Self-experimentation: A scientist treated her own cancer with viruses she grew in the lab (www.nature.com)

submitted 1 day ago by tardigrada@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Virologist Beata Halassy says self-treatment worked and was a positive experience — but researchers warn that it is not something others should try

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] frezik@midwest.social 5 points 1 day ago

N=1 self studies are somewhat common historically though, right? Albert Hofmann synthesized LSD in his lab and took the first documented LSD trip. More recently, I seem to recall that one of the Modena founders took their Covid vax the moment they synthesized it in early 2020 (having trouble finding a citation on that, though).

[-] Gaywallet@beehaw.org 4 points 1 day ago

Yes, but if a review board were to sign off on them and then someone managed to significantly hurt or damage themselves, one could theoretically apply some of the blame to the review board for not doing their job to ensure that a study was safe. The whole idea of having ethics as a part of the review board was born of some of the studies they used to sign off on that were ultimately problematic and resulted in seriously damaging some individuals, such as minorities and kids.