Profile

I love science and the freedom it brings.  I can look at whatever interests me (as long as it is linked to making people better) and then I have to convince funders that they want to give me a job to look at it on a much deeper level.

I was never that good at school and science just happened to be the thing I could get on with, I went to university (not that I really knew what it was, as I went to a school where people didn’t often end up going to uni). But someone suggested I could go and I might like it so I did and it was amazing.

After that I went travelling (taking lots of loans!£££) and then came home and got a job in industry which paid well but i didn’t enjoy it so went back to study (Masters and PhD). As part of my PhD I lived in New York for 2 years which was amazing fun and an experience that often appears in science. Every city has a university and ever university needs scientists so you could choose to live anywhere in the world …… I choose Birmingham :-

I’m part of a lab group that work on ageing and metabolism (or the way our body uses energy). There are normally 5 of us but then we have project students visiting us all of the time. My normal day is me in the lab messing around. I normally come up with the idea of experiments in collaboration with my boss and then I also tend to do extra ones on things I’m also interested in (when he’s not looking!).

Soooo addicted to caffeine.   Tea/coffee otherwise I get a headache 🙁

Arrange my day whilst I drink tea and then go in the lab and work on experiments. Using cells and look at what the proteins in the cells are doing and how the cell behaves when certain proteins are present in high or lower numbers.

Lunch time is run time…. I go running with a friend then get back and eat my lunch (quickly).

Sometimes there are other scientists visiting us from around the world and they give presentations on their work so its often interesting to see what they are doing. Its also a good way of comparing your own work with them.

Meetings happen about twice a week – i don’t like them, they can be dull.

Back in the lab to carry on with experiments and preparing/planning new ones. Usually go out for a coffee and a chat with a friend for a break.

Science never really goes away, If I had a job in Tesco I guess I could go home and not worry about it until the next day. But science is always on my mind, so often if tv is no good I’ll get my laptop out and do some of the smaller easier jobs before bed.