Profile
Tara Sutherland
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About Me:
I currently live in Aberdeen, after having moved to Scotland all the way from Melbourne, Australia. I live with my partner, 3 cats (Keith, Lucille, Norma) and a crazy bouncy dog (Edith) . I love walking, being outside, travelling and the beach, even though Scotland isn’t quite as warm as Oz!
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I moved to the UK nearly 20 years ago to develop my skills in STEM. I love living in Scotland, even though lots of people think I am crazy to move away from warm weather. I do miss Australia, but visit whenever I can. Maybe because of my Aussieness, I love being outside, even in Scotland when the weather isn’t quite so great. Very cliché, but I love BBQs!
I spend a lot of time walking my ridiculously bouncy and crazy dog Edith who is a Springer Spaniel cross Labrador. She is definitely a handful, but very entertaining and great to help you get outdoors and see the countryside. I always considered myself a dog person. However, I now have 3 cats who all have their own personalities and love to help me on the computer when I work from home. I have always grown up with animals in life, including looking after injured kangaroos back when growing up in Australia.
I love my job, but I also love life outside of work and take time to enjoy hobbies (photography, cooking, travelling, hiking) whenever I can.
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My pronouns are:
She/her
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My Work:
I run a lab and teach people all about the immune system and why it is so important for keeping us healthy. My research focusses on understanding the good side of our immune system in the lungs but also why immune cells can turn bad and contribute to diseases like asthma.
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Lung diseases like asthma are often caused by our immune system being triggered to respond inappropriately to things in the environment, such as allergens. This triggering of the immune system leads to accumulation and activation of inflammatory cells in the lungs. In asthma, inflammatory cells become activated by things they shouldn’t normally respond to, and produce factors that can cause damage to the lungs. Lung damage results in making it more difficult to breathe because the lungs become scarred and aren’t as elastic as they should be.
My lab is trying to understand what type of inflammatory cells are important in triggering asthma, and how we can inhibit these cells to make the lungs more healthy.
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My Typical Day:
I wake up very early, feed the cats, have breakfast and a coffee, walk the dog and then get into work around 7:30am. I spend time answering emails and organising the day. I have meetings with the people that work in my lab, and we all work as a team performing experiments. I have lunch, then go to give students a lecture on immune system or teach them how to perform experiments. I finish my day around 5pm, and usually end up on the beach with my dog and partner.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would love to team up with an artist and school kids to come up with a short comic book story about a super immune cell, that can fight off infections to keep our lungs healthy. We can then create images that could be screen printed on to tote bags.
I think all forms of art are a great way to think creatively and visual science to help us understand important things.
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Education:
I went to school in Melbourne, Australia
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Qualifications:
In Australia we don’t have GCSEs or O levels, we have a different type of education. But in high school the subjects I did was English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and German language.
I then went to University (in Australia) and did a bachelor of science degree, followed by a Honours year. This addition year was spent in a lab learning about how to perform experiments.
After my Honours year, I went on to do a PhD studying breast cancer and designing new drugs to inhibit breast tumour growth.
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Work History:
During my PhD, I worked as a demonstrator in a science lab, and also as a research assistant for a small biotechnology company that was developing drugs that inhibit inflammation.
Once I finished my PhD, I got a job as a researcher for a year in Australia, before I moved to Edinburgh to continue working in science research.
Over the next 8 years I learnt new skills in Edinburgh, then moved to Manchester to start my own lab.
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Current Job:
Two years ago I moved to Aberdeen and continue to study the immune system, teach people in research experiments and also teach University students all about the immune system and the lungs.
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Employer:
University of Aberdeen
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
animal loving immunologist
What did you want to be after you left school?
Veterinarian or author or furniture builder or a farmer
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Occasionally
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Furniture maker or carpenter
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Currently Bastille
What's your favourite food?
Vietnamese or Thai food
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Wishes for myself - I had a bit more money to live comfortably; I could travel home to Australia way more often without it taking long; people thought and acted better toward the environment
Tell us a joke.
What do you call a lazy kangaroo? A pouch potato
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