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SPOTLIGHT ON THE A GUIDE TO CAREERS

A collection of articles and interviews on the many branches of biology from The 4 2  Contents 56 54 52 50 48  46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 FUTURE BIOLOGY SPECIAL INTEREST CORE BIOLOGY

Choosing acareer Foreword Sustainable Photobiology Agroecology Clinical trials Bioengineering

CONTENTS 1

3 INTRODUCTION Foreword disciplines are all about and what careers they might lead to. It’s useful to know whether you’re going to be spending most of your outdoors or in the lab, for example, or whether your will be about making discoveries through . Or solving practical problems. Or working with . Or people. Or numbers. We hope this collection of articles from the past two years will help you in this way. Some of the sections of this booklet will be useful for people just about to choose an , while the later ones might help graduates decide on the direction to take when considering a master’s or PhD. Others may be looking to move into he wonderful thing about biology is employment after their , thinking its immense breadth. of doing a higher level apprenticeship, or study everything from the simplest just considering a career break to study life on , like or something that has always fascinated them. Tsingle-celled amoebas, to the This guide to the subdisciplines found in – the most complex object in the known biology is by no means finished, as the – and everything in between. One boundaries between traditional subjects biologist might study a billion tonnes of blur and increasingly merge with disciplines in a distant rainforest, while such as maths, and . New another watches molecular interactions ones seem to emerge every couple of years, at a quantum . too. Do get in touch if you’d like any But this diversity can also be bewildering. particular to be represented in We all science and , but the The Biologist in a future issue. lectures that give some graduates a buzz can send others to sleep. Biology graduates can end up in an enormously diverse range of roles, from monitoring on their local wetlands to drug discovery at some of the biggest companies in the world. Although the various disciplines of the sciences are increasingly encouraged to Tom Ireland, managing editor, work together, the working of those in Society of Biology different areas of the biosciences can still seem worlds apart. If you would like more in-depth I think this is why the Spotlight On… information about career choices, or series has been tremendously popular since degree accreditation in the biosciences, it first appeared in The Biologist magazine please contact the Society of Biology’s in 2012. It’s helpful sometimes to just get a education team – details can be found at feel for what these mysterious-sounding [email protected] CORE BIOLOGY 6 Biochemistry modern biology to fundamental is chemical properties of Understanding the The study of the chemical processes that govern how living work is nowvery muchanumbrella termfor material billions of yearsago.Biochemistry formed spontaneously fromnon-living understand how the very firstlifeon Earth in medicine,butcanalsohelpus to artificially isnotonlytremendously useful understanding ofbiochemistry. of thelifesciencesdependonan system –andthereforealmostall branches to energyproduction,theimmune from thereplicationofgeneticinformation, are attheheartofallbiologicalsystems, organisms. Complexchemicalprocesses instructions fordevelopment inallliving the structureofDNA, andhowitencodes chemistry –forexample,thediscovery of modern sciencehave beeninbiological Some ofthegreatestbreakthroughsin Why is itimportant? explain howlivingsystemswork. of theselargeandcomplexmoleculeshelps RNA, carbohydratesandlipids. B Synthesising biological Synthesising biologicalmolecules Understanding thechemicalproperties molecules suchasproteins,DNA, andinteractionofbiological iochemists investigate thestructure, particularly important in healthcare, particularly importantinhealthcare, and academicresearch.Biochemistsare of rolesacrossthepublicsector, industry, areemployedinahugevariety What careers are available? synthetic biologyandsystemsbiology. , proteomics,metabolomics, many morespecificfieldsofbiology,as such ● several journals. and grantsforits members,andpublishes scientific meetings, ,and awards 7,000 members.Itorganisesavariety of discipline basedbiosciencesociety, with The BiochemicalSocietyisthelargest Where can Ifindoutmore? drugs andmedicaltechnology. publishing andthesalesmarketingof graduates arealsooftenemployedin industry orothersectors.Biochemistry increasingly importantforthoseentering course ofstudyuptoPhDlevel. followed byafurtherbiochemistryrelated , geneticsorbiology), something very similar–forexample biochemistry undergraduatedegree(or will normallyhave completeda Biochemists working inacademicresearch How doIbecome abiochemist? food securityandglobalwarming. could helptowards world issuessuchas us tocreatenewstrainsoforganismsthat biology andgeneticengineeringwillallow cancer. Relatedfieldssuchassynthetic molecular basisofmanydiseaseslike also helpingusfindoutmoreaboutthe chemical analysisofbiologicalmaterial. and waste, or any organisation that requires environment, , food, include forensicscience,agriculture, institutes andpublichealthlaboratories. pharmaceutical companies,research and helpingtodevelop treatmentswith analysing samplesforthehealthservice ● www.biochemistry.org Similarly, postgraduatequalificationsare Fundamental biochemistryresearchis Other areasthatbiochemistswork in when after two or three years of Yes, you have that overall jobsatisfaction Do you enjoy your job? running overnight. over results from tests that have been come inearly inthe mornings andlook but not my own bench anymore. I like to still have alab coat with my onit– mezzanine floor overlooking I the lab, and managing staff. My a office ison results, butalso just the business of a lot of meetings –aboutnew projects and I run the department, so anaverage day is What doesanaverage day involve? fast andautomated. of these assays aday so they need to be treatment. Hospitals might run hundreds or helps monitor apatient’s response to hopefully agrees with clinicians’ diagnoses a yes ornoresult, butgive avalue that cancers. Our assays often don’tgive a plasma andthose related to clinical labs inthe US. We specialise in used inhospital labs or the big commercial We develop assays that are ultimately Site, which deals mostly with . I work for acompany called The Binding What doyou do? Dr Greg Wallace FIRST PERSON horrendously expensive, for the masses. being doneinaway that isnot – nanobiology. Also personalised medicine The miniaturisation of this sort of biology will beimportant inthe future? What areas of biochemistry do you think clinical biochemistry before working here. my team hadany experience of working in into different fields – few of the in people knowledge, itisfairly easy to move around and you have some basic technique Once you are inthe biochemistry industry material just happened to beplant based. really itwas biochemistry - the source my PhD was inplant although suppose. Istarted doing plant biology and My career path was fairly standard, I How didyou get into this role? into amanagerial role. data. It’sonly recently I’ve ‘gone upstairs’ stuff andgoing through huge amounts of always liked lab work asopposed to insilica come through andithasworked. I’ve you set upanexperiment andresults of being ascientist. But there is also the day to day satisfaction development anew isbeing sold. Like all you get abuzzwhen biochemistry/ Aberystwyth; PhD biology, BSc applied plant Qualifications The Binding Site biochemistry R&D, Head of Profession fields into different move around fairly easy to industry is it are the in you Once antibodies polyclonal Immunoassays, Interests Nottingham biotechnology, and microbial in biochemistry Imperial; postdoc plant pathology,

CORE BIOLOGY 7 CORE BIOLOGY 8 Ecology changes changes environmental trigger larger much can an to changes Small The study of the interrelationships between organisms and their environments

