Support science where it begins
The Department of Carcinology was founded to help fill a gap in funding future scientists.
The Department of Carcinology
Supporting science where it matters most: by giving the students who will lead the research of the future the support they need to conduct studies in the laboratory and the field.
Our mission
It may seem like scientists have it easy. Images of well-stocked labs pepper the media. Many of the big labs, schools and research institutions do have the funding to support the next generation of researchers. However, a surprising number of hard-working, dedicated students face challenges in finding support—in terms of time, expertise and funding. Money is a key issue. Funding shortages or a lack of funding altogether limit what students can accomplish. With funding cuts and a complicated and highly restrictive system of grant-based research funding, too many students fall throught the cracks. Even more pernicious is a pervasive tendancy to overlook the contributions of early career scientists, especially undergraduates, the time and resources necessary to develop into excellent scientists.
The Department of Carcinology was founded to fill some of these gaps and help give the next generation of scientists the support they need to do their best work.
Basic research:
scientific study that seeks to aid understanding on particular phenomena and/or laws of nature
A great deal of funding and academic support is given to applied research. Applied research is goal-oriented and it is extremely important to solving some of the problems currently facing our world. In contrast basic research seeks to understand the world as it is, to answer why things are the way they are.
An example of these is:
Research to discover how animals will adapt to climate change (BASIC)
Research on how to prevent the worst impacts of climate change (APPLIED).
A surprising number of solutions to real problems are solved by scientists focusing on basic research questions. However, basic research rarely earns the same level of dedication and support in a world plagued with problems requiring immediate action, action applied research promises to supply.
A perfect example is the hunt for a cure for cancer. While targeted approaches to drug discovery have made great strides in improving patient outcomes, the work of basic research in understanding what cancer is, how it evolves and why it kills will be essential to not just treating cancer, but preventing and curing it. Basic research may not sound as sexy and may not have as an immediate impact as applied research, but basic research gives us the tools to support applied research and gain a better understanding of the world at large.
Carcinology:
the study of crustaceans
Basic research is clearly important and deserving of support. But why crustaceans? Why should research on carcinology be funded? What can study of crustaceans do for the world?
Crustaceans are an ecologically and economically important group of organisms. Additionally, crustaceans are biologically fascinating with an evolutionary history spanning the last 500 million years.
Ever heard someone talk about how everything keeps evolving into crabs? The process is called carcinisation and speaks to how succesful crab-like creatures have been on the planet through evolutionary time. In fact, crustaceans are an incredibly diverse group and crabs are among some of the most successful organisms on land and in the sea. There’s a lot we can learn about biology by doing basic research on crustaceans, especially on crabs and crab-like creatures.
DO Carcinolgoy
The Department of Carcinology seeks to support students working on basic research questions involving any species of crustacean. As demands on university professors and lectures increase, one-on-one academic support becomes increasingly rare. Furthermore, as funding becomes increasingly hard to secure, we recognised that there are glaring gaps in student support at all levels of higher education. To enable students to DO Carcinology, we have developed this platform.
This is a work in progress. We are creating an online community of students, The Crab Lab, to give students the academic support they need to do their best work. Additionally, soon we will have a shop that will offer anyone the opportunity to help students fund their research. This shop will will offer you the opportunity to buy a student lab materials, research equipment and/or animal husbandry supplies. We will offer subscription services, through this webpage and through our Patreon page, that will enable you to subscribe monthly to our site and support student research. We will also have branded items available for purchase.
All proceeds will go to the student members (Undergraduate and Postgraduate carcinologists) so that they can buy the supplies they need to make their research projects the best they can be, without having to worry about running out of money.
