Kirsty the Scientist

There was a video I watched a couple of months ago with an idea that's really stuck with me!  It's a video from another one of my favourite youtubers, Leena Norms ( justkissmyfrog ) where she talks about the idea that by telling others about your plans, you get the same satisfaction from the pleasing of others just by telling them, and you end up not doing the plan itself! Here's the video:  She describes the idea as a 'getting fulfillment from something without doing the thing' - the social 'praise' from telling your peers and others about something you want to do, but then you don't carry out the idea.  I think this is a really interesting thing - especially as I think I experienced this when I started this blog, although I didn't really realise or think about it at the time! I kept the blog to myself for the first few weeks, only telling friends and family once I'd written 2 weeks of posts! Initially after telling people about the blo

A few years ago, the idea of interactive virtual reality (VR) would have seemed futuristic and out of reach.  But now, all the virtual reality hopes and ideas that have been in all the films for years, are starting to seem much more possible and closer to reality.  Photo courtesy of: http://cyberschoolgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/vr.jpg But could virtual reality technology be used to revolutionise education, especially in the sciences?  Now I don't know about you, but I think the best way to get kids and young people engaged in science is to encourage them to get stuck in and investigate themselves. (As a bonus, creating their own questions and working out how to answer them is a very valuable skill in science anyway!)  Could virtual reality be a perfect way to allow children to have an immersive and experimental experience with science, without any health and safety concerns/fears!? Young people don't all have access and chance to experience what its like

Tonight’s post comes to you written on a train on my way home from a lovely day out in Cambridge, went punting with the family! And whilst we were wandering around the beautiful city, I spotted this in a window of a bank… Could this be a new way of introducing science to the high street? Making it very accessible as literally part of somewhere people use all the time! Potentially even a fun reason to bring children to the bank with their parents?! Unfortunately, I only saw this in the evening, so didn’t get the chance to go in and check it out myself. But I was really curious to find out how this little pop-up science centre came about, and went on a little google hunt!   In October 2015 Cambridge Science Centre first introduced and hosted a town centre takeover, where science communicators took exciting and interactive exhibits to a range of locations around Cambridge, including the one at Barclays.  I've got no idea if they kept the pop up science centr

This week, I went to a Code Club meet-up and had a very interesting discussion with a retired engineer about educating kids about STEM careers.  So a bit of background about me: I've been running Code Clubs for just less than three years. The clubs are mainly aimed at children aged 7-12, and are based in the community. My clubs are all about creating a fun space for children and young people to explore coding and technology - I fill the room with resources and encourage the kids to come up with their own questions and make their own projects.  In the UK, coding has started to be introduced into the curriculum (the list of things teachers have to teach), but from my experience, I don't think many young children realise what a major skill coding and technology could be in their future careers. Do they think its only relevant if they want to be involved in games or app development?!  Do children and young people realise the potential of STEM careers? Especially when many

A YouTube director that I admire, Sammy Paul , talked on Instagram a while ago about the unique problem solving that comes with being a director, especially for low-budget projects. He described a situation where they needed a prop to move and stand up in a certain way for a music video. In the end, they created a 'velcro hinge' which could allow the prop to move but also be dismantled and easily put together again.  Sammy explained how this was a unique problem and it was part of his job to think on the spot and spur ideas with his small team to get the prop working as it needed to. And I couldn't help but see the parallels with science. I think a key part, and one of my favourite parts, of being a scientist is problem solving in unique and niche situations. New ideas - like the velcro hinge - might sound strange because they haven't been thought of before but remember...  Unique problems require unique solutions. 

It is absolutely undeniable that Sir David Attenborough has captured the imaginations of a huge number of people. But what makes the man such an amazing communicator?  I think a huge part of what makes David Attenborough so inspiring is that you can see how inspired he is! On screen, he is so genuine and his excitement to discover things in nature is infectious!  He always shares the story of the animal he is carefully describing, taking time to pause and watch the animal act in its natural environment. You can hear the wonder in his voice and it draws you in, captivating you in the moment.  In an interview with The Independent to celebrate his 90th birthday just over a year ago, Sir Attenborough said:  “Experience has taught me how amazingly big and unpredictable the natural world is. When you’re young, you think you know it all about the natural world.  But in fact we only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still t

Metaphors can be really important in helping patients and the general public understand complex diseases and scientific principles. Using metaphors can enable patients to make informed decisions about their treatment as well as communicate what is happening in their bodies. Cancer and metaphors The language surrounding cancer typically uses metaphor more than other diseases, particularly by the general public. Often using strong military language, cancer is described as a “battle” that is “bravely fought” by a “survivor” or even “victim”. This language could benefit some patients – helping them feel motivated and part of a team with their friends and family, their “army”, facing the “battle” together. Part of an army?   Recent emphasis on military language during cancer fundraising campaigns – my sister’s haul of medals from Cancer Research UK, after completing Race For Life every year for the past 11 years! In 2015 and 2016, she received an army-style dog tag at the finish lin