E of or the decomposition of waste. of crops or thedecomposition ofwaste. important processes, such as the areat theheartofarange Why isecology important? of ecosystems. organisms andthestructure function their environment,between different interrelationships between organismsand generally agreed it is the study of the generally agreeditisthestudyof the range oftopics.However, itis cology covers abroadanddiverse components of environmental systems components ofenvironmentalsystems consequences of human activity on consequences ofhumanactivityon will allowsocietytopredictthe understanding ofecologicalsystems andtheenvironment.Abetter can have aknock-oneffectonmany such asthenutrientcycleandclimate. ● the UK,Irelandand abroad. ecologists andenvironmental managersin thatrepresents andsupports Management (IEEM)istheprofessional The Institute of Ecology and Environmental ● regarding ecology. provide youwithmoreinformation The BritishEcologicalSocietycan Where can Ifindoutmore? the naturalenvironment. responsibilities topromoteorconserve in government agenciesthathave teachers andsciencewriters,even find employmentasconservationists, RSPB ortheWWF.Ecologistscanalso governmental organisationssuchasthe and museums,toworking fornon- Natural EnvironmentResearchCouncil) research organisations(suchasthe range frombasicresearchinuniversities, many employersyoucanwork for. These many professionsthatuseecologyand Being suchabroadsubjectareathereare What can Idowith ecology? work duringtheireducation. through independentstudyandvoluntary have gainedsignificantpracticalexperience not essential.Mostsuccessfulecologists postgraduate level studyisdesirable,but generally afieldwheremaster’sand closely relateddiscipline.Ecologyis least adegreeinecology, biologyora Ecologists willneedtohave atthevery How doIget into ecology? from damageinfuture. the environmentandprotectecosystems ● ● On a larger scale ecosystems are key On alargerscaleecosystemsarekey Small changes to any ecosystem Small changestoanyecosystem www.ieem.net www.britishecologicalsociety.org

based inthe animalandplant sciences university. About a third of the course was No, Istudied at for anecology degree? Did you become anecologist by studying easier to ‘pop’out for a day. work isbased inthe UK,which makes it only have time inthe summer. Most of my As often asIcan, although realistically I How often do you work inthe field? around the plant . focusing onthe processes that occur contaminated with multiple pollutants, potential for using to remediate land the environment. Iam researching the break down and transform pollutants within and can provide mechanisms that organisms also show to in particular the effect onphysiology. Many plants with afocus on aquatic species, and the effects of metals andnanoparticles on ecological systems. Ihave doneresearch on around pollutants andtheir effects on medicinal compounds. My research centres contaminants, including and oils and sewage, there are many new way into the environment. As well asmetals, about ecology. However, it was David department, which iswhere Ilearned most variety of waste products that find their associated with industry, generate a wide Anthropogenic activities, inparticular those What are your research interests? supervision of PhDstudents andpostdocs. research iscarried out.Thisinvolves from organisations andensuring that this responsible for securing research funding transfer processes andremediation. Iam conservation management, environmental courses, including and several undergraduate andpostgraduate environmental management. Iteach director for environmental science and administration. Iamthe programme I amresponsible for teaching, research and What doesyour jobinvolve? Dr LesleyDr Batty FIRST PERSON

toes asIamalways learning new things. But inpersonal terms it keeps meonmy reviewers who can see the bigger picture. more difficult to get the relevant expert In terms of funding itis a hindrance asitis your research a help or a hindrance? different departments. Is this aspect of bodies andyou collaborate with lots of Your research isfunded by a range of its associated scientific rigour. ensure itremains a distinct discipline with all management. The challenge will be to general, andenvironmental into other areas such as biosciences in increased focus onmarine ecology. communities. There hasalso been an movement of species andchanges to change, and inparticular the where doyou see itsfuture? What are the hot topics inecology and access to interesting field sites. likely you are to secure funding andget partners you can get onboard, the more end of ecology andso the more industrial many jobs.My field is at the very applied skills andopportunities that can beused in subjects. Italso provides so many different much more rounded than many other different view of the world andone that is Wholeheartedly. It gives you avery Would you recommend it as a career? young to take aninterest inecology. Attenborough who inspired mewhen Iwas Pollutants sea at affect marine species I see ecology becoming more integrated Profession pollutants with multiple contaminated land remediate plants to using for the potential researching am I wetland ecology remediation, andwater ecologically based organisms, ecosystems and pollutants on Impact of Interests Teaching Learning and Certificate in Postgraduate science, environmental (Hons) natural sciences, BSc and atmospheric PhD, MRes earth Qualifications of Birmingham science, University environmental Lecturer in

CORE BIOLOGY 9 10 CORE BIOLOGY Marine biology many people's diet many diet people's are acrucial part of , such mackerel, as The study of life in the sea and other saltwater environments M Despite having aglamorous image,very few Is itall working with dolphins? relatively littleabout. oftheoceans,whichwe know There isincreasingconcernabout the with almost20%oftheiranimalprotein. fish providesmorethan1.5billion people the oxygenwe breathe and,globally, producesabouthalf of and givingusastableclimate.Marine within themarevitalforfeedinghumans the Earth’s surfaceandtheorganisms The oceanscover approximately71%of Why is itimportant? estuaries andwetlands. other saltwater environmentssuchas aspects oflifeinthesea,aswell as marine sciencethatdealswithall arine biologyisthebranchof

Marine scientistswork inarangeof different groupsoforganismsinteract. broadly atmarineecologyandhow viruses andplankton.Otherslookmore specific groupofmarineorganisms,suchas a orpollution,concentrateon majority work inappliedareasrelatedto dolphins, whalesorwithcoralreefs.The marine biologistsactuallywork with ● with some1,200 members worldwide. professional body formarinescientists The MarineBiological Associationisa Where can Ifindoutmore? of marineresources. are requiredforeffective management sophisticated mathematicalmodels also increasinglyimportant,asmore modelling withinmarinebiologyis biology andbiotechnology. Mathematical demand forspecialistsincludemolecular others. Two areaswherethere is growing areas areingreaterdemandthan exceeds demand,butsomespecialist consider arangeofMScorMRescourses. looking tospecialiseinmarinebiologycan departments. Postgraduates whoare universities withstrongmarinescience be lookingatPhDstudentshipsin research followingtheirfirstdegreeshould Westfield, LondonandSouthampton. St Andrews, Stirling,QueenMary& Bangor, ,Portsmouth, Swansea, Heriot-Watt, Hull,Liverpool, Newcastle, in teachingmarinebiologyareAberdeen, specialist undergraduatecourse. career inmarinebiologyshouldoptfora Students whoareinterestedinpursuinga marine biologist? What’s the best route into acareer asa international organisations. , tolocalgovernments and private companiesandnon-profit research councils,government agencies, settings, fromuniversities andcolleges, ● www.mba.ac.uk The supplyofmarinescientistsgenerally Students wishingtogodirectlyinto Universities whichtakeaspecialinterest

