Profile

I was born and have studied in Scotland, but this year I have decided to travel as much as possible, and chose a different country to work in after I graduate – open to suggestions! I live alone in a flat near work, which is nice because my food doesn’t get nicked, but I used to live with my best friend, and miss that a little. Although I don’t miss his mess. I started running this year in an LGBT running group as a way to get fit and make more friends, and it’s a great way to unwind after being in the lab all day. I’m wanting to run a half-marathon before the end of the year. I love animals and exploring new places, the first things I would buy if I won the lottery are a dog and a trip around the world!

Cancer is caused by changes in DNA. The DNA in a cell is like a huge book of instructions that tells the cell how to work. When the cell divides the instructions have to be copied, and sometimes mistakes happen. These mistakes are called mutations. And some mutations cause cancer to form, but most of them don’t. When a person has cancer their DNA is filled with mistakes, but it’s hard to tell which ones are causing cancer and which are not. If you know which mutations cause a cancer, you can make better medicine to cure it.

I study a rare liver cancer called bile duct cancer, or if you want to give it it’s full scientific name, Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma – try saying that 5 times fast!

It isn’t known what genetic mutations cause this liver cancer. I look at the DNA taken from the cancer cells of hundreds of people with the cancer, and then use computers to predict which mutations could be causing it. Then I grow little mini-organs, called organoids, which can be grown from liver cells from humans or mice, and act like little mini-versions of the liver tissue. I use a tool which is like chemical scissors to cut the DNA in the organoids and make the mutations which we think might cause cancer (a technique called CRISPR). Then I wait and see if the organoids turn into cancer.

This way I can find new mutations which can cause this liver cancer to form and better treatments can maybe be made to treat it.

Most days I get to work early, about 7am before everyone else arrives, and immediately make a cup of tea – and probably sit on facebook for half an hour! Then I get to work. Most scientists in medical science either work with computers (called Bioinformaticians) or work in the lab. Because I work with computers and also in the lab I try to do both each day – but some days I do all one or the other. I like doing my computer stuff in the morning when it’s quiet and then in the lab after lunch because I’m normally sleepy and fall asleep at my desk if I’m sitting on the computer in the afternoon! I like to be active in the afternoon. Normally there’s a visitor from another university that comes and tells us about their research at lunch, so if there’s someone interesting visiting I’ll listen to their talk, or else I’ll just eat lunch with the other students and unwind.