Profile

I live in Waterford, Ireland with four other biomedical scientists. 👩🏼‍🔬🔬I really really enjoy food, I can’t live without chocolate 🍫.I do CrossFit 🏋🏼‍♀️and my favourite TV show is The Office.

A full blood count involves testing a patient’s blood on an analyser that can count the number of cells in your body. It can count the number of white cells, red cells and platelets in your blood. These cells are very important for your health. They can become increased or decreased if you are ill. I also test how well your blood can clot. Say for example, you cut your finger, it will bleed for a little while but then stop, right? This is because little proteins inside your body stop the bleeding for you. Some people are missing these proteins. My job is to test to see if these proteins are present or not. We also look at blood using a microscope to see if your tiny cells are healthy.

My work schedule can vary throughout the week. For the most part I work from 9am-5.30pm. Sometimes I work 12am – 12pm which involves running the laboratory by myself. Sometimes I work 12am-8am, during this shift I work in two laboratories and I sleep in work. I get bleeped if there is an emergency.

I put on my laboratory coat, goggles and gloves and go to whatever bench I’m assigned to. For example, I am on the miscellaneous bench this week which involves a variety of tests to be carried out. In the morning time I get samples ready to send to different parts of Ireland and the UK. This are specialized laboratories that have high tech machines that help in the further diagnosis of patients. I carry out tests such as malaria screens. People get malaria from mosquitoes when they are on holidays and malaria can be very dangerous if not treated.