www.learntosea.co.uk biology, my careers’ adviser at school said I know anything about. pools andseals which nooneseemed to just enchanted by this alien world of rock Island when Ilived onthe Wirral, andIwas I loved. Then we would go on trips to Hilbre and the oddtrip to the inKent, which My interest started playing inrivers as a kid How didyou get into marine biology? general biodiversity point of view. species, like , aswell asfrom amore result. It’s important for ourcommercial organisms’ dimensions are changing asa become weakened and research suggests carbonate exoskeletons of many species are huge–the more acidic. Theimplications for marine are absorbed by the sea anditbecomes Half of all CO coastal areas asaresult of . and understand what is happening to MarCLIM project isall about trying to track Perhaps more important than exciting, the research inmarine biology? What are the most exciting areas of comes mostly from , for example? most people know that atmospheric no formal education inschools. Why don’t the sea andits importance to us,but there is It’s crucial to have abasic understanding of marine biology isso important? Why doyou think teaching people about involve marine education asatheme. have afew branches of work butthey all some guest presenting for Autumnwatch . I done some TVwork for and BBC Coast well asmarine environments. I’ve also features, including some freshwater as about the wildlife andthe different shore andthe river Avon, teaching them them to different points along the education business Learn to Sea. Wetake beach to take groups outwith my An average day involves rocking upat the What are you working onat the moment? Maya Plass FIRST PERSON When Isaid Iwanted to study marine 2 emissions from fossil fuels and the media. work inalab, at sea, orinpolicy, education lots of opportunities out there –you can outlook for ourcoastal areas. But there are optimistic too, inthe face of apretty bleak volunteering first. You have to remain you have to be prepared to dosome It isdifficult to get into employment and biosciences, butyou still have to work hard. glamorous than other branches of the was working hard. Yes, it may beabitmore in Hawaii andArgentina buteven then, I most of my work isinthe UK. Ihave worked sunning ourselves somewhere exotic, but There is some idea that we’re all out lots of opportunity for travel. Isit like that? popular branches of the biosciences with Marine biology is seen as oneof the more Books and things went from there. senior commissioning editor of Nature Twitter with someone who turned out to be a was tweeting about rude Latin on and ended upbeing a guest presenter.I Then in touch andIdid arock-pool piece for them who had worked for Springwatch accident. Ihada volunteer working with us The TV andpublishing work came really by work andwriting? How didyou then branch outinto TV dolphins orsomething. he Ijust wanted to swim with should beinpeople management –Ithink was living inadream world andsaid I Life on the isn't always exotic You need a hugepassion for the subject. . She put me . She put me Profession world world dreama was living in school said I adviser at careers’ my biology, study marine to wanted saidI I When and conservation Marine education Interests zone management integrated coastal ecology, MSc and coastal BSc marine biology Qualifications Changers group Sea- of conservation presenter, patron author and Learn to Sea, education business founder of marine Marine biologist, 11 CORE BIOLOGY 12 CORE BIOLOGY microbe on Earth differentof of species perhaps even billions there are millions or Microbiologists think The study of (ormicrobes) Microbiology M they interact andhowwe canexploit strategies, how examining their survival the labandintheir naturalenvironment; and . fungi, ,,,viruses Microbes aredividedintooneofsix groups: amazing variety ofshapesandsizes. are 2-3billionspeciesandtheyoccur inan life onEarth.Scientistsestimate that there make upthevast majorityofthediversity of on Earth,includinginandhumans, Microbiologists study microbes both in Microbiologists study microbesbothin They arefoundinevery microorganisms (ormicrobes). icrobiology isthestudyof

antibiotics that fight infections and antibiotics thatfightinfectionsand vaccines cause ,butarealsousedtomake production andtheenvironment.Theycan Microbes playkeyrolesinhealth,food Why ismicrobiology important? negative ways. impact onourlives –inbothpositive and their activities.Microbeshave ahuge ● learning inschools. support microbiology teachingand contains information andactivitiesto also hasaneducationwebsite which Today. Aswell asacareers site,SGM and anin-housemagazine,Microbiology briefing papers,educationalresources areas ofmicrobiologythroughpodcasts, The SGMprovidesinformationon diverse Where can Ifindoutmore? specialist microbialproducts. businesses tosmallercompaniesdeveloping biochemical, biotechnologyandfood companies, frombigpharmaceutical, microbiologists work inarangeof and monitordisease.Industrial are alsoemployedinhospitalstodiagnose agricultural research.Microbiologists medical, environmental,healthcareand companies employmicrobiologiststodo research institutes,hospitalsandindustrial (SGM) careerswebsite. Universities, the SocietyforGeneralMicrobiology degree microbiologycoursesisavailable on general biosciences.Afulllistoffirst- qualification ineithermicrobiologyormore Most microbiologistshave auniversity level How doIpursueacareer inmicrobiology? help cleanuppollution. from soil,andtheycaneven beusedto , helpingplantsacquirenutrients responsible forcyclingcarbonand production ofbiofuels.Microbesare half theoxygenandareusedin produced onEarth,butalsoproduceover responsible formostofthemethane key rolesinclimatechange–theyare that prevent disease.Microbesalsoplay ● www.microbiologyonline.org.uk

Microbiology the right infections and the right kind of inthe first place. Perhaps if you have you probably need susceptibility inyour But if you don’t have that protection and are environmental triggers, this can protect you. these conditions plays abigpart too, so take into account. Genetic susceptibility to , but there are so many factors to protect against allergies andautoimmune studies showing directly that infections can quite difficult to prove. There areanimal People are finding associations, butit’s disorders andallergies? the development of autoimmune between sterile conditions asa child and Does there appear to beaclear link conditions like allergy and autoimmunity. certain infections aschildren to prevent ’ –how we need exposure to years. I’malso interested inthe ‘hygiene cancer only about15%survive five infection, butinthose who develop have any problems from this common stomach cancer. Most people don’t ever cause of stomach andduodenal ulcers and called We’re especially interested inabacterium prevent disease inpeople that they infect. cause oreven We’re studying how infections inthe What’s the focus of your research? they have abig impact on health. cannot be cultured, butwe’re realising that in our bodies. Many of these organisms myriad of harmless bacteria that are present there’s a lot going onto findout about the artificially. From amedical perspective, potential to allow usto build microbes One issynthetic biology, which has the What are the hot topics inmicrobiology? and dosome experimental lab work. students and postdoctoral researchers, manage aresearch team, supervise PhD on infections, and cancer. I I lecture medical students andpostgrads Describe atypical day. Dr Karen Robinson MSB FIRST PERSON Helicobacter pylori, which isthe main there are lots of diverse career paths. many disciplines and , so Microbiology isafundamental part of so microbiologists? Do you have any advice for animals to have the same kinds in theirs. whether you could manipulate farm what bacteria they have intheir gutand , so people are trying to figure out kangaroos apparently don’tproduce much efficient biofuels. Asa strange example, they can produce chemicals that are more scientists are engineering bugsso that Biofuel research isreally taking– off the effects of global warming? What roles can bacteria play to mitigate which is -boggling. probably become astandard diagnostic , process gets faster andcheaper, itwill many breakthroughs andproducts. As the become astandard lab technique, leading to we didn’t have access to before. Iexpect it’ll providing uswith so much information that than years. This is transforming microbiology, bacterial sequence indays, rather making abigimpact – it's possible to have a security. Technological advances are also to global challenges like food with scientists from other disciplines to find Microbiologists are working more and more Where ismicrobiology headed? you want isgoingto beso powerful. be able to just build something to do what do all sorts of things inourdaily lives – to implications are huge. We use microbes to I think that’s still a way off in the future. The I’m sure people are working towards it,but and what would the implications be? genuinely build abacterium from scratch, How close are we to being able to a ‘hollowed out’ existing bacterial cell. genome andsuccessfully implanted itin Craig Venter famously built anartificial to develop the condition. genetically susceptible, you’ll bemore likely Profession daily lives lives daily things our in do all sorts of microbes to use We human stomach infections of the Helicobacter pylori and , especially intestinal infections between gastro- Interactions Research interests Manchester The University of infection; both from immunity to ; PhDin and BSc (Hons)in Qualifications Nottingham immunity, infections and Professor of 13 CORE BIOLOGY 14 CORE BIOLOGY Mycology many ecosystemsmany organic material in of Fungi are the primary The study of fungi M Purely fungal science roles are quite scarce, Purely fungal scienceroles arequitescarce, What careers are available? provides theplant withwater andnutrients. between theplant’s rootsandafungusthat associations –symbioticrelationships least 80%ofplantsrelyonmycorrhizal such asinmedicineandfoodproduction. At organic materialsandhave arangeofuses down pollutantsandthemostdurable and theglobalcarboncycle.Theybreak so playacrucialpartinrecyclingnutrients organic materialinmanyecosystemsand Fungi aretheprimarydecomposersof Why is mycology important? majority ofplantdisease. pathology as fungi cause the pathology asfungicausethe closely associatedwithplant ycology isthestudyoffungi.It agriculture andthefoodindustry. The means therearejobsavailable in plant disease,fermentationandspoilage The importanceoffungiincropgrowth, mycologists canfind work inmanyareas. taught lessandinuniversities. Still, and taxonomists,thesedisciplinesare shortage ofmycologists,plantpathologists but atthesametimethereisasevere ● can befoundatFungi To BeWith. Information onevents intheLondon area ● excellent variety offungiin itsarboretum. specimens andvisitorscanalsosee an Kew Gardens’fungarium holds 1.25million ● ● find interestingorediblespecimens. organising ‘fungalforays’intowoodland to (including theSociety’slocalbranches) fungal speciesintheUK,withmanygroups recording, discovery of andconservation a strongamateurcontributiontothe studying orinterestedinmycology. Thereis charitable organisationforthoseworking, The BritishMycologicalSocietyisa Where can Ifindoutmore? or microbiology. fungi andabackgroundinplantsciences and employerslookforaninterestin formal trainingopportunities,academics and plantpathology. Duetoalackof others mayfocusonfungalecology concentrate onpathogenicfungi,while hospital-based universities tendto taught aspartofabiosciencedegree, microbiology degree.Wheremycologyis doing amoregeneralbioscienceor embark onpostgraduateresearchafter mycology intheUKsomostmycologists There arenoundergraduatecoursesin How doIstart? pharmaceutical uses. medicinal mycologyresearchespotential bioremediation ofpollutedland,while industrial applications,suchasthe unique propertiesoffungioffermanyother ● ● ● ● www.fungitobewith.org www.kew.org/plants-fungi/fungi www.societyofbiology.org/branches www.britmycolsoc.org.uk

