Profile
Harry Lowe
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About Me:
I’m a chemical bioengineering PhD student at Imperial College London. I’ve helped organise and plan the LGBTQ+ Pride Month event for my department, and am also the course representative.
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I try and keep my work during work hours as much as I can, so I can enjoy going climbing and to the gym with my friends, wandering around London and seeing my partner as much as I can.
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My pronouns are:
My pronouns are he/they
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My Work:
My work is designing a system that can produce proteins in a totally cell-free environment. This allows us to generate proteins we are interested in in a much shorter time span than current methods allow.
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I use a polymer to make devices with a maze of channels that hold tiny volumes of liquid, and I store DNA throughout this. This means that using special kits designed to carry out each part of protein synthesis, I should be able to produce whatever protein a lab is interested in, as well as explore new proteins that are not found in nature, but could be used in industry and research.
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My Typical Day:
I normally get to the lab between 9-9:30, have a coffee and go over my plan for the day. With my work, the morning is often spent preparing solutions for an experiment and then in the afternoon I run the experiments for my system, and go over my data from the day before while this runs. I leave between 4:30-6:00, and go to the gym after work.
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My work is split between chemical engineering, chemistry, and biology. I have to make and design my small devices, which normally includes some maths and modelling, carry out chemical reactions to make the devices work as they shoud, as well as growing cells and working with DNA and proteins.
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Education:
- Alcester Grammar School – GCSEs and A-Levels
- University of York – MChem in Chemistry with Biological and Medicinal Chemistry
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Qualifications:
Undergraduate:
- 1st Class MChem in Chemistry, with Biological and Medicinal Chemistry
A-Level:
- Chemistry – A
- Theatre Studies – A
- Biology – B
GCSEs:
- Maths – 9
- English Lit – 7
- English Lang – 7
- Chemistry – A*
- Biology – A
- Physics – A
- Theatre Studies – A
- Business Studies – B
- Spanish – B
- History – C
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Work History:
I worked as an assistant in a butchers between ages 14-16, before moving to work as a waiter in restaraunts alongside my studies from 16-20.
In the final year of my degree I did a year abroad, carrying out research sponsored by Harvard Medical School in the Laboratory for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration in Boston, MA.
When I came back from the states after graduating, I worked at a Michelin guide restaraunt as a barman, before moving to London to begin my PhD at Imperial College London.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
theatre-loving chemical bioengineer
What did you want to be after you left school?
An organic chemist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Only once or twice!
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Drama school or work for an LGBTQ+ non-profit
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Hozier
What's your favourite food?
Ramen!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Always be well-rested, have my data always make sense, be able to talk to animals
Tell us a joke.
Why are chemists great at solving problems? They have all the solutions!
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