By: Emily S.
Jian Lui, is a lead scientist and he receives annual funding
from The National Institutes of Health. Lui is working on producing a version
of the blood-thinner heparin to prevent a disaster that occurred in 2008. In
2008, tainted heparin was imported from China and killed 94 people and put
dozens of Americans in the hospital. However, Liu ran out of his funding on
January 31st and only has a little saved from last year. If Liu does
not receive his funds, one postdoctoral graduate as well as a technician well
be let go and his project will slowly diminish. The demand for heparin has
always been high because it is needed in many surgeries, kidney dialysis, blood
donations and cancer treatments. However the United States haven’t been able to
keep up with the demand and that is the reason why they are importing from
China. However it would be ideal to stop this trade in order to avoid a
situation like in 2008. This is why Jian Liu needs the funding to keep his
project going, in order to not only help thousands of people but also to
prevent another horrific situation from happening.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteYour post was on a very interesting topic. I really liked how much detail you used and the length was perfect. I also really liked how you included some key statistics in your post as well because it really helped me understand it better and also made it much more interesting. Nice job and I hope to read your next post!