that search the forest for more out of the wood and create long somewhere suitable, they grow mycelium don’t just release and hopethey land or bacteria alter these interactions. changes orthe presence of invertebrates team beats them. Why? Environmental the time, butsometimes a less successful Manchester United fungi, who win most of the football Premier League. You have your the time andIliken these interactions to what affects how they interact. is aboutwhat all these species are and harder to study asthey’re hidden. My work communities of plants except they’re communities –they’re much like I study wood-decaying fungi andfungal What are you working onnow? ecology are donein the lab. accompany them. About 85% of our fungal when they gooutonfield work Ialways try to treat –my postgrads do most of it – but Doing hands-on things inthe lab isarare important and why they are fun to study. people to understand why fungi are research. Ido lots of outreach work to get I spend my days teaching and doing Describe atypical day. about the fungi involved. instantly realised we needed to know more looking at the process of wood decay, but I Webster worked. For my PhDIstarted where the famous mycologist John was then Ithought, “hey, these are cool”. its chords can penetrate brick andplaster. It was the dry rot Serpula lacrimans – out andfound itwas stuck fast to the wall. It together. Then I tried to pull the whole thing of mycelium attaching the drawers shut. Iprised itopen andthere was masses cupboard drawer and found itwas stuck accommodation –Itried to open a My first encounter with fungi was in student What led you to study fungus? Professor FSB FIRST PERSON I also work with cord-forming fungi. They Fungal species fight with each other all I studied biology at University isoften intheir hands. indebted to them and their discoveries, and skilled amateurs and enthusiasts. Weare doing abiology degree, butalso many mycology: those who specialised initafter considering how important fungi are. taught any at all, which isworrying compulsory and some where you don’t get degrees where fungal biology isnot replaced. There are more andmore biology dwindling. People retire and don’tget groups, but the number elsewhere is a couple of flourishing mycology research have been described, is disastrous. Wehave million species of fungi and only 100,000 in institutions, which, when you have 1.5 There are only ahandful of taxonomists left Why are there so few mycologists? cycling, waste disposal and bioremediation. can manipulate them to help amazing recyclers. I want to findout how we prevent the spread of disease. Plus, they are could beused as bio-control agents to Because they are such good fighters, fungi your work? What are the potential applications of termites they’re very similar. patterns to foraging patterns of ants or animals – when you compare their growth minutes, and actually behave alittle like around aforest inamatter of motorways, these huge structures can shift dead wood to colonise. Like mycological an under micrograph There are two groups of people in Profession great fighters are species Fungal endangered fungi ecology of rare and in ecosystems; fungi; role of fungi change effects on fungi; climate basidiomycete cord-forming wood; ecology of communities in Fungal Interests from Exeter decomposition in ecology of wood Mary, ;DSc decay) from Queen (wood Exeter; PhDin from mathematical BSc inbiology and Qualifications University mycology at Cardiff Professor of 15 CORE BIOLOGY 16 CORE BIOLOGY Physiology The science of how organs and whole organisms work under a microsope a under crocodilea seen The salt of

O of the biological and clinical sciences. sciences. clinical and biological the of is about putting those components back is aboutputtingthosecomponents back down toitsconstituentparts,butphysiology biology have enabledustostripthebody Physiology provides a foundation for all all for foundation a provides Physiology Why isitimportant? systems interactinthebody. proteinswithincellsto how how organismsfunction,fromthe actionsof interact. Physiologistsstudyevery aspectof together andunderstandinghow they body works. Cellular and molecular body works. Cellularandmolecular physiology isthescienceofhow ften describedasthescienceoflife,

diagnosing and managing disease. managing and diagnosing clinics, and hospitals in work physiologists Clinical wrong. goes sometimes remember,it and why learn and we how understanding function, brain on work Neurophysiologists Alzheimer’s. and fibrosis cystic as such diseases, for cures find to try to functions body the how of understanding their use lab the in Physiologists ● Society. exist, suchasthe AmericanPhysiological A rangeofsimilar internationalSocieties ● Physiology News. back issuesoftheSociety’smagazine, and trainingcourses.You canalsofind on publicengagementactivities, meetings physiology. Hereyoucanfindinformation information aboutdiverse areasof The PhysiologicalSocietyoffers Where can Ifindoutmore? can befoundinallwalks oflife. breadth ofthesubject,physiologistsreally medicine ordentistry, butdueto the qualifications. Somegoontostudy gaining experiencealongsideprofessional go straightintoindustryorclinicalroles, postgraduate level. Manypeoplechooseto that mostintereststhem. qualification intheareaofphysiology many willtakeapostgraduate university level. Followinguniversity, science orsportsdegreeat physiologists willhave studiedabiomedical you willhave studiedphysiology. Most If youhave studiedbiologyatanylevel, in physiology? What’s the best route into acareer cardiovascular disease. combatageingand assess howexercisecanhelpthegeneral apply theirknowledgemorebroadlyto the peakoftheirperformance,whileothers apply theirsciencetohelpathletesreach lab. Exercisephysiologists,forexample, ● ● www.the-aps.org www.physoc.org However, noteveryone willcontinueto However, notallphysiologistswork ina

AMMRF, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY AMMRF, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY able to help increase the number of people reduce the perception of effort you may be Absolutely. Ifyou can better understand and which could help reduce obesity? of effort could lead to pain-free exercise, Do you think your work on the perception physiology, but not fatigue. perceptions like pain andappetite andtheir of effort. There isa lot known about the became very interested intheir perception of life the most isoften chronic fatigue. SoI problems, the thing that limits their quality cancer, which cause muscle wasting rheumatic diseases, disease and Working with patients affected by research could lead to? What applications doyou hopeyour but will still feel a perception of ‘effort’. will not feel any signals orpain from them, into the leg muscles, when you move you afferent by injecting anaesthetic the brain activates the muscle. Ifyou block central motor command –how forcefully perceive effort is based on the brain’s brain that generates aperception of effort. something called afferent feedback to the during exercise. The receptors send that are stimulated by physical changes receptors inthe muscle/ andlungs perception comes from the variety of you perceive fatigue: the first is that lot of research aboutmuscle fatigue. little science onit,while there isanawful tired orunder pressure, but there’s very often hear them say they were mentally manager’s team performs badly you’ll performance. Every time afootball fatigue, which limits performance. fatigue, not muscle or cardiovascular nearly always athletes’ perception of people’s perception of effort andhow itis neurophysiology andpsychobiology in My mainspeciality isthe role of What are you currently working on? Professor Samuele Marcora FIRST PERSON The Isupport is that how you There are two main on how Also, how mental fatigue limits

