The Wonders of Medical Science

So, my friend Jessica is really smart. A biochemistry major at Le Moyne, she now does cancer research in Chicago. One of my experiences during this trip was to visit Jess's lab. While I had seen part of her lab during my visit last year, I hadn't gotten to see the most important area for her work: the mouse room. The most important part of Jess's job is to keep track of which mice families carry the genes crucial to her lab's research. She must take DNA samples from every mouse, test it, and if it shows the necessary genes, she must then breed it, if not... well... that's the nasty part of her job. Mice not having the right genes must not be allowed to breed and therefore have to be euthanized.

The room where the mice are kept is quite secure for many good reasons. The pictures to the left show Jess, Kavita, Chris, Jess's family, and me doning sterile gowns, hair nets, booties, the whole nine yards, well outside the mouse room just so that we can't infect the mice with any microbes. (The building itself has many card-swipe-access-only areas so that only employees of the lab may enter. This is to prevent, I'm quite sure, animal rights groups from coming in and trashing the labs or releasing the animals, and probably to keep out anyone who might try to pirate the research data as well.) It was in interesting experience having to put on all of that gear. I've never had to look at myself as a health-threat before. I mean, I can remember when my cousins were babies and I was a little kid that there were concerns over how close I might get to them, whether or not it would be safe for me to hold them, did I wash my hands and so on, but this was a whole different ball game.

Because of the security, I was unable to take any pictures of the mice themselves, or of any of the other equipment around, though I must tell you that I was impressed with the sheer complexity of the equipment required to sustain this ongoing experiment. The mouse room holds a veritable maze of air filtration systems, water treatment systems, and waste disposal lines; the level of engineering sophistication required to do the biological research accurately, safely, and as humanely as possible is truly amazing.

The room itself did smell like an understaffed pet-shop... you can use your imagination on that one... and the lighting was strange. (During the time we visited, the light settings were mimicking night-time.) But beyond that, or perhaps because of this strangeness, I began to think about how much of our modern lives depend upon this very kind of environment. I don't want to launch into a diatribe about the ethics of animal testing or in any way, shape, form or manner, to lend credibility to the practices of organizations like PETA, but nearly every pill we take and every cosmetic product we use has come out of animal testing. In Jess's lab, the mice are deliberately given various kinds of tumors so that new drugs can be tested on them. It was sad to see some of these mice suffering through that kind of ordeal. To those who will read this and say, "Who gives a ****, it's only a mouse?!" I reply, "That mouse might very well loose its life so that your loved one can reap the benefit of some new miracle drug ten years from now; that point ought to give you some pause. The role that seemingly insignificant mouse plays in this world might very well save your life too." The late philosopher Emmanuel Levinas made the point that everyone's existence is contingent upon the death of the Other; our very lives are lethal. I couldn't help but think just how far down the line that metaphysical/ethical point bears truth as I stood there inhaling that nasty smell of mouse droppings, wood chips, and sanitizer watching hundreds of catalogued mice scurry around their cages, trying to go about their natural mousy business.

All in all, I must say that the visit to the lab was a positive experience. Tthought-provoking to be sure, but also on the personal level I consider it to be of great value to have a deeper understanding of what it is that my friend Jess faces on an average work-day. The work I do now as a seminarian, in most respects, is far easier than what she must deal with. I, as a general rule, don't have to be concerned that those to whom I minister will ever bite me unless I grab them firmly by the tail and lift them off the ground! (Thank God!) My work is also far less heady, and I'm not excluding the ad nauseam attendance of philosophy classes when I say that! Her work is certain to have far reaching and long-term positive consequences, and so will mine... but only God willing. Perhaps in some ways Jess's work is more exciting than mine, but I wouldn't classify it as being more interesting or more challenging all things considered. I don't think she would either. There is stress in both of our work-lives over what is at stake: she must take great care not to infect her mice with harmful bacteria and viruses thus jeopardizing years of painstaking research; I must take great care not to infect the people I encounter with cinicism, anger, greed, jealousy, or any other spiritual contagions thus endangering their relationship with God. Ultimately, the end goal of the work Jess does is to bring healing into the world. This could be said of what I do as a seminarian, namely, the ways I talk to people in social situations, the talks I give, the work I do in soup kitchens and Sunday School classrooms... though, it is a very different kind of healing I'm hoping to bring... and I wouldn't trade that healing for all the disposable sterile gowns in the world!

God Bless,
~J