Profile

I live in Hitchin with my fiance Chris, we are getting married in Spain this October! Very exciting!!

I seem to be busy most of the time, I go to the gym 3 times a week and do yoga twice a week (try it, it’s amazing!). I’m also an Explorer Scout leader, although I still haven’t learned how to do knots…! When I get time to relax, I usually spend it in my pyjamas, eating and watching stuff on Netflix.

I really like cooking, but I think it’s only because I get to eat what I’ve made when I’ve finished! 😉 I enjoy hanging out with my friends too and travelling when I can. I’ve been to loads of really amazing places, including a recent year off to travel around South East Asia. My favourite place was Sulawesi in Indonesia, full of great people and places to visit.

I also like monkeys.

Right now, we have lots of bacteria which are resistant to the antibiotics available. It is becoming more and more urgent that we develop some new ones so that people who get sick can still be treated in the future. My company, Auspherix is developing new antibiotics to do just that!

We are still in the early stages of our research, so the days can be fun and unpredictable (one of the reasons I love science!). We do have a few basic experiments that we do each week though. One of them is testing chemicals to see if they have antibiotic properties (can kill bacteria). I also grow lots of human cells in flasks to see if the chemicals are toxic and kill them or not. Sometimes I do some crazy things like testing rat wee….. which smells pretty bad!

The other part of my job involves managing the lab, so I make sure all the equipment is working properly, arrange for it to be fixed if it isn’t. I do the ordering for the lab and also look after people’s health and safety. We work with a lot of nasty chemicals and bacteria that could be harmful, so it’s important to make sure that all the procedures are there for keeping people safe.

I also drink a lot of tea.