lives gives mesatisfaction. athletes, and knowing ithasimproved their my research ispicked upby coaches and application of science to .Much of good for people who like to see the direct We work with humans,not mice! I think itis and what type of does it suit? What doyou like about sport physiology athletes andpeople like cardiac patients. health andrehabilitation, involving both other group concentrates more onphysical at fatigue andendurance inathletes. Our In oursports performance group we look What other research doesyour team do? 2000s was the best inthe world. professional cycling team that inthe early I’ve been scientific adviser a to Mapei, sporting greats orhigh-profile teams? Has your work ever led to working with became interested initthat way. biochemistry andphysiology, andso I PE degree we hadto study , to get into the physiology of it. During my performance andyour nutrition; you start you can improve your training, your American football. I was interested inhow competitive athlete inbasketball and into physiology. When Iwas young Iwas a It started through sport and then Imoved How didyou get into physiology? funding for this area of ourresearch. taking exercise. Hopefully we will receive Physiologists often work athletes with Profession exercising people of the number to increase may be able you effort, perception of reduce the If you can fatigue inclinical performance; exercise and endurance perceived exertion Neurophysiology of Research interests education BSc inphysical performance, in human physiology, MSc PhD inexercise Qualifications Kentof Studies, University Centre for Sports research at the and director of Professor of

17 CORE BIOLOGY 18 CORE BIOLOGY Plant science Plant science Kew Gardens, London Inside the Palm House, The modern, multidisciplinary study of plants P classification of plants, algae and fungi classification ofplants,algaeandfungi developed fromthecollectionand global health. global health. protecting biodiversity andimproving adapt toandmitigate climatechange; a growingglobal population;helpingus the 21stcentury–ensuringfoodsecurity for responding tothecriticalchallenges of way theydo.Today plantscientistsare study ofhowandwhyplantsgrow inthe throughout humanhistory. source offood,medicineandmaterials ecosystems. Theyhave beenacrucial sun’s energy, sustainmostoftheEarth's molecular oxygenandbyharnessingthe Green plantsprovidemostoftheworld's Why is itimportant? pressing issues. with solvingsomeoftheworld’s most into abranchofthebiosciencesconcerned Botany is no longer confined to the Botany isnolongerconfinedtothe better knownasbotany. Ithas multidisciplinary studyofplants,once lant scienceisthemodern,

energy and products such as biofuels and energy andproductssuchasbiofuels agricultural practices,andproducinggreen and healthyfood,developing sustainable research focusedongrowingmoreefficient science isattheforefrontofinvestment and world. Thingsarechanging,however. Plant UK andmanyothercountriesaroundthe There isashortageofplantscientistsinthe What careers are available? ● on theGlobalPlant Council’swebsite: food production. Alistoflinkscanbefound science suchasforestry, agricultureand information onspecificbranches ofcrop charities aroundtheworld thathave There aremanymoreorganisations and ● information instudyingitatuniversity. plant scienceatschoollevel andhas Science andPlantsforSchoolspromotes ● the UK’splantsciencecommunity. Society’s specialinterestgroups,represents The UKPlantSciencesFederation,oneofthe Where can Ifindoutmore? especially inmoreruralareas. available frommanyuniversities intheUK, horticulture andagriculturearealso in theiracademiccareers.Degrees undergraduate degreesandspecialiselater take moregeneralbioscience biology orwildlife.Plantscientistscanalso subjects suchassoilscience,cellular joint degreescombinedwithrelated by plantsciencecourses,someofwhichare Botany degreeshave largelybeenreplaced How doIget into it? museums orwithsportsturfs. working inbotanicalgardens,zoos, industries. Othercareersareavailable science intousefulapplicationsacrossthese trained tohelptranslatecuttingedgeplant believes thatmoreplantscientistsmustbe a recentreportontheindustry, thesector and industrialbiotechnology. Accordingto agriculture, pharmaceuticals,, food, diverse rangeofkeyindustriesincluding bioplastics. Plantscientistscontributetoa ● ● ● globalplantcouncil.org/resources www.saps.org.uk www.plantsci.org.uk a hint of what to do,butitwasn’t until I was since Iwas 10,which should have given me been reading degree-level texts onplants at Kew, butrealised Ihated gardening. I’d worked inanursery andtried horticulture school anddidnot dowell academically. I plants, butIwent a bit crazy at secondary route. As achild Iwas obsessed with I think it’swhat they call a‘non-traditional’ How didyou get into plant science? that the public find very disturbing. murders. Inother words, high profile cases seriously organised crime, orchild effort to hide the body. It tends to be horrific, or someone hasgone to a lot of vegetation evidence, tend to beparticularly open , where there is domestic environment. Sothe onesin The majority of murders are in the built or forensic work you do? How much can you tell us about the scene for upto three days. straight away. Imay have to be at the crime work, inparticular, if I get a call Ihave to go, schedule is pretty fluid. With the forensic Knightsbridge 60%of the time, butmy attempted murder. scenes – mostly involving murder or took adegree inbotany. Iwent on to doa 27 after several years of dithering that I fragments to link suspects to crime help the police by analysing vegetation plants andinsects inour collections. look at the interrelationship between the with the museum’s experts to species are effective. Ialso work closely organisms that can control invasive public engagement work andinensuring I represent the museum for avariety of research, mostly onenvironmental change. Herbarium, and use those materials to do 620,000 specimens of The British andIrish curatorial standards. Imanagethe My jobispretty diverse andcomplex by What doesyour jobinvolve? Dr Mark Spencer FIRST PERSON I ambased inthe museum at Then there is my forensic case work.I

biodiversity valued more. whole organisms, ecology, and plant start to see people with knowledge of round the corner. Hopefully we’ll some pretty significant changes to the Without sounding too dramatic, there are start disappearing it would be catastrophic. the fields used to graze cattle. Ifit were to Britain – it’son football pitches, lawns, and is probably the most important grass in will be key. Perennial ryegrass, for example, plants respond to environmental change Using plant science to understand how important inthe future? Where doyou think plant science will be long way off that. view science and,unfortunately, we’re a here isafundamental change inhow we been lots of investment. What’s needed China itisrelatively buoyant andthere has continued decline. Inother countries like but we’ll probably see agradual and In the UKitisjust aboutholding its own, and taxonomy? Do you fear for the future of took roles inhistorical botany andcuration. discipline hasjust been ravaged.I Then jobs infungal taxonomy these days – that years infield botany, as there are very few called PhD inthe systematics of aquatic fungi Forensics crime scene a at Peronosporomycetes. Ididafew Profession horrific particularly be to tend evidence, vegetationis there where landscapes, open Murders in fungal systematics climate change, Invasive species, Interests fungal systematics BSc botany, PhD Qualifications History Museum Herbarium, Natural British and Irish Senior curator, 19 CORE BIOLOGY 20 CORE BIOLOGY Zoology species on Earth on species fraction the of make up only atiny them, Despite interest our in The study of animalsandhow they behave, reproduce, evolve andinteract Z balancing delicate ecosystems and balancing delicateecosystems and and species andtheir habitats.Preserving ofanimal efforts ontheconservation Zoological institutions oftenfocustheir Why isitimportant? and . taxonomy, palaeontology, including ecology, conservation, range ofrelateddisciplinesandfields, and broadsubjectencompassinga study offish)tonameafew. Itis acomplex study ofprimates)orichthyology(the (the studyofbirds), particular types of animal: particular typesofanimal:ornithology sub-disciplines basedonthestudyof cellular ormolecularlevel. biology thatspecificallystudylifeatthe biology’ incontrasttootherbranchesof as animalbiologyor‘wholeorganism their environment.Itissometimesknown It can be broken down into numerous It canbebrokendownintonumerous reproduce, evolve andinteractwith animals, includinghowtheybehave, oology isthescientificstudyof

