Profile

Studying biology lets us solve challenges in the world around us. One of these is when we get sick thanks to an infection. Looking at parasites, bacteria and viruses and how they get inside us can tell us about how to dodge them. Just like us, these infectious attackers have their body blueprint written in their cells – in their DNA. This DNA is a map for how to build the parasite or bacteria or virus. By knowing how these are made up, we can figure out what parts of them make us sick. We can do this by comparing different types. For example, one that are resistant to a drug and ones that are not. Or say ones that cause really severe disease and others than only cause milder forms. This also lets us track what changes occur over time. So if we monitor genetic changes in bacteria in a hospital ward, we can watch out for new subtypes emerging and treat patients faster.

Science lets us become experts in specific areas, but that means we must communicate to put the parts of the puzzle together. So as a geneticist, I am in contact with colleagues who work on other elements of the same work. These include biochemists, who track the proteins changing in these parasites. And also computer scientists, who help us tackle the large amounts of biological data (DNA sequence) that is now available. Comparing results lets us all figure out what experiments to do next. I have a PhD student so we consult on her progress. A major component of being a scientist is understanding what is being done in other labs, so attending scientific talks and reading research papers is very important. This lets me put my work in context. I also lecture students and am lucky to be in a department that has a focus on teaching. Being new to it, I learn a great deal from my colleagues during discussions during breaks, lunch, etc. Other things include helping with outreach activities (eg like this!) that we do in our department, and also supervising final year projects.