of study. Dr. Irwin explained that research was really a lot of time talking to other researchers. That is how they got new ideas. Researchers don't just spend time at a microscope in a lab. She also explained that research is very creative. A lot of researchers are also musicians. This made me happy because I am a musician too!

We went to her office, and she had a lab coat for me to put on!!! Then we went into the lab. The first thing we did was meet a scientist named Brent. Brent is devoting his life to studying WORMS!!! Worms have a very similar genetic coding to us, but have far fewer cells. They only have a bout 200 so the scientists can study individual cells more easily. We started by looking at Planarians also known as flat worms. These worms are jam packed with stem cells. Stem cells are what your body needs top regenerate yourself. This is very important in research for cancer. Planarians can be cut and regenerate as many times as you want. They will always regenerate. It is interesting for scientists to study this because maybe one day they can create a way for humans to regenerate damaged cells or lost limbs or damaged organs.

Brent also brought us into his lab to look at GFP worms under his super cool microscopes! GFP worms are injected with GFP (the bioluminescent protein found in jellyfish that allows them to glow). Brent is studying GFP worms because he can test on the worms and then find the worms in bacteria because the worms are glowing with GFP. It was incredible to be in a real lab with real research scientists using their real research equipment! Brent is also in a band. He plays guitar. He said maybe one day he can find a way to regenerate more fingers so he can play guitar faster! He was kidding of course!

Dr Irwin then brought me to her lab and introduced me to Alex. Alex is from Korea and is getting his PHD. Alex is studying a way to get rid of unwanted proteins in the brain such as CTE which causes Tau protein which can suffocate your brain cells. Alex is also researching Neuroblastoma and how it spreads. He is studying this on mice. I got to see  actual Neuroblastoma cells under a microscope. They looked rigid and sharp edged. They looked menacing to me with their jagged edges. Most normal cells have very smooth edges.

I spent two hours there and it was about the coolest two hours I have spent in Toronto. Dr Irwin said I could do an internship with her when I was 16!!! I think I would like too do that. She said a lot of the researchers were people who either had childhood cancers or knew family members with cancer and they wanted to make a difference. I also want to make a difference in the world this way. Right now they can cure up to 80 percent of childhood cancers. Who knows, maybe if I become a Medical Research Scientist, maybe we can get that number to 100 percent.