Question: What has been your hardest test yet?

Natalia Brodaczewska answered on 13 Mar 2020:

One of the tests that I had to learn to do is a test which we use to check how well patients are responding to treatment. This test is very sensitive which means that it can detect very small levels of cancer DNA in the patient’s blood. So we can detect very early on if the patient is not responding to treatment or if the cancer is coming back. But this test is also very difficult to do – we have to be super accurate and detailed to prevent any contamination (other patient’s or our DNA getting into the sample) and to always add correct volume of everything. And we’re talking about very small volumes here – like 1 microliter which is 1000 less than a mililiter (and 1 mililiter is about 1/5 of a teaspoon). It takes a lot of time and concentration to set up one of those tests and if we do anything worng, we have to start from the beginning!