Tim and Mike
Mike – Cryptic crosswords, language and languages, travel, making abstract art and Google threads. Tim – Breast cancer, genomics, circulating tumour DNA, gaming, treasure hunts and slow cooking.
Before collaborating on #flowcellular
I didn’t know…
Mike: What the Sanger Institute was all about.
Tim: That the kitchen had so many useful analogies for cancer.
I had always wondered…
Mike: What it would be like to participate in an open project.
Tim: How well understood what I do is by the general public.
During #flowcellular
I was most surprised by…
Mike: The extent of Tim’s knowledge of cookery.
Tim: How nice it is to have your words turned into poetry.
I experimented with…
Mike: Poetry, I had literally never done it before.
Tim: Fire.
Towards the end of #flowcellular
I think differently about…
Mike: Research scientists.
Tim: The balance between being scientifically accurate and being easily translatable. Coming up with analogies and explanations of cancer.
I will remember…
Mike: The fun of working with Tim, it’s been so much fun.
Tim: How good Mike is at poetry.
Mike's metastasis
On insults
Insulting your organs is fine
If more could be ordered online,
But that you can’t do
Even if you renew
Your account with Amazon Prime
On mutations
A Mutation’s lifespan can vary
Which makes some researchers quite wary
But stick to it guys
Because otherwise
The future for us is real scary
In Memoriam (with apologies to EJ Thribb)
So. Farewell then, Telomeres
When I was younger
You kept my chromosomes happy.
But now you’re getting shorter and
They’re unravelling.
You remind me of:
Feet, which stop your legs from fraying at the ends
Or A and Z, which keep all the other letters in
Or knots at either ends of a rope
Or bookends
Or wheel nuts.
For, without you,
My wheels
Will eventually
Fall off.
Tim's fire and pesto
