Profile

Cellular Pathology is the diagnostic understanding of diseases involving cells and tissues of the body. It is very heavily involved in almost all aspects of medicine and biology – patients go to see their doctor (or hospital A&E) wondering – for example – why they can’t stop coughing over several months. Medical doctors will look at the signs and symptoms (coughing over a protracted period? Any weight loss? Any fluid build up in the chest cavity?) and then take a biopsy. Pathologists will use that biopsy sample of lung tissue to determine the cause of the illness: Is it cancer or something else entirely?

To do this they need the help of a Biomedical Scientist team. We receive the sample (and it can be a tiny needle biopsy, all the way to a wedge of lung tissue), we preserve it using chemicals, then dissect the interesting bits out and turn it into a candle (take all the water out and substitute it for paraffin wax – just like a candle). That bit of tissue then has a slice taken out of it – thinner than a hair on your head – which is stained with dyes to show the different tissue morphology under a microscope. We can use different chemicals to show different parts of the tissue and use antibodies to identify specific proteins  – some cancer cells produce more of a certain type of protein (e.g.: cytokeratins or MIB-1). Armed with all this information, the doctors can correctly identify the disease and the most appropriate treatment.

A (more or less) typical day: I get up at 0600 (usually earlier if the cats decide they’re hungry and walk all over my face), grab a quick coffee before out the door at 0640 and behind my desk by 0715. I see what has been left for me in terms of teaching and training requirements, update any records or any paperwork requiring my attention. From there, it ceases to be a normal day – I could spend the whole morning doing paperwork (audits, training plans and updates, writing policy changes, etc) or hit the bench. Owing to the nature of my job I have to be able to fit anywhere where required, so I may spend time cutting sections, booking work out, doing cryomicrotomy (cutting sections of frozen tissue while the patient is currently being operated upon and because the surgeon found something weird) or training my trainees. I look after nine students training to become Biomedical Scientists, a process which takes about a year and is a lot of hard work!

At 1200, I jump on the bus to the uni where I may spend time doing lectures, practicals (see photo of my Foundation students doing microscopy work), university admin or meeting students with questions. There is a huge amount of prep work behind giving a lecture – so spare a thought for your teacher and the unseen hours they put into their lessons! I teach across a wide spectrum of courses – including biomedical sciences, physiology, dentistry and medicine – and I try to relate these lectures to what students will see in the real world when they leave uni. I try to finish at 1600 but will usually spend some time at home answering emails or marking.

At home though, I will blast away on my PS4 for a bit  before cooking up something for dinner. I often have friends around, who like their food, so it has to be  good – very few complaints, so clearly I’m not a bad cook!