Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Difference between biochemistry research and medicine research

I'm thinking of doing biochemistry undergraduate and I think I might want to go on to do research afterwards. I was reading about all the research done by biochemists and some of it seems to be related to diseases which kind of overlaps with medicine. Right now my understanding is that, say the research area is cancer. Biochemistry researchers would be researching the pathways in the cells and the chemical reactions which are causing the cancer whereas medical researchers would be doing a bit of that but also trying different drugs/treatments on to find an actual cure. So in a way, first biochemistry research discovers the basic pathways and understands how it happens and then medical research attempts to resolve this using drugs and treatment techniques. Is my understanding correct? I might be completely wrong but I'm trying to better understand the area so any guidance would be great...

Reply 1

alleycat393

In theory yes but in practice everyone does everything. You typically do a project which may involve different aspects of different areas of science and you learn as you go along. At this stage it's best for you to go with something broad and develop your interests as you go along.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

username1738703

Original post by alleycat393

In theory yes but in practise everyone does everything. You typically do a project which may involve different aspects of different areas of science and you learn as you go along. At this stage it's best for you to go with something broad and develop your interests as you go along.