Profile

I have been working as a biology researcher for nearly 10 years! My favourite part of my job is talking to the rest of my group about science all day, and the feeling of doing experiments no one else has done before! In my spare time I like to relax by doing arts and crafts, or playing music with friends – I play the cello. I also like to continue my experiments in the kitchen by testing different recipes for cakes and biscuits!

Each of our cells has a surface membrane that can determine which molecules can enter and be used for energy or growth. This membrane is decorated with specialised entry-points for different types of molecules – these entry-points are known as ‘transporters’. Each cell has a different range of transporters on its surface – an immune cell will have different transporters than a cell in your brain! I study the importance of these transporters for cell growth and activity, and also how this changes when we are unwell. Many medicines can pass through the cell membrane but some can use transporters to enter cells. Understanding how this can happen can tell us more about why some cells respond better than others to medicines.

I wake up just before 7am and get the train to the lab. I have breakfast when I arrive, often whilst catching up with other members of my lab that like to arrive early! I then go into the lab and have a look at the cells that I am growing, and do some experiments. Sometimes I will collect cells to examine which nutrients they are using by giving them molecules with a tag that I can later detect to see how it is being used inside the cell. On other days I take my cells to a microscope where I can look at different parts of the cell with fluorescent labels to look at where my molecules of interest are. There are 10 people in the group that I work in and most of us eat lunch together. After lunch I take some time to do some data analysis, often with a cup of tea and a biscuit or two! I might have some meetings with different members of my group as we all work together to help each other with our research! I will then check that I am prepared for my experiments the next day before I go home!