• Question: What do you do for a job and where do you work do you work with people or on your own?

    Asked by charhamblin to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      Hello and thanks for your question!

      I spend most of my day in a lab where I carry out experiments using stem cells to try and work out what goes on in very early development of embryos and also why breast cancer sometimes spreads around the body. The two might sound quite different things, but they are quite similar and I use similar experiments to try and find answers to these problems.
      I work between 2 different places, a university lab in Manchester, and I also occaisionally go to the hospital nearby to collect samples. When I am at the hospital, I work mainly on my own, but at the university, I work in a big lab with about 10 others, so its good fun and there is always someone to keep you company, or to go for a tea break with!

    • Photo: Jayne Charnock

      Jayne Charnock answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      I work as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Manchester. I work for the Wound Healing Foundation Centre studying ways to improve chronic wound healing.

      I love that I’m able to work on my own and with other people too. I do my own experiments but as part of a team of other researchers working together to reach a common goal. I also spend quite alot of time teaching other people how to do things as well as being shown new techniques myself. I love bouncing ideas with other people but also having time to just ‘get my head down’ and concentrate on my own personal aims. I have the best of both worlds 🙂

      Do you think you’d prefer to work on your own or with
      others?

    • Photo: Emma King

      Emma King answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi, thanks for a great question charhamblin. So I’m doing a PhD at the moment which means that I’m spending three years working on my own research project. I also do other stuff like public engagement and I’m about to spend some time helping somebody with another research project that they are doing.
      I don’t work in the lab any more so I’m almost entirely office based, although I travel quite a bit to speak to scientists and visit labs and for conferences and meetings and things. I work at the ESRC Innogen Centre, which is part of the University of Edinburgh. We do research into the social and economic implications of science.
      My project looks at how stem cell research is regulated and how that impacts on the ability of scientists to develop new therapies. I’m also interested in the ethical issues of getting tissue for research.
      There are a lot of people who work here but we mainly work on our own, I’m in a shared office but the only one in it at the moment! It can get very lonely so we all try and meet up for coffee once or twice a week.
      I hope that answers your question!

    • Photo: James Chan

      James Chan answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi charhamblin, in science, you are mostly working with people. In research, you’re often in a lab with other scientists of different levels or experience and there’s a boss who oversees everything. In many labs, everybody has their own project but all the projects in the same lab are normally related to each other. For example, I work on speeding up fracture healing while Youri, a very nice girl who also works in my lab, does work on osteoporotic bone (which means poor quality bone that you see in old people), Vicky looks into how stem cells work together with blood cells, and Adel looks into cancer of the bone. We all work closely together and get on really well – we have meetings where we discuss any progress we may have. We don’t always talk science though! We quite often joke around and go for a drink after work together.

      We work in a lab in London which is next to the Charing Cross Hospital. This is handy for me because I often get involved in the operations at the hospital, as I am also a surgeon, and there, we work in surgical teams, which include doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and so on.

      Because I am always working with people, I never find it lonely or boring.

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