Profile

Candidate CV questions (extra)

• Education:

  I went to SSJ primary school in Basingstoke, then the Abbey School in Reading. For A-levels I did biology, maths, chemistry and physics. I went to the University of Bath to study biology with a placement year. I then worked for a year in a lab in Cambridge before going to do my postgraduate degree (PhD) at University College London. Now a work in a research group in King’s College London.

• Qualifications:

  GCSEs – English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, German, Geography, IT, Religion, Latin

  A-levels – Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics

  Undergraduate degree (BSc) – University of Bath – Biology

  Postgraduate degree (PhD) – University College London

• Work History:

  My first job – researching bird behavior in Cape Verde

  My first job in science was during university when I did a placement year. A placement year is where after your second year of university you spend one year working before returning for a final year of studying.

  For my work placement, I worked for a year as a Research Assistant for a lecturer at the university. As a Research Assistant you support research projects by helping to collect and analyze data to make new scientific discoveries.

  My project was about studying how birds choose their mates. I spent 3 months doing field work on the island of Maio in Cape Verde, which is an island just off the west coast of Africa. Field work is where you go out into the “field” to collect scientific data to study. The “field” can be anywhere from forests to deserts to the middle of the ocean. The type of data we were collecting included the size and age of birds in breeding pairs, as well as taking blood samples which we could use to look at their DNA.

  After collecting data for 3 months, I came back to the UK and analysed my data. We found that the birds that changed mate each year had more chicks. We then wrote these findings into a scientific paper, which is like a long essay which is published so scientists from around the world can read about our discoveries.

  My second job – researching cell in a lab

  The next job I had was as a Research Assistant in a laboratory (lab) in Cambridge. A lab is where scientists can do lots of experiments to make new discoveries. In this job, I was working to understand the differences between all the cells that make up the human body.

  Your body is made up of lots of tiny building blocks called cells. These cells all have the same DNA. DNA is like a book with the instructions for how to live. Different cells in your body read different parts of this DNA book to do different things. The cells of your eye read parts of the book which tell them how to see, called genes. The cells of your tongue read the parts of the book which tell them how to taste.

  When I was doing this work, we would take cells from different parts of the body and try to see which parts of DNA were being read by different cells, using an experiment called sequencing. Through this we found new cells of the body that we didn’t even know existed!

  Back to university – studying for my PhD

  Next, I went back to university to study for a PhD. A PhD is a qualification where you spend 3-5 years researching a specific topic, and then you write up everything you have done in a big book called a thesis.

  In my PhD I used a type of cell called a stem cell. Stem cells are able to become any type of cell in the body. From stem cells I made cells of the eye, which I used to study eye disease.

  I discovered which parts of the DNA can cause blindness when there is a mistake in a persons DNA instruction book. From this, we can find medicine which will prevent blindness in people with these mistakes in their DNA.

• Current Job:

  My job now is also trying to understand how cells of the eye work. I use stem cells to make “mini eyes” in the lab. I look at how these cells grow, and what stops them working properly in blind people. I then see whether we can help the cells work again using different treatments.

  In particular, my team are interested in cell therapies, where we inject healthy cells into a persons eye to help them see. We also look at gene therapies, where if there is an error in someones DNA, we replace it with a healthy copy of the gene, which allows the cells to work properly so the person can see.

• Employer:

  King’s College London