range of career areas, including range ofcareerareas,including Zoology graduatesareemployedinawide What careers are available? higher mammals–ourselves. and –bystudyingbehaviour, and understand wildlifeandourenvironment animals. Zoologyenablesustobetter biodiversity iscriticaltohumansaswell as ● their habitats. ofanimalspeciesand to theconservation scientific projects andtrainingrelated the InstituteofZoology, specialisesin educational charity. Itsresearchdivision, and international scientific,conservation The ZoologicalSocietyofLondon isan Where can Ifindoutmore? as aspecificdegree. ranking university thatofferszoology are goodandImperialisthehighest University Guide,employmentprospects subjects. AccordingtoTheComplete with relatedandcompletelyunrelated There arealsojointhonourscourses, courses withayear’sindustrialplacement. year course,thoughsomeofferfour degree. Mostuniversities offerathree to getontoazoologyoranimalbiology field researchexperience. analytical skills,andbothlaboratory employers, includingdatahandling, many transferableskillsvalued bymany Studying foradegreeinzoologyprovides How doIget into acareer inzoology? and researchinstitutes. libraries andmuseums;universities and animalcharities;sciencecentres, parks; government agencies;environmental employers includezoosandwildlife and not-for-profitsectors. Typical organisations inthepublic,private media, teaching,andsciencepolicy. veterinary sciences,animalecology, the management, tourism,medicalresearch, environmentalandwildlife conservation, ● www.zsl.org An A-level inbiologyisoftenessential Jobs areavailable withavariety of

find more efficient ways tounderstand running out, what’s a priority. Weneed to your stock –what there’s a lot of, what’s a business –you have to understand and which onesare indecline. It’slike about which populations are where conservation work ifwe are ignorant where species occur. Itreally inhibits I think it’sourlack of knowledge about motivates you? What isitaboutyour work that been pictured, ever. leopard inanarea where one has never pretty incredible, like when you spot a identifying pictures. Alot of them are locate the cameras. example, the best way to position and up the –determining, for with their survey designs andwith setting Kenya, Saudi Arabia. I help the teams field – Mongolia, Indonesia, Guinea, communication with ourteams inthe I’m mostly office based, butI’min constant What doesatypical day involve? survey isstill going. to start analysing the data while the time lag, so this technology allows us species we can’t afford to have that that was ayear old. With disappearing knew it,your report was onasurvey very labour intensive and,before you to gothrough andanalyse. Itcould be of imagesonacard that someone had you would have hundreds of thousands way to dothat. wildlife and Ithink technology isthe best running for six months, and at the end camera trap istriggered. you anemail of the picture every time a a project called ‘Instant Wild’ which sends species. At the moment we are developing monitor andresearch rare orendangered I use camera-trap technology to help coordinator, what do you do? As aconservation technology project Olivia Needham FIRST PERSON I spend alot of time looking at and Previously you might have 20cameras

animal has never has animal been pictured before this image of aleopard, in an area where the Camera trap technology was used to capture campaigning streak. important, aswell ashaving a bit of a issues andhow things are connected is understanding of socio-economic interact with humans.So I think a deep interconnected things, andhow animals it’s aboutunderstanding lots of It’s not strictly aresearch discipline – type of person? Do you think zoology attracts acertain and ourfood. like ahoneybee isfor things like pollination connected andhow important something It just really hithomehow everything is on indicator species andecosystems. studies course inhighschool. Itfocused I remember taking an environmental zoology? you decided you wanted to study Do you remember when orwhy in real time. to date with what’s goingoninanarea guns. It’sgoodto beable to keep up of photographs featuring people with We also spot poachers – I see a lot

Profession to do that to that do way best the technology is think I wildlife and understand to ways efficient morefind We to need in conservation researching species technology for The use of Interests at UCL in Conservation California. Masters of Redlands, studies, University BSc environmental Qualifications of London Zoological Society coordinator, technology project Conservation

21 CORE BIOLOGY 22 MEDICINE Bioengineering implants in futureimplants in used medical as bodily fluids could be dissolve in or Electronic circuits that Combining engineering andbiology to make new technology andmedicine B research and industrial applications. research andindustrialapplications. an increasinglyrichareaof , syntheticbiologyand work atthecellularandmolecular level, with improve medicaldevices.Bioengineers also also requirebioengineerstohelpdevelop and Johnson andGSK. The NHSandhospitals pharma companiessuchasJohnson & Philips, GEandSiemens,device and technology andimagingcompanies, suchas Some ofthebiggestemployersaremedical What careers are available? to environmentandwaste services. problems –fromfuelandfoodproduction and practicalsolutionsto‘realworld’ into usable, economically viable products into usable,economicallyviableproducts tools. Itcantranslatebiologicalknowledge biological researchintousefulsystemsor advance thestudyandapplicationofany the future.Bioengineeringalsoexiststo all settobecomekeyfieldsinthemedicineof genetic, stemcellandtissueengineeringare prosthetics andhigh-techimplants,but development ofmedicalinnovations suchas Bioengineering’s mostvisiblebranchisthe Why isitimportant? often relatedtoimprovinghumanhealth. processes foradiverse rangeofuses,but create innovative devices,materialsor engineering, technologyandmedicineto problems. It combines science, problems. Itcombinesscience, engineering tobiologicalandmedical ioengineering appliestheprinciplesof

materials, buildings and machines. materials, buildingsandmachines. things asinspirationforthedesignof niche fieldthatusesthestructureofliving Biomimeticsisamore products andservices. sale andmarketingofbioengineered numerous auxiliarycareersinthedesign, of bioengineeredtools.Therearealso the electroniccircuitryandsoftware forlots Computer scientistsarerequiredtodesign ● is MECbioeng The largestUKmeeting forbioengineering ● Medicine Institute ofPhysicsandEngineering in biomedical ● Biomedical EngineeringAssociation Institution ofMechanicalEngineers policy/panel-for-biomedical-engineering ● Royal AcademyofEngineeringPanel for support bioengineers,including: A numberofUKengineeringinstitutes ● The BiomedicalEngineeringSociety ● The AmericanInstituteforMedicaland Where can Ifindoutmore? or researchprogrammesofstudy. applications throughpostgraduatemaster's their educationandresearchonbiological physics orcomputersciencebeforefocusing study moregeneralengineering,mechanics, medical engineering.Somebioengineers can bereferredtoasbioengineeringor these arecalledbiomedicalengineering,but bioengineering coursesintheUK.Often undergraduate andpostgraduate There areagrowingnumberofaccredited How doIbecome abioengineer? terms ofpayandjobsatisfaction. biomedical ‘bestjobinAmerica’ in degree totake,andCNNMoneyvoted biomedical engineeringasthemostvaluable ● ● ● ● ● ● www.mecbioeng.org www.ipem.ac.uk www.imeche.org/knowledge/industries/ www.raeng.org.uk/policy/engineering- http://bmes.org http://navigate.aimbe.org In theUS,Forbes magazinenamed on which Igrow the heart cells was out how we can move forward. Thematrix with mechanical to help work collaboration. With my projects, I often sit there’s lots of sharing of expertise and so bigthat you can’t work by yourself; biologists all working here. computer scientists, engineers and It’s so multi-disciplinary: we have chemists, really want to continue working inthis field. engineering isreally exciting and I bioengineering? What doyou enjoy about the heart to repair damaged tissue. or tissue to regenerate. New cells grow on self-healing patch to encourage stem cells injected into the heart to act like a sort of which are special that can be My colleagues are working on hydrogels, on inthe lab? What other interesting things are going previous 2Dsystems. more sensitive to the drug treatment than direction. The 3D makes it much grow tiny fibres that mimics the way heart cells Cells grow along afilamentous of three-dimensional diseased cardiac tissue. need to betested on human tissue anyway. research anddrugs tested on animals still It’s good to reduce the use of animals in to drugs, andtry to replace animal models. for example, heart or microtissues react screening and discovery. We can study how, different types of human tissue for drug ‘organ ona chip’ microsystems to mimic Using stem cells, my colleagues create What isyour lab working on? culture medium isexpensive food. when Iget here isto feed them. And cell – it’slike having apuppy. Thefirstdo thingI I have to take care of my cells every day engineering lab involve? What doesanaverage day inatissue Dr Zhen Ma FIRST PERSON Some of the other scientific projects are I work specifically on heart cells: I create , where they align inone have ahugeimpact onhumanhealthcare. engineering technology together could technology andstem cell and tissue how those cells progress. Bringing that healthy cells to become diseased to study genomic engineering, where you change The area I think is really hot right now is in the future? What excites you aboutbioengineering more interested inbioengineering. levels in blood, andthen became more and master’s oninstruments to detect was inelectrical engineering, then Idida bioengineers. My undergraduate degree make itbetter to work for us?’ ‘OK, we know this works, so how can we does this work?’, while the engineer says engineers isthat the biologist says ‘how The difference between biologists and approaches differ? Have you found biology and engineering 5 microns (0.005mm)thick. for example. The special fibres are just fabricated by the engineering department, (green), cardiomyocyte and (blue) nuclei artificial fibres (red), cardiomyocyte bodiescell micrographA cardiac of microtissue, showing It’s interesting how people become

