Profile

I grew up on a farm in the countryside, so I always loved nature (particularly ponies!) but I also loved to explore and watch local wildlife, like birds and deer.

I was never very academic at school (mostly a C grade student) but I think it was my love of nature and living on a farm which made me fall in love with biology during my A levels, particularly genetics.

At first I wanted to go into tailoring, and so I left school and had a full time job in a shoe shop and went to night school to study tailoring. However, when I tried to find a job or apprenticeship in tailoring no-one was hiring. So I went back to school to obtain A levels and find a new career.

Since then I went on to study Molecular Biology at university and then Human Molecular Genetics. I have since worked around the world, studying everything from Flu vaccines to the genetics of cancer.

I absolutely love being a scientist, and I love talking to people about amazing things in nature and science. I also love helping people and problem solving, which are other key parts of being a scientist. I also enjoy science communication and write a blog in my spare time https://geneticcuckoo.blogspot.com/

I love working at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) as we invest government funding to the latest exciting research and innovation in Biology. We also try and encourage scientists and companies to work together on exciting projects.

One exciting project was to produce ‘Super Broccoli’ which is broccoli which has a higher concentration of beneficial naturally occurring molecules which reduce your risk of heart-disease. So you can eat get more health benefits from eating broccoli (or eat less of it, which is what I do!)

Another exciting project was to study how muscles degrade in space (as your muscles are not being used as much in zero gravity) and so we sent ‘Worms into Space’. This research will also help is develop treatment for muscle wasting due to aging or disease.

A recent project was using Gribbles (which are small marine crustaceans similar to lobsters) which normally eat wood in the sea (which is a big problem if you have a wooden boat!) But we have discovered that they have enzymes which means we can feed them wood and they can produce biofuel, which can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels. Biofuels can also be made from crops such as wheat, corn, soybean and sugarcane and are better for the environment than fossil fuels because they burn cleaner than fossil fuels, releasing fewer pollutants and greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. It is really exciting to think these tiny lobsters could produce the fuels of the future for your car and help combat climate change at the same time!

Our main focus at the moment is changing the way we farm and what we farm, so that crops are good for the environment and good for our health, so we can live longer, healthier lives. We are also supporting technologies which help farming adapt to rising global temperatures, so we can ensure a sustainable food supply, like coping with emerging tropical plant diseases, drought-resistant crops and increased nutrition.

I love working in science, because everyday is different. I really enjoy problem-solving, which is lucky as that is a big aspect of science.

Generally, I come into the office and check my emails, I check the progress of the different projects and initiatives to check everything is still going smoothly.