Profile

I’m 23 years old and set to get married in December! I have a pet chipmunk who is awesome!

My work involves looking at how cancer, and many other diseases, can be caused by defects in the molecular machines in our cells that make our proteins. So, we have these amazing protein complexes called Ribosomes that turn our genetic material into proteins. When these aren’t working properly, some parts of the ribosome break off and interact with other proteins in the cells and can cause all manner of problems!

I work mostly on human cells, so a typical day for me starts at 8am where I warm up my media (what the cells grow in- full of all the things they need to grow happily) so that the cells don’t get too cold! I then have to make sure my cells aren’t getting too crowded in the flask- and if they are, I have to dilute them so that they are happy. I can then use the cells to look at the proteins I’m interested in. I do lots of playing with proteins and genetic material! I also use radioactivity to label my cells and do some cool things. It sounds pretty scary- but it’s all perfectly safe!

I also look after students. We get various students throughout the year and it’s the job of the PhD students to teach them how to work in the lab and help them develop their own projects.

Our institute at the university does a wide range of workshops and has a engagement with school children program. I would like to use the money to allow more events to happen and to carry out some new and interesting things with the students. I’ve not yet been able to get involved with it much, so this would be a great opportunity as I’d like to engage with the scientists of the future.