Profile
Amy Tooke
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About Me:
I live in Gateshead with my partner. I am a microbiology researcher but I also love running and being creative doing arts and crafts outside of work!
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I moved to work in Newcastle 2 years ago but have spent a long time living in Sheffield too for my BSc and PhD, but I’m not a proper northerner as I am originally from Hitchin in Hertfordshire!
I’ve always loved science, especially biology and chemistry at school, but when I did my degree I realised I really was interested in microbiology and how bacteria cause diseases.
I like to make sure I have a life outside the lab too though, and I love running with my running club after work twice a week and I try and make time to be creative too. If I wasn’t a scientist I would have done art!
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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My Work:
I study the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, that becomes the superbug MRSA. In my PhD I looked at how we can treat it with different antibiotics and now I am studying how it combats other bacteria that live on us!
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I am researching how Staphylococcus aureus causes infections by outcompeting other bacteria that live on our bodies. S. aureus can cause a wide range of different diseases. Some are less harmful, such as skin boils, but other times it can be more life threatening such as when it grows on medical implants or causes septicaemia (a bloodstream infection). So it’s important we understand how it grows on us so we can prevent these diseases! The lab I work in studies how bacteria secrete toxins, which can harm the host (us!) and other bacteria.
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My Typical Day:
I get up and have breakfast, then try and fit some yoga in or maybe go swimming. Then I get the bus to work aiming for 9am and have a day of experiments, maybe with a couple of meetings or watching people give research talks. Then I leave about 5pm and go running or watch the telly!
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In the morning when I get to work I normally need to grow the bacteria that I’m working on for that day, by diluting a culture that I started growing the day before. In the morning at 10:30 I normally go for a coffee with my lab mates which is nice. Then my cultures might be ready to work with. I sometimes use zebrafish larvae (which are just a few millimetres long) to study bacterial infections – they have an immune system which makes them a good “model” – so I might inject them before lunch with bacteria. Then I might grow some samples on agar in petri dishes to grow overnight. If we are doing genetic engineering to make new strains of bacteria I might do some molecular biology reactions to make changes to their DNA as well. Then I make sure I set up my cultures for the next day and then head home!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would like to run an outreach event explaining antibiotic resistance and what we can do to fight it!
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Education:
I went to the Priory School in Hitchin, where I did my GCSEs and A levels.
Then in 2012 I started my BSc degree at the University of Sheffield in Biochemistry and Microbiology (I started off doing just Biochemistry then changed course in my second year).
After working as a lab technician for a year I went to Newcastle University in 2016 for a year to do my masters by research (MRes) in Molecular Microbiology.
Then I went back to the University of Sheffield in 2017 to do my PhD in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
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Qualifications:
I did my GCSEs including triple science. My “options” were art, history, music and French.
My A levels (A2) were Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Psychology and I also did an EPQ (extended project).
My degrees are BSc Hons Biochemistry and Microbiology, MRes Molecular Microbiology and PhD in microbiology.
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Work History:
My first job out of university was working as a technician for a year at Cambridge University. I was really lucky – I didn’t have enough experience for the job I applied for but the group leader of the lab made a job for me where I helped a postdoctoral researcher (which is what I am now!) do experiments and I was able to contribute a lot to a scientific paper which I am an author on! So it pays to try and apply to lots of things!
Doing a PhD is really similar to a job because you get paid a stipend (like a salary but you don’t pay tax) but you are still a student and not an employee.
Since 2021 I have worked at Newcastle University. I started off as a research assistant because I hadn’t officially finished my PhD yet and then once I was a Doctor I got to move up a scale (but it’s the same job) to be a postdoctoral research associate.
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Employer:
I work in a lab in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Running arty microbiologist
What did you want to be after you left school?
A marine biologist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No! But I had a lunchtime detention for not learning my French... and now my partner is French and I wish I'd learned more!
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Something arty or biology where I get to be outside more!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Arctic Monkeys
What's your favourite food?
Fish and chips at the seaside
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1) Be more confident! 2) I wish I knew what job I want to do long term 3) I wish my experiments would always work!
Tell us a joke.
Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!
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