• Question: Hello, what is the most interesting thing you've ever found out through research?

    Asked by chelseabeattie to Carla, Madgie, Nick, Vicky, Werner on 14 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Werner Muller

      Werner Muller answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      I think to find out that one cytokine is responsible for the control of the immune system in the gut.

    • Photo: Marlene Lorgen

      Marlene Lorgen answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      I work on salmon which are an interesting group of fish as they duplicated their entire genome around 25-100 million years ago. This means that they often have more copies of genes than we find in mammals and birds. We found that some of these duplicated genes have evolved different functions over time, one copy responding to daylength, and the other to salinity, even though they have very similar DNA sequences!

    • Photo: Nick Groves-Kirkby

      Nick Groves-Kirkby answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      I’ve found a gene that I think affects the number of babies animals have. I’m working on checking whether this real now. If it is it might be important for farming, or for people who find it difficult to have babies.

      I need to do much more research before I really know what’s going on!

    • Photo: Carla Turner

      Carla Turner answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      I found that when we change the pores on a plant (where the plant loses water) it also affects nutrient uptake, but just like Nick we are still testing this!

    • Photo: Vicky Forster

      Vicky Forster answered on 21 Nov 2013:

      Hi Chelsea,

      I have found out more about why people get a certain type of leukaemia (blood cancer). I found out that an initial DNA mutation makes other bits of DNA (genes) stop working properly.

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