As scientists, we are always trying to put things into boxes, carefully researching and labelling discoveries in an attempt to make the world make sense. Just as there is an organ system for each process of the body – for example, a digestive system for absorbing nutrients from food - the immune system is responsible for defending the body against invading pathogens and foreign objects. The immune system is divided into two main ‘boxes’; the innate and adaptive response. The tortoise and hare of biology – the innate system responding immediately to the threat of invasion, a fast but simple response; the adaptive system taking longer to develop but providing a more specific and targeted response. But one immune cell is slightly more complex than the others, and doesn’t quite fit as clearly into just one box. Dendritic cells have many important roles as part of both immune responses. Much like other innate cells, (such as macrophages), dendritic cells locate the invading pathogens

Another #scicomm review today, but this time a very fun one!  Last Christmas, my 15 year old little brother got me a fantastic little Christmas present - a smartphone microscope from the Science Museum: Smartphone microscope in my hand to show you its size. It's a really nifty little gadget - you can just clip it over you smartphone's camera at the top and it lights up and magnifies the image up to 30x. It's definitely designed as a gadget just for a bit of fun, but I thought it could be such a good #scicomm (science communication) tool. Its tiny, portable, quite cheap and loads of fun, especially in the garden or outdoors! So below I've shared some of my favourite snaps taken with the microscope. All the best ones are the ones from nature!  Maybe this is a tool that could be used to make using a microscope easier and accessible for young people, who knows...!  Daisies Bluetac Grass and a feather (left bottom = grass, right bottom = feat

Following my post yesterday - #scicomm reviews: Michael Mosley vs the Superbugs - I wanted to take a closer look at the potential alternatives currently being researched to combat antibiotic resistance. What might we be using when we run out of antibiotics?   So let's take a step back for a minute - What are antibiotics and why is antibiotic resistance such a problem?  Antibiotics are drugs that kill bacteria or prevent them from reproducing or spreading - treating or preventing bacterial infections. Most people first take antibiotics but antibiotics are used for much more than helping those at the GP surgery. Modern medicine would be unrecognisable without antibiotics - they are used to prevent bacterial infections to keep surgery and transplantation safe as well as for immunocompromised people who cannot fight infections themselves, such as cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy or patients with autoimmune diseases who take immunosuppressive drugs. 

One of the things I'm really excited to introduce as part of my #kirstyblogseverydayinjune challenge is a new series of posts - #scicomm reviews. I love watching a good documentary or reading a good book that covers science in a non-academic way. It's relaxing, fun and introduces me to areas of science I don't study and become fascinated by, or areas I do and love to see portrayed in a different way (and see how accurate I think they did it!).  So the first thing I'd like to review from my #scicomm perspective is a recent BBC TV programme - Michael Mosley vs the Superbugs . The programme discussed antibiotic resistance and some of the new research exploring ways to avoid using broad spectrum antibiotics. And I thought it was fantastic.  The show opened with a very visual, if a little gross/awesome, representation of the skin microbiota - the different types of bacteria that live on human skin, completely natural and harmless in healthy people. The show's

A few weeks ago,  I completed my last assessed piece of work before my final exams - a 10 minute presentation on my dissertation research, followed by 5-10 minutes of questions.  And as part of this session I also listened to 15 other students' presentations.  As someone who is fascinated by science communication, I was really excited to explore how to change  But it was hard work. M y main goal was to engage my audience of peers, making sure they could grasp my specific (and pretty niche) subject in just a few minutes. For me, by supporting all this information (which is new and possibly confusing to my audience) with a key story. Why this research means something - essentially why they should listen/care about what I was telling them.  But when I watched my peers, this story link was the key thing I thought was missing from all of their talks - why I should be listening? Why their piece of research helped to fill a gap in the knowledge we have in that field.  Initially (and

With my final exams almost out the way, I've set myself a challenge this month - to kick start this blog by writing a new post every single day in June!  As I've mentioned many times before, I loved recording my research project with daily blog posts, but with my focus on the project, the content of this blog was quite limited. So this month I'd like to try out lots of different types of content and blog styles. Blogging is definitely something that had to take a back seat during exam time, but I've been so inspired by the twitter #scicomm community and I can't wait to get back to typing away here.  So look forward to more tales of my adventures from the lab bench, my thoughts on #scicomm, blogging and uni life, with a few book, TV and film reviews thrown in too!  Let me know in the comments below what your favourite type of science blog posts are to read. And I'd definitely recommend a browse through the #scicomm and other science tags on twitter - follow

There is such a long list of things to do and topics to be excited about, hundreds of research papers to read... ...so why do I feel bored? As you've probably already gathered, I'm now deep in the pits of revision! With no more final assignments or dissertation presentations to complete, there is only one final hurdle of this degree left - finals. Amongst the healthy combination of stress and the happy buzz you get each time you cross something off your list, I also sometimes feel bored by revising. Which seems like such a strange feeling, given how much I love my subject! Now I'm at the end of my degree, I am so happy with my choice of course and university, I feel like a definitely chose the best next step for me. So why with a subject that excites and interested me so much, do I feel bored at the moment?! And I don't think its just me either, I've heard so many others in the library say the exact same "I'm so bored of revising". To start with,

The waiting, the watching, the time that feels wasted,  Stuck between work and play. Without keeping my mind busy with other things,  it wanders free, to assess the day and plan the night. Everyone, together, heading home,  they're plugged in and zoned out. A bustle of bubbles.  The rhythm of the walk clears my thoughts,  the golden glow of the sunset painting a masterpiece across the river.  Is it wasted without the chance to take a pic? Maybe being unplugged for a while is not as bad as it seems, Maybe taking time for the small things is just as important as crossing the next thing off the list. 

It's the final countdown... ♫  So, here it is, the final stretch, I've had all the time possible in the lab, and now it's time to wrap this story up into 5,000 words.  Due to all the disruption I had at the start of my project, I was given a one week extension to my deadline date, which allowed me the time to finish off a few experiments and have a similar length of time in the lab to my peers. The day a week before my deadline was the weirdest feeling, watching the clock tick down and seeing everyone's hand in pictures fly in on every social media channel. It was so odd knowing everyone's else's hand in was finished, and here I was working away in the library still. Knowing I had all the relevant paperwork to say this was exactly where I should be, it still felt very strange! My submission day was a bit of a surreal experience. I was ready to submit the day before my deadline, which was good. Did the final checks and then printed it all out at home, starte

POST 50!! Better make it a good one!  So as this project is coming to a close - and I turn into a fully fledged library hermit for revision - what is happening to this blog? A blog that is all about life as a undergraduate student project... when the said project finishes!  Well I started this blog as a bit of an experiment - to set myself a challenge to document an record my experiences during my project, posting 5 blogs per week reflecting on different aspects of my work and day-to-day lab life.  And I have loved it - it has been one of the longest two months of my life (in all the best ways), but this blog has kept me grounded and I'd loved having the space to reflect and store memories which I can look back on and remember this time.  So the plan is to keep up these blogs - all be it, slightly less frequently! I'd like to write more blogs about science itself, looking at current research and writing about things in science that interest me.  Whilst also sharing

Today is my last day working in the lab and it feels very bittersweet!   Over the past 10 weeks, I've had the best time.  A huge part of that was down to working in the most amazing group of people. Not only showing me the ropes of lab work, but welcoming me into their team with open arms. I also had the opportunity to learn from a fantastic supervisor - someone who really knows what they are doing and guides you under their wing whilst allowing you to explore and develop your own ideas.  So, although I'm really looking forward to the next stage - getting my dissertation written up and tying all my story together - I'm going to really miss working in the lab every day. This experience has completely changed my perspective about lab life. I'd never realised just how collaborative, supportive and friendly the environment can be (if you work with a good bunch!). And I enjoyed lab work more than I thought too - I loved problem solving at the lab bench, considering differ

Today's writing fuel was some pic'n'mix from a lunchtime walk down to Grainger market! Still working on my report, spoke to my supervisor today and will be getting a draft to him by Monday so the clock has officially started!  It was also my beautiful Spanish colleague's birthday today and she brought in a  tarte de la abuela - a really yummy chocolate-y biscuit-y cake, almost like a tiramisu without the coffee! 

