Profile

Photo:

Elisabeth O'Flaherty

    • About Me:

      I live in Cork City where I work as a researcher 👩🏻‍🔬 In my spare time I love baking, yoga and sea swims 🌊🧘‍♀️

    • Read more

      I’ve always been super interested in understanding our bodies and learning how the medicines we use to treat illnesses work. I like that I can understand what happens to our bodies when we experience the shock of cold water – or start to wobble in a yoga pose!

      For me, baking is like doing a science experiment, you have your recipe and everything goes fine if you follow it – if you change it up, it could be the best or worst mistake you ever make! But either way you learn from it.

    • My pronouns are:

      She/her

    • My Work:

      My work explores the friendly bacteria (bugs!) that live in our gut.

    • Read more

      In my work, I grow gut bacteria in the lab to try to and understand better what they like to eat, and what sorts of things they make while living in our gut. If we understand our friendly gut bacteria better, we can use them to help people get more benefit from the food they eat and feel well.

    • My Typical Day:

      I wake up and have a cup of tea while I am getting ready and then I walk or cycle to work, arriving between 8 and 10am. I eat my breakfast (overnight oats!) at my desk while I check my emails and plan what I will do for the day. Before lunch, I set up my lab bench for the experiments I need to do that day. If it’s sunny, I eat lunch outside with my friends. In the afternoon, I do experiments and sometimes someone in our lab gives a talk about their work, so we can share idea. I usually go home between 4 and 6pm.

    • Read more

      Not every day is the same, and sometimes I have a long full day of experiments, and some days I am at my desk all day, analysing results from previous experiments! I like that my schedule gets changed up a lot.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I would use the prize money to run activities with local primary schools called “feed your friendly bugs!”. We would discuss food that helps your friendly gut bacteria grow and what benefits these bacteria can then have for our health.

      There would then be a competition with a prize for the best recipe for a meal which is gut bug friendly. All the recipes which are gut bug friendly would be put together into a child friendly cookbook with drawings and decorations from all the kids that took part in the competition.

    Curriculum Vitae

    • Education:

      St. Maries of the Isle Primary School – Cork City, Ireland

      St. Aloysius Secondary School – Cork City, Ireland

    • Qualifications:

      10 Junior Cert subjects (7As 3Bs)

      Maths, English, Irish, German, Science, Home Ec, History, Geography, CSPE, Music

      7 Leaving Cert subjects (6As 1B)

      Maths, English, Irish, German, Biology, Chemistry, Accounting

    • Work History:

      Credit Union – bank teller

      Next – sales assistant

      IJ Mellis Cheese – Cheesemonger

      Ramen – waitress

      University College Cork – Research Assistant

    • Current Job:

      University College Cork – Postdoctoral researcher

    • Employer

      University College Cork – APC Microbiome Ireland

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Gut bug lover

        What was your favourite subject at school?

        Biology

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        A vet

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Rarely!

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        Science communication

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Too many! I love live music

        What's your favourite food?

        Pizza

        What is the most fun thing you've done?

        Ziplining

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        A dog, more holidays!

        Tell us a joke.

        Why did the germ cross the microscope?

Ask me a question