Profession react to drugs microtissues liver or how heart study We can biomaterials technology, ‘heart onachip’ and engineering, biology Interests China Tianjin University, (engineering) China; BSc Tianjin University, instrumentation) MSc (bio- Clemson University; (bioengineering) PhD Qualifications Berkeley, US California, University of , associate, Healey Postdoctoral

23 MEDICINE 24 MEDICINE Clinical trials on the market are safe ensure that Clinical help to trials Biomedical orbehavioural research studies onhumansubjects C on human subjects determine the safety on humansubjectsdeterminethesafety Extensive biomedicalorbehavioural studies health, safely. the medicineswe takewillimprove our but ultimatelythey give usconfidencethat report andcostmany millionsofpounds, children. Clinicaltrialscantakeyears to limb formationinthousandsoftheir pregnant women, butcausedabnormal prescribed toalleviatemorningsickness in memorably thalidomidewas oncewidely consequences throughouthistory. Most promising drugshashaddevastating Failure tofullyinvestigate thesafetyof Why is itimportant? approved foruseasmedicine. and efficacyofanytreatmentbeforeitis final stages of the development of all final stagesofthedevelopment ofall linical trialsmakeupthecrucial regulated drugs and therapies. regulated drugsandtherapies.

Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency Healthcare ProductsRegulatoryAgency public bodies–suchastheMedicinesand academic researchunits.Amultitudeof research organisations,hospitalsor device companies,butalsobyindependent pharmaceutical, biotechnologyormedical government healthagenciesor Clinical trialsareusuallyconductedby What careers are available? ● 185 countriesaround theworld. information on164,703 studiesin Clinicaltrials.gov currentlyholds ● that runtrials. UK aswell asusefullinkstoorganisations information onalltrialsrunning in the The UKclinicaltrialsgateway provides ● information forresearchersandfunders. Clinical Trials Network provides The UKClinicalResearchCollaboration’s ● studentships, fellowships andfunding. research rolesandinformationon has asectiononcareersandtrainingin The MedicalResearchCouncil’swebsite Where can Ifindoutmore? cost-effective. the NHSonwhattherapiesaremost sources, includingclinicaltrials,toadvise NICE helpsinterpretdatafromarangeof administered. IntheUK,forexample, dependent onhowhealthcareis opportunities aroundtheworld are analyse andinterprettrialdata.Other (see opposite)whileteamsofstatisticians required toorganisethesecomplextrials across manycountries.Trial managersare involving realpatientsininstitutionsspread studies, tothedesignofhugetrials research rolesinsmall,earlyphasepilot drug approval process,fromlab-based approved drugs. regulate clinicaltrialsandtheuseof Care Excellence(NICE)intheUK– and theNationalInstituteforHealth ● ● ● ● clinicaltrials.gov www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk www.ukcrc.org www.mrc.ac.uk Careers areavailable atallstagesofthe

Claire Snowdon FIRST PERSON pharmaceutical industry, butdon’tknow London before coming to the Institute. to academia, working for Imperial College on clinical trials inindustry andmoved back first worked on clinical trials. I then worked , which iswhen I I took aresearch assistant’s jobat The ecology, anddidn’treally know what to do. I didadegree inzoology, then amaster’s in How didyou come to work in clinical trials? within the typical care pathways inthe NHS. interesting butlogistically challenging to fit A trial concept may bescientifically very 100 hospitals to onecentre for analysis? logistics: how dowe get samples from Much of the trial management role is not delay novel treatments unnecessarily. trials isnot overly bureaucratic anddoes groups to ensure EUlegislation onclinical standards. Ialso work with various lobby of the highest scientific quality and safety of liaising to make sure that the trials are well asfunders andregulators. There’s lots statisticians –locally and nationally –as hospitals andanalyse the results. the trial, collect data from the participating delivery. Wethen oversee the conduct of develop the complex logistics for its advise onthe statistical design and clinicians have aconcept for atrial, we clinical trials for cancer treatments. When In ourunitwe design, develop andanalyse What doesatypical day involve? The Institute of Cancer Research’s trials can involve up to 150 hospitals People are aware of drug research in the I work with lab scientists, clinicians and

a patient population. you will always need to puttreatments into Pre-clinical trials may change greatly, but will the nature of the trials change? As drug screening technology improves, postmenopausal women istreated. to influence how breast cancer in improved disease free survival andwent on after two to three years of treatment. It involved switching to aromatase inhibitors, everyone. Wetrialled treatment that effective drug, butdoesn’t work for tamoxifen to stop itcoming back. Itisan breast cancer were typically treated with Yes, patients with sensitive that hadapositive outcome? Has there been atrial you’ve worked on – butyou can see them making adifference. successful anditcan be very bureaucratic can take a long time to report, not all are of cancer patients isrewarding. Clinical trials Working onahugeexperiment for the benefit Is itarewarding job? university settings asacareer option. looking to promote clinical trials in facilities in the UKandabroad. Weare with visits to hospitals, labs andresearch research, butmuch of it isoffice-based, Clinical trials allow you to stay in biomedical spend the rest of their life working inalab. certain point and think they don’twant to path available. A lot of scientists get to a there isanequivalent academic career Profession rewarding patients is cancer of benefit the for huge a on Working Clinical trial Interests MSc ecology BSc zoology, Qualifications Cancer Research Unit, Institute of Trials andStatistics operations, Clinical Deputy director of

25 MEDICINE 26 MEDICINE other body reacts to control how the thyroidThe helps The study of hormones Endocrinology

E there through a variety of routes. there through avariety ofroutes. so thoseworking withinthefieldarrived degree coursein endocrinologyand Currently, thereisn’t anundergraduate How doIget into endocrinology? and treattheseconditions. work tounderstand hormonefunction obesity andcancer. Endocrinologists some sexualproblems,appetiteand include diabetes,thyroidconditions, the majordiseasesofmankind.These the way theywork contributetosomeof appetite. Problems with hormones and appetite. Problemswithhormonesand growth, puberty, sugarregulation and range ofphysiologicalactivities,suchas Hormones influenceorcontrolawide Why is endocrinology important? and animals. cell, andarethereforefoundinallplants found inorganismswithmorethanone other partsofthebody. Hormonesare released (secreted)andhave aneffecton group ofcells,toanother. Hormonesare chemical messenger from one cell, or chemical messengerfromonecell,or At itssimplest,ahormoneis ndocrinology isthestudyofhormones.

