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Asked by Anon on 22 Jun 2020.
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Tiffany Chan answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hi! This is a surprisingly difficult question! I studied chemistry at university, but I did a masters in bioengineering and now work between chemistry and biology. I’d probably still call myself a chemist/chemical biologist, but I actually don’t do much traditional chemistry nowadays…
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Siti Syuhaida Mohamed Yunus answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hello! I started with a biologist, then chemist, forensic scientist and now, environmental scientist. Also, I’m doing computer modelling for my research. Sounds a bit complicated. 🙂
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Sonia Lenehan answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hi! I started studying biology in college and then I moved into neuroscience which is the study of the brain! I am now doing my PhD which looks at how an infants brain grows and is influenced by the environment. Some people would call me a clinical neuroscientist!
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Ruth Aguilar answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hello! not a straight answer for me either. I studied biochemistry at university, and masters on Global Environmental change, and working on the Environmental team, so i guess i am like Tiffany, still call myself a biochemist, but don’t do the traditional things…
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Rosina Simmons answered on 22 Jun 2020:
I’m an Engineer, a type of scientist that solves problems.
The problems that I solve are in offshore wind farms and nuclear power plants.
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Victoria Woolley answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hi! I’m an entomologist and a molecular biologist. This means that I study insects and try to understand how they work on a very small scale.
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Theresa Wacker answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hi, thanks for that question!
Currently, I am a bioinformatician, I look at data to understand biology. Essentially, I stare a screens and try to decipher what biological answers DNA and chromatin might give me to questions regarding some deadly fungal bugs.
Before, I used to be an microbial ecologist and sampled mud volcanos in Italy to see what unicellular organisms live there (microbial eukaryotes; they have a nucleus like you and me in their cell (we have it in each cell) but they are only made of one cell). Before that, I worked in biochemistry and purified proteins and looked at their structure. In between, I looked at how dioxins (really really toxic stuff) affect cells.
Overall, it has been quite journey. I would say, molecular biologist would probably cover all these fields. I look at the biology of tiny things or the role of tiny things in the context of biology. Be it DNA, proteins, toxins or tiny organisms. -
Sophie Louth answered on 22 Jun 2020:
Hello, I am a medical research engineer. This means I am working to develop new tools for doctors to help make people better. I work in a lab testing out new ideas to see if they will work.
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Sophia Pells answered on 22 Jun 2020:
This isn’t so straightforward for me to answer either! I studied physics at university and now my PhD is officially in nuclear physics because I am studying radioactive atoms, but my work is very related to medical physics and nuclear medicine
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Sreejita Ghosh answered on 23 Jun 2020:
I started off as a Biomedical Engineer (spec: Diagnostic imaging and instrumentation). Then I transitioned to a Data Science PhD. Now I develop interpretable machine learning models to apply on healthcare datasets and help in early diagnosis of hormonal diseases in babies, neonates, and children, and also in extracting knowledge about these diseases from the datasets.
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Ruth Carter answered on 24 Jun 2020:
Hi, I studied Biology at University. I am now an entomologist which means I study insects
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Roberta Migale answered on 24 Jun 2020:
I am a molecular biologist which means I study the tiniest components of a cell, especially those packed into the cell nucleus (genes and all proteins which regulate gene expression). But I also do computational biology as I often use programming and computers to analyse my data. It’s great to be both in the lab and also doing in silico science from home 😀
Comments
Donna commented on :
I’m a microbiologist… but I started off in genetics and have also worked in immunology… and work with animal infection models
Martin commented on :
I have degrees in chemistry, computer science (AI) and neuroscience. I work in climate change and have taught in departments of psychology, robotics, earth science and education. Do you think you *have* to be a particular ‘type of scientist’? 😀
Aisling commented on :
I am a medicinal chemist 🙂 This is a fancy way of saying that I use chemistry to design and make new medicines. The medicines I make are designed to treat cancer.
Emma commented on :
I studied neuroscience at university, and I now work as a data scientist (although I still use my background in neuroscience a lot to understand the data I work with).
Natasha commented on :
I am an Engineering Geologist so I do a mix of geology (study of rocks and other interesting stuff) and chemistry in my everyday job.
mirentomologist commented on :
I studied Entomology at University and now I work as a Scientist in a University. I do my research to study the biology and behavior of insects in the environment and also teach General Entomology to Undergraduate and Postgraduate students.
Gulnar commented on :
Hi Anon, Thanks for a great question.
I am a molecular biologist.
I studied biochemistry (the study of chemical processes of living organisms) at university, and did a masters in molecular biology (the study of of biology at a molecular level). Currently, I study the molecular mechanisms of cancer.
LauraM commented on :
Hello, I studied physics at university but I now work in scientific computing
andy-kowalski commented on :
Hi
I started in Chemistry but as life progressed moved into Management and Health and Safety more and now that I am retired can pick and choose which assignments to do and those that are most stimulating get done first!
Still involved in Chemistry via the Royal Society of Chemistry and committee work so well aware of what is happening in my field of work.
Enjoy the variety and also meeting up with people and helping them.
Candice commented on :
I work across two very different fields – regenerative medicine and imaging sciences, so I normally call myself a biologist or an imaging scientist depending on who I’m working with/talking to.
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Regenerative medicine looks at how you can use different therapies to regenerate or repair damaged organs or parts of organs (as there aren’t enough donors for all the people that need replacement of whole organs). My research has focused on regenerative therapies for the liver, and is looking at whether you can transplant cells into the damaged organ that either replace the lost function of the damaged cells or encourage the damaged tissue to fix itself based on signals released by the transplanted healthy cells. We call these ‘cell therapies’ and you can either use freshly isolated cells (so an organ that can be used for transplant can be digested to separate certain cells for transplant) or you can use cells grown in a petri dish in an incubator in the lab.
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Imaging sciences – you guessed it – is focused on imaging things (usually at the whole body level). In my case I use different techniques to track cells in mice in vivo (inside the body) by imaging. In particular I use radionuclide imaging (where you track cells by monitoring decay of radioisotopes in the cells) including PET (positron emission tomography) and SPECT (Single Photon emission computer tomography) and also optical imaging techniques where you image emission of light from fluorescent or bioluminescent proteins expressed in the cells you want to track.