Week 9 Blog

What’s up? This was a good week both in terms of my internship and research.

I did the usual stuff such as clinical rounds and virtual meetings as well as some new experiments. Here is a cool looking view of the cells I experimented with under a microscope:

This shows a positive result, meaning a transfection experiment I did was a success.

Speaking of results, here are some noteworthy key points about cancer misconceptions:

Noteworthy Cancer Misconceptions in the US:

•  Lack of perceived control over cancer prevention
• Overestimation of fatality of cancer
• Links betweeen certain everyday objects (e.g. plastic, deoderant) and cancer
• Fear that cancer can be contagious
• Belief that attitude significantly impacts cancer risk and outcome
• Overestimation of the role of genetic predisposition in cancer development and outcome

Role of Media

• Hollywood films promote misconceptions about survivability, treatment options, and costs
• Social media promotes unproven treatments
• Social media promotes myths about common household objects causing cancer
• News articles promote overly optimistic views of cancer treatment
• Advertisements promote fears of everyday products being associated with cancer
• Products labels promote fears of everyday products being associated with cancer
• There is an abundance of publicly available credible sources about cancer, but they are often difficult for the public to comprehend

I hope you found some of this interesting. Thank you for reading.