Profile
Cyrille Thinnes
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About Me
Originally from Luxembourg, I am a scientist working in Digital Health at NUI Galway. I love the Connemara hills and learning Irish.
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I grew up in a small village in Luxembourg where I spent a lot of time playing outdoors with my friends. I have always loved being outside exploring nature, observing animals, and learning about plants (especially which ones you can eat!). This interest in observing nature, food, and cooking soon developed into a passion for… Chemistry! I was fascinated by how we can use molecules found in nature and “cook” them to improve our lives, including new materials for a sustainable future, new medications for supporting medicine, or new foods for improving health.
This passion for science, in particular chemistry, allowed me to travel to and live in many different countries, meet amazing people, and go hiking across stunning landscapes. Therefore, I am immensely grateful to now call Galway my home, with the breathtaking mixture of amazing landscapes, friendly people, and tasty seafood.
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My focus is on creating digital versions of ourselves, like a digital mirror-image. Our bodies are complex machines with many different processes happening at the same time. This includes considerations not only of our very own bodies, but also the millions of microbes living in our gut, as well as the foods we eat. By understanding how these processes connect between each other, we are able to create computer simulations of our bodies. We can therefore simulate what happens if we change our diet or how a disease affects us on a biochemical level.
Our vision is to create Virtual Humans, based on your own health information. This ‘Virtual You’ will be able to give personalized recommendations to you, such as, personalized diets for maximising your health, or what course of medications to take while minimising side effects. These Virtual Humans will enable us to make specific health recommendations to you as an individual, as opposed to a current “one-size-fits-all” approach.
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My Typical Day
After breakfast, I catch up with emails and then focus on working on my own until lunch. In the afternoons I meet people to discuss our projects. When done with work in the afternoon, I go for a walk by the sea or the gym, before making some yummy dinner and relax for the evening.
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I love starting my day with a freshly brewed coffee. Once ready, my morning is dedicated to catch up with emails, messages, and prioritise my to-do list for the day. I then focus on producing content, involving reading, writing, and sometimes making videos. After lunch, I prefer to interact with people, within my team and with people from teams all over the world. We will meet to discuss projects, progress, and how we will work together over the coming future. After reviewing my notes, I will leave work in the afternoon.
In the evening I like to go for a walk by the sea and work out at the gym before making dinner. My evenings are for relaxing, usually involving watching a series, meeting friends, or reading a book.
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What I'd do with the prize money
I would use the money to support a summer project I am organising to allow young students like yourselves to gain research experience in the area of Digital Health.
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Education:
High School at Lycée de Garçons Esch/Alzette (Luxembourg), Chemistry MChem at University of Oxford, Medicinal Chemistry for Cancer MSc at University of Oxford, Chemical Biology DPhil at University of Oxford, Executive Master of Business Administration MBA at NUI Galway
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Qualifications:
MChem, MSc, DPhil, MBA
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Work History:
University of Oxford, Syracuse University, Caltech, University of Luxembourg, National University of Ireland Galway
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Current Job:
Research Fellow
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
health & outdoor enthusiast
What did you want to be after you left school?
Scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Of course not ;)
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Adele
What's your favourite food?
Steak
What is the most fun thing you've done?
Hike into the Grand Canyon
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Good health, people, and environment around me at all time.
Tell us a joke.
I make bad chemistry jokes because all the good ones Argon.
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Work photos: