Profile
Anabel Martinez Lyons
My CV
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Education:
Frankfurt International High School (Germany),
King’s College London (UK),
Imperial College London (UK),
University of Cambridge (UK). -
Qualifications:
BSc, MRes, PhD
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Work History:
I’ve worked as a researcher in several labs, and have also been a Biology and Maths tutor. When I was at university, I had a job as a waitress to earn some pocket money!
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Current Job:
Research Fellow
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About Me:
I’m a research scientist at the University of Edinburgh – in the past, my research has taken me all the way to Fiji, where I got to drive a robot submarine like the one that discovered the Titanic!
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Hello..! I’m Anabel – I’m half English/half Spanish, and grew up in Massachusetts, USA. I love all things outdoors: rock climbing, hiking, cycling, and rowing!
I’ve also been making pottery for several years and am close to finishing an entire tea set ☕, which I’m excited to use for the first time!
I currently live in Edinburgh, Scotland, but my family (mum, dad and 4 siblings) still live in America… we have 6 chickens that lay eggs every morning , and a cat named Sophie.
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I’m currently in my first year of a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, studying why some adults develop liver cancer. Specifically, I look at changes to structures within the liver called bile ducts. I study the livers of mice that have liver tumours to better understand what is happening in human adults with liver cancer.
Before this, I worked in a lab that looked at “marine biodiversity”, or the range of traits we see in different sea animals. Think how different an octopus is from a shark, or a shrimp from a jellyfish! I joined a group of scientists on a research expedition to the southern Pacific, where we studied the animals that lived in deep-water volcanic ecosystems, and I even got to drive (for a few minutes) a multi-million £ submarine robot to explore the ocean floor, like the one that discovered the Titanic..!
Being a scientist can take you to some amazing places! 🏝
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My Typical Day:
I do different things every day! Sometimes I work in the lab, sometimes at the computer and sometimes I do experiments with live mice in an animal facility.
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I do a lot of “bench work”, meaning experiments that require me to follow a set of instructions with special scientific equipment… I also analyse data on the computer some days, and spend about one day every week in an animal facility to perform experiments on mice.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Hands-on research in classrooms! I would hope to run DNA extraction experiments for students so they can witness DNA’s presence and importance in all living things.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Happy, hardworking, curious
What did you want to be after you left school?
A scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No, not that I can remember! (but this is probably a better question for my teachers! :-P)
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Laura Marling
What's your favourite food?
It's a tie between dumplings and fancy ice cream
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I'd want to be able to freeze time, read thoughts or heal sickness instantly
Tell us a joke.
Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!
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