Profile
Sinead Cullen
I can not believe I made it to the final, I am still in shock, this is amazing :)
My CV
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Education:
University College Cork (BSc) and Trinity College Dublin (MSc)
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Qualifications:
Honors Bachelors degree in Neuroscience and Masters in Neuroscience
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Work History:
Before I started my PhD I worked in a leisure centre as a gym instructor and a swimming teacher.
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Current Job:
PhD researcher
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My work involves developing new, more sensitive tests to try and diagnose people who are at risk of Heart Disease. The devices I use are really really tiny. This helps our tests to be more sensitive so we can detect changes in the blood at the nanoscale. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. It’s so small you can not see it with the human eye. This is why we use really tiny devices as it allows us to detect changes in peoples blood that could potentially save lives. My work involves using physics and biology everyday. We use physics to understand what the results of the biological experiment means. We build our own devices which means you have to learn a lot about electronics also.
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My Typical Day
A typical day does not exist as a PhD student, every day is different, which I love :)
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There is never a typical day in the life of a PhD student. Every day is different which is what I love about it so much. Some days you can be preparing samples for an experiment which you will carry out the next day. I am coming up to my transfer exam now so some days involve a lot of writing and reading scientific papers. Other days can involve helping out with education and outreach, such as being involved in the BT young scientist and helping out with Summer Scholars science clubs.
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What I'd do with the prize money
I would use money to run a workshop for young people based on the research I do.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Determined, funny & friendly :)
What did you want to be after you left school?
A Biologist- and now I am,yay!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes for talking, I can be a little bit chatty!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Tough question, music is a passion of mine but I think I The Frames would be my all time favorite band.
What's your favourite food?
My Mam’s cooking!
What is the most fun thing you've done?
My J1 trip to Boston for three months, amazing times spent with amazing people
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Health and Happiness for everyone(single wish), to be able to teleport to anywhere at anytime would be awesome,
Tell us a joke.
Knock knock…who’s there…Dr…Dr Who? How did you know my name?
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Work photos:
Me on the T.V as part of an episode on the Science Squad, I always wanted to be on T.V!
Me, on T.V again (I just thought it was so cool!) 
The device I built as part of my PhD project, so many wires! 
This is one of the cool pictures from the Curiosity Festival yesterday in Dublin. You use an app called colAR mix and it brings pictures to life. Its amazing. The parents loved it as much as the kids did. 
These are some of the drawbots the kids and parents made at the the curiosity festival. Really easy and fun to make. Just design your robots face on a cup, use markers as legs, then you put a battery pack on top and a propeller and off they go! Brilliant!