Work-wise, today I was just finishing off some Western blots and sorting out some figures for my report.  The only interesting thing to note from today is the story of the missing masters student! Part of this experience has been meeting all kinds of different people and all the social dynamics that comes along with a group of people working together. As I've mentioned before, two masters students joined the research group a few weeks ago, one a intercalating (splitting a degree to do a piece of research) medic, a young guy who is clever but can be a bit half-hearted at work. The other student is an older guy, who is reentering education, however I really don't know that much more as he is very mysterious...! He doesn't seem withdrawn, just won't bother to hang around when he's not needed and keeps himself to himself. And today, that kind of backfired - it turned out he had a meeting with our supervisor - but no-one knew where he was or how to contact him besides e

Read a newspaper or something online and it will tell you that there is not enough women in science. That girls can become disengaged with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects at a young age, possibly from an old societal opinion that STEM is a male subject, and don't follow careers in science. I'm really eager to be involved in public engagement and encouraging children to get into science.  In the lab, there is about a 50:50 split male to female across all the students, post-docs and technicians. Although there is only one female PI (principal investigator - the lead person for a research group), from my perspective there is no prejudice or inequality between the genders - so much so that I hadn't even thought about it until today - when the only people in the lab were 6 female scientists and myself!  And this felt even more poignant today - to feel like an equal scientist to anyone else in the room and feel like I could go anywhere in my caree

Today is the first day of my last week in the lab. One of my colleagues asked me today how I felt about my last few days and my project coming to the end. And to be honest I hadn't really given it much thought until today! A little part of me is looking forward to my project drawing to a close. These last 9 weeks have been intense and I'm looking forward to summarising all of my work - pulling together and closing this story.  Thinking about it, I have never worked such a long stretch of 9am-6pm days in my life! With exams looming, it's starting to feel like I'm on the blocks, and slightly chomping at the bit to get started with revision for finals (although I know I'll regret saying this day one of revision!). But a much bigger part of me will really miss my time in the lab. This experience has been amazing, I have made so many good friends and learnt so much from everyone, about everything from science, research and careers to life, friendships. I have fel

Today I gave the first draft of all my work so far to one of my supervisors - a bit daunting as no other person has laid eyes on my dissertation before today!  But after feeling a bit nervous to hand it over - I received some really good feedback! Of course, there was a bunch of tweaks and changes, but my supervisor said he thought my writing was promising and very eloquent - he said it was a great first draft. Can head into the weekend, needing and having earned a little break, but also with some confidence that I'm on the right lines...  via GIPHY

As I've said before, this week whilst finishing off the last few experiments, I've been back to working on my report - working on the introduction and writing up the materials and methods section. W hich means I've been diving back into all the research papers and journals, finding references to back up everything I want to say and make sure my introduction is up to date. (including working through all the scientific jargon phrases, which can be just as confusing to me as they might be to you!)  I think the introduction is the hardest part of a paper -you need to summarise and create a story out of years worth of previous work and keep up to date by researching new areas as your project shifts and changes and then blend this into  your story.  Materials and methods is a bit easier as it is mainly stating exactly what you did, just in case anyone would like to repeat your work. 

Only joking! Well kind of...!  The same guy who had his viva yesterday headed off on holiday for two weeks today... and he gave me first dibs on using his desk whilst he's away! (which is perfectly timed for me as I'm starting to spend much more time diving into writing these days!)  Today was mostly eclipsed by meetings and journal club. Journal club is a monthly meeting where the research team discusses a paper that is relevant to our research area but perhaps something that is not directly linked, chosen by a different person each month. Good chance to give some other work a roasting! 

One of the members of our research team has his viva today - a presentation and 4 hour grilling of your PhD thesis, but also the last big step/assignment before your release into the world as a Dr.  This guy who had his viva today has been the person who has been supervising me the most and basically took me through everything whilst I've been learning in the lab. We're also now good friends and this guy is a friendly and likeable person to be around in the lab - so everyone was right behind him and supporting him today! Before and during his viva, there was such a low-key nervous buzz around the lab, with everyone anticipating how he would get on - all pretty confident he would do great, but going through the emotional rollercoaster with him!  And he did fantastically in the end and then we all headed out to the pub (with a huge card and presents, of course!) and then his favourite restaurant to celebrate. Loads of fun for a Tuesday! 

Today was all about getting some more writing done and analysing all the data gathered so far. Making sure the lab work I do over these last few days is the most suitable and efficient use of my time to add to my project write-up. To be honest, the day flew by and then I was off to Code Club and back home to crash into bed!

You might have noticed by my slightly inconsistent frequency and length of these blogs that at times, I've found it quite challenging to post a brand new blog post every week day!  It isn't really for lack of ideas or even forgetting or losing inspiration - but working in the lab every day has taken it out of me much more than I thought it would. I've always thought that I get my best ideas when walking in the fresh chilly British air, and everyday I walk home brimming with ideas, reflecting on my day in the lab, drafting the blog post in my mind. But as soon as I get through my front door, it feels like the weight of the day hits me and the thought of sitting and editing my thoughts together into a good blog post becomes the least of my worries. And so a rough draft of my ideas gets scribbled down and other things take precedent - like food, dissertation writing and sleep!  I will continue to try my very best to get the right blog post out on the right day and I am