Profile

I have always had a passion for science, which led me to study pharmacology in University College Dublin (UCD) after school! I had a very keen interest in breast cancer research, as my mother had breast cancer when I was 14 years old. This lead me to undertake a PhD in breast cancer research in the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), on Stephen’s Green in Dublin. I have just completed this, and will be graduating with my degree on 15th November….. exciting! I am still working in the lab in RCSI as a postdoctoral researcher. Next year, I hope to move out of Ireland for a year or two, and get some experience in an international lab!

I usually start my day by responding to the emails in my inbox, catching up on any new scientific discoveries, and planning my experiments for the day (all over a nice cup of tea of course!). I then need to look after my breast cancer cells which are growing in the lab. They are living cells, so I need to make sure they are supplied with the nutrients they need, and are kept at a cosy 37 degrees Celsius (just like looking after a baby, ha!). I often expose these cells to different drugs, or alter their DNA, to see how they react. This can give us a good idea as to how these experiments would work in an animal model (a mouse or rat), and then in a human. We have lots of great equipment here in RCSI to carry out these experiments. At the end of the day, I analyse all of my data on my laptop….. there’s a lot of math, which sounds difficult, but I have lots of great friends here to help me out! My day usually finishes at 5 or 6 pm…. home to watch Netflix!