Cancer is not sexy.
Not in the least.
It is categorically unsexy.
Or is it?
There is a much wider meaning of ‘sexy’ that cancer thriver Kris Carr taps into and defines it as being ‘informed and empowered’ and living like you really mean it.
She says, “It’s about saying yes, and showing up for your life.”
Well, no one is going to argue with showing up each and every day. That is certainly desirable and exciting but sexy? I’m not convinced.
But research into cancer, now that’s sexy.
In the field of immunotherapy treatments, the earth is moving and some of the results are breathtaking.
We don’t normally associate research and labs with the words glamorous or racy but the work going on behind the scenes is hot-stuff and in some cases revolutionising. Now that is definitely sexy.
The advent of immunotherapy has significantly transformed the treatment paradigm for some cancers and the breakthroughs are spine-tingling.
There has been a shift. Immunotherapies are increasingly being considered as first-line treatments for most cancers. This was unheard of just a few years ago! Very sexy.
Researchers working in the mysterious world of cancers have the opportunity to make eye-catching discoveries through transformational science that have a sensational and life-changing impact on real people. Damn sexy!
Fifty Shades of Cancer?
Well, I suppose we should be saying ‘Two Hundred Shades of Cancer’ as there are over 200 types of cancer, and each type has its own name and treatment. Finding solutions to these cancers is highly attractive.
Some say that science is not sexy and that’s the way it should be but I disagree. Nobel Prize winners such as the immunologists Jim Allison and Tasuku Honjo showed how different strategies for inhibiting the brakes on the immune system can be used in the treatment of cancer. That makes them sexier than rock stars in my eyes.
Researchers are some of the most creative, intelligent, forward-thinkers there are. What they are studying can be beautiful and the beauty of their research is in the pursuit of a discovery that no one else has made before by thinking what nobody else has thought. I mean how exciting is mathematical oncology? Or how about scientists who have created a cell that precludes malignant growth?
There’s more. Have you heard about ‘Deep Visual Proteomics‘, a new method that could transform our understanding of cancer evolution – potentially exposing tumour vulnerabilities? No, I hadn’t either but it is ground-breaking and it’s got sexy written all over it.
And then there’s Artificial Intelligence and cancer – the possibilities here are just mind-blowing.
If you think that lab research is all about lab coats, goggles, long hours and long-winded equations then you’d be right and that doesn’t sound sexy at all. But imagine being the person that solves the mother of all problems and makes a breakthrough that saves lives? That definitely hits the spot.