Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
When I’m not in the lab I can usually be found in my workshop at home melting glass, weaving wool and sculpting clay. I am a hobby collector, especially of all things crafty! I have tried dozens of creative crafts over the years and have quite the collection of oddities to show for it.
Tell us about your career journey so far.
During my second year of university, I suffered an accident that lead to changing my degree from neuroscience to pharmacology. It was a difficult decision that I lost more than a few nights of sleep over. I suddenly had to consider a whole new career plan, a whole new subject I had no familiarity with and from this decipher how this would impact my future. What helped me most was seeking the advice of people I admired at the university. Hearing their career journeys and the twisting paths many of them had to face to really find their place in academia. This broadened my horizons and gave me a whole new perspective of what it means to be a scientist. From studying pharmacology, I discovered a love of cardiopharmacology and went on to complete a PhD in cardiovascular science leading me to my current role researching atrial fibrillation.
What was your favourite subject in school and why?
My favourite subject in school was always biology. I loved it because I love puzzles. Nothing satisfies me more than seeing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it. Biology is full of problems and full of nature’s beautifully complex solutions. This is what enamoured me to biology and to science in general.
What subjects/qualifications/skills are useful for your role?
In my job, English is incredibly important. It is a scientist’s job to always be looking for something new which requires a lot of reading to be up-to-date and well-informed on your subject. It is also an important skill when it comes to communicating the exciting new things you have discovered.
Maths is also a very important subject in my job as I spend a lot of time doing calculations and working with numbers to analyse my research results.
What is your favourite thing about your job?
One of my favourite things about my job is how creative I get to be. Lots of people think a scientist goes to a lab and does the same things everyday but that is very far from the truth! For example, I was invited one day to present my work at a conference to an audience. I got to travel somewhere exciting and create an engaging, colourful, animated presentation to showcase my work. This is just one of many opportunities I have had to get creative with my work and have fun with it.
What is a normal day in your role like?
A normal day for me involves meeting with my manager to discuss my latest progress in the lab and make plans together on the next steps as well as discuss my personal professional goals and how we can achieve them. Then I take some time to have a coffee and catch up on any admin work I have such as emails, analysing data, reading articles or documenting my results. I get together with all my colleagues for lunch and we catch up about our lives and our research. In the afternoon I either head to the lab and prepare for the next experiment or take part in workshops and seminars to keep my skills sharp. Recently I attended a workshop aimed at having a healthier work-life balance.
And what does your job title mean?
I am a Research Associate (RA). This means I work for a Principal Investigator (PI)- someone that has had an idea for an interesting topic of research and has been given funding to carry it out. As an RA, it’s my job to take that idea and investigate it by carrying out experiments to answer specific questions. By answering these questions, we can help make decisions like what kinds of medicines to give people or what causes someone to develop a particular illness. Sometimes I also have students who I teach how to carry out research appropriately.
Can you suggest an activity that could be done at home that illustrates an aspect of your work?
My work focuses on understanding how the electrical activity in the heart affects the way it beats. A great way to understand how a heartbeat makes blood flow around the body is by making a heart pump model at home.
You can do this using a jar, a balloon, two straws, water and some food colouring.