Profile

My lab looks at how cells of the immune system move around the body and get where they need to be, as well as understanding how they can help fight infection and what happens when these cells don’t do what they’re supposed to.

The work I am doing looks at how some of the cells of the immune system (called “neutrophils“) change as we get older. Do they move around faster, or slower? Are they better at protecting us from injury and infection, or worse? Do they cause any accidental damage to other parts of the body as they do their job? I am also very interested in how these cells make your veins more leaky to cause swelling, as this can be a very dangerous thing for people that are in hospital.

I’m not really sure there is such thing as a “typical day” for a scientist! I will usually start my day by catching up on things in the office (usually with a banana and a coffee). I’ll reply to any new emails and maybe read about some new research studies that have been done. Sometimes I’ll also have a meeting with my boss and other members of my lab to discuss what we’re all up to and to see if anybody has any new and exciting ideas to share.

I usually spend most of my day in the lab, as this is what I am paid to do! Some days I will be working with animals (usually mice, sometimes rats) and this really lets me see the “big picture”. For instance, I can test the effect of a drug in a whole animal, where many different types of cells can talk to each other in a very complex way. Other days, I might want to “zoom in” on one individual type of cell so I can look at how things are working in closer detail. This usually means I have to take some cells out of the animal, sometimes to look at under the microscope. My experiments can be very different, though, which is great because it means I never get bored 🙂