Profile

I live with my high school sweetheart in the glorious West end of Glasgow. I’m a big animal lover but unfortunately our rented flat doesn’t allow pets, so I’m currently dreaming of the day when I can get a dog/ tortoise of my very own. I’m the oldest of 4 (2 sisters and brother). I’m quite crafty and like to make things (usually a mess…). I’m not allergic to anything but I do have an irrational fear of spiders. When I’m not doing science I enjoy baking, knitting, horse riding and yoga.

I study viruses that people can get after being bitten by a mosquito. Some of them can be pretty nasty and can cause death. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of vaccines or drugs out there that we can use to stop these nasty bugs making us sick. My job is change that. I look at what these viruses get up to within the cells of our bodies, how our body responds to the virus and what happens to make us sick. I hope that by learning how a virus makes us sick, I can make a drug to stop it.

I’ve written about some of the viruses I work with – like chikungunya virus and zika virus that you can read here: https://theconversation.com/delhi-has-been-hit-by-a-chikungunya-epidemic-what-is-this-disease-65592 and https://theconversation.com/whatever-happened-to-the-zika-virus-82618

And check me out being interviewed on the news!

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2016-02-04/scientists-in-scotland-join-battle-against-zika-virus/

I work in a lab with pipettes, microscopes, chemicals and mosquitoes! I have to wear safety clothing like a white lab coat (which keeps my clothes clean), blue gloves (not woolly ones!) and sometimes even safety glasses (to keep my eyes safe from nasty chemicals). Most days after I arrive at the lab, I will set up an experiment that usually involves moving clear liquids from different tubes into the same tube. I then place this tube into an expensive piece of equipment, wait a while, then go and check the results.

If I’m not working with clear liquids, I’m doing experiments with cells (like the ones that make up our bodies) which I keep in pink liquid in a sterile environment away from moulds, bacteria and fungi (I don’t want anything to make my cells sick apart from the virus I put on them).

If I’m really lucky I might get to do an experiment with our mosquitoes which I keep in a special cadge in a very hot and humid room!