Profile

I am originally from Edinburgh in Scotland and now live in Dundee, which is about an hour North of Edinburgh. From my flat I have great views of the Tay river (see below!). I have lots of hobbies including playing badminton, playing the piano and doing yoga (occasionally on a paddle board when the weather is nice!). I also really like travelling. Last year, I went interrailing around Europe and visited 10 countries in 3 weeks! I think it was the best holiday I’ve ever had.  My favourite thing ever though is to have a laugh with my mates and spend time with my family.

I look at the brain and try to understand how memories work. There are some diseases, for example Alzheimer’s disease, which cause memory loss. This type of memory loss is known as “dementia”. It usually happens to older people but nobody knows why. So that is exactly what I’m trying to find out!

Some scientists (such as myself) think that dementia could be caused by eating unhealthy foods. Lots of people already know that unhealthy foods can make your body unfit but there is not so much known about if unhealthy foods make your brain unfit too! The brain is a very mysterious organ and there are a lot of puzzles about it to be unravelled.

At the moment, my experiments include looking at a group of cells which form something called the ‘blood-brain barrier’. These cells act as a barrier and can stop any toxic molecules in your blood from getting into your brain. This barrier often stops working in people who eat unhealthy foods and also in people who have dementia.  I am trying to find out if there is a link, why the barrier stops working and how to fix it again!

Hopefully by working out if unhealthy foods do cause dementia, I can help stop people from getting it by letting them know how important eating fresh, healthy food is for not just your body but your brain too!

I usually start the day looking at emails (how boring!). Then things get a bit more interesting! I will start an experiment to look at what is happening inside the brain to try and work out if unhealthy foods are breaking down cells in the ‘blood-brain barrier’. This barrier protects the brain against any toxic molecules in the blood. I can search for these cells by getting chemicals that make them glow in the dark. This lets me see where these cells are in the brain and if they look healthy or not!

Then I will usually go for a break with everyone who works in my laboratory and we have a chat and a catch-up and talk about all the different experiments we are doing. After, I will go do some more science in the lab or analyse some data.

At lunch lots of the scientists sit and eat together. This is always great fun as we have a really multicultural environment. There are people from all over the world doing research here. It’s such a great opportunity to learn about other countries.  After lunch I will go and see how my experiment has gone and hope it has worked!