● Hormones website. Society forEndocrinology’s You andYour and endocrinescience canbefoundatthe More generalinformationabout hormones ● endocrine careers. information onendocrinologyand The SocietyforEndocrinologyprovides Where can Ifindoutmore? environmentalists orclinicalbiochemists. researchers, nurses,vets, doctors, academic researchers,laboratory pharmaceutical industry, or as toxicologists, employed asdrugdevelopers inthe our lifeandwork. Endocrinologistsare Endocrinology encompassesmanyareasof What can Idowith endocrinology? in endocrinology. postgraduate andpostdoctoralresearch a biologicalscienceandthencarryout complete anundergraduatedegreein pathway. Alternatively, youmight and thenfollowaclinicalacademic allows youtospecialiseinendocrinology ● ● For example, a degree in medicine For example,adegreeinmedicine www.yourhormones.info www.endocrinology.org

Endocrinology people are very interested init. the reproductive system that alot of field. Kisspeptin hassuch abig effecton kisspeptin was ashot inthe arm for the The discovery of aneuropeptide called Reproductive endocrinology isinteresting. endocrinology at the moment? Are there any other hot topics in can convince people is worth funding. What you really need isonesolid idea you about having brilliant ideas all the time. long. Asuccessful career isnot necessarily because itishard work andthe hours are Focus onanarea you’re interested in budding endocrinologists? What advice doyou have for also funding available. public interest andthere’s big problem, so there’s regulation of obesity isa The neuroendocrine endocrinology? to specialise in I’ve got asoft spot for YY. It’s What isyour favourite hormone? What madeyou decide where I currently work. technician after my degree, inthe lab what really got meinto itwas working as a studied some basic endocrinology, but A BSc inphysiology andzoology. We What didyou study at university? use that asatreatment for obesity. that make usfeel full after we’ve eaten and therapies. Iwant to hijack the mechanisms that could betargets for anti-obesity appetite isregulated, particularly those the physiological mechanisms by which My majorfocus isobesity. I’m interested in What isthe focus of your research? and administration. My jobrevolves around research, teaching What doesyour jobinvolve? Dr Kevin Murphy FIRST PERSON

hexamer 3D ribbons 3D hexamer Human are found in the when chemicals that disrupt the Endocrinology also hits the headlines certain side effects. people would bemore willing to tolerate the risks associated with being obese, sloshed into the water supply willy-nilly. hopefully we won’t just have these things and chemical regulation become tighter, they are effective. As environmental law problem itis,butthere isevidence that receptors. We don’t really know how biga react with, for example, oestrogen though they are hormones, so they cross- The major worry is that chemicals actas endocrine disruptors have inthe body? environ than a single golden bullet, andcombining end upwith isa combination of drugs rather they’re ostensibly well. What we’ll probably you don’twant to make people sick when be very careful about side effects because because safety isparamount. You have to Drug development takes along time Do you think we’ll see a cure for obesity? target molecules to specific cell types. be alot of interest in whether we can with other disciplines. There’s also going to We’re goingto become more integrated Where isendocrinology headed? signals to the brain to reduce appetite. released from the gut after a meal andit drugs tends to lengthen the ment. What effect do these much, buthave hadside effects. really reduced body weight and If we came upwith adrug that reduced body weight very development time required. Would some side effects anti-obesity drugs haven’t partly because previous health risks of obesity? be acceptable given the Most people would say “no” at the moment,

Profession obesity them to treat and use we’ve eaten feel fullafter that make us mechanisms the hijack I want to kisspeptin in intake. The role of regulate food the brain to communicates with tract the gastrointestinal weight, andhow appetite andbody The control of Research Interests and Teaching Learning Advanced Study in of Certificate physiology, zoology and PhD, BSc (Hons)in Qualifications endocrinology Reader in

27 MEDICINE 28 MEDICINE Immunology infected cell infected attacking an Natural killer cell The study of the

I as clinical scientists in the healthcare as clinical scientistsinthe healthcare developers inthepharmaceuticalindustry, working asscientistsinuniversities, asdrug sectors. You canfindimmunologists Immunologists work inmanydifferent What careers are available? how itworks. we stillhave lotsmoretofindoutabout immune systemisincrediblycomplex and diabetes) andavariety ofcancers.The autoimmune conditions(suchastype1 diseases (suchasinfluenzaandEbola), affecting mankind,includinginfectious treatments tosomeofthemajordiseases cancer immunotherapy. recent ,includingvaccination and has ledtosomekeyhealthcareadvances of at thecuttingedgeofmedicalscienceand Itis human andanimalhealthsurvival. The studyofimmunologyiscriticalto Why isimmunology important? interventions totreatandprevent diseases. viruses andthedevelopment ofmedical body fightsinfectionsfrombacteriaand states. It includes the study of how the states. Itincludesthestudyofhow system inbothhealthyanddiseased mmunology isthestudyofimmune Immunologists aredeveloping new ● Immunology website. can befoundon their Bite-Sized More generalinformation onimmunology ● provides careersinformation. The BritishSocietyforImmunology Where can Ifindoutmore? working onimmunology focusedprojects. between researchersfromdifferentfields means thereisnowincreasedcollaboration such ascomputingandbioinformatics.This interdisciplinary skillsfromothersectors, more complex,itisincreasinglyutilising qualifications while working. undergraduate courseandgainadditional choose togostraightintowork aftertheir immune system.However, somepeople in moredepthonaparticularaspectofthe postgraduate study(suchasaPhD),focusing or arelatedbiosciencesubject,followed by for anundergraduatedegreeinimmunology immunologist. Thestandardpathistostudy There aremanyroutestobecomingan How doIget into acareer inimmunology? name butafew. system orasclinicians,nursesandvets, to ● ● bitesized.immunology.org www.immunology.org As thedisciplineofimmunologybecomes

Carol and Mike Werner/Science Photo Library David Scharf/Science Photo Library there’s always loads of new data it could help people. It’s exciting, too: with immunology you could see how I don’tlike dry chemical equations and tutor ifIcould doaPhDandshe said yes. on immunology, so Iasked my course master’s, butreally enjoyed my module I actually didabiochemistry degree and immunology? How didyou become interested in the disease. you could block the development of from accumulating inthe inflamed joints we found that ifyou could block them such asarthritis and malaria. In arthritis previously looked at their role indiseases cells that respond to infections. Ihave I amaspecialist inT-cells, white blood interest you? What other areas of immunology my mice. and answer emails, before working with an analysis orPCR –then Ihave my coffee and set upthe day’s experiment –running infections. Iget inearly at about7am and see ifithelps their defence against human cells with antimicrobial It’s all lab work. Wetreat animaland What doesanaverage day involve? control infections in the future. peptides could be analternative way to of antimicrobial resistance –antimicrobial relevant because of the increasing problem well asantibacterial. fast turnarounds. being produced andexperiments have looking at whether they are antiviral as in the body’s immuneresponse. I’m but itisnow thought they have a wider role directly by drilling holes intheir cell walls, that these peptides just kill bacteria in every bodily fluid. It was once thought molecules that are found all over the body, I work onantimicrobial peptides – What doyou do? Emily Gwyer Findlay FIRST PERSON The work of the lab is particularly

of aT-lymphocyte or T-cell Coloured scanning electron micrograph to understand. moment, andsomething we are all trying interesting andthe biggrowth area at the responses to . Thisishugely role ourcommensal have inimmune understanding the massively important to grow them –hasmeant we’re suddenly species – by sequencing rather than trying particular, the way we detect bacterial the techniques we use advance rapidly. In At the moment everything ischanging as immunology inthe future? What doyou think will be exciting about problems for along time. people who like to focus on very specific it attracts big-picture thinkers, rather than just to understand what’s goingon.Ithink and then you have to read 50other papers happen that noonehasever seen before amount of time reading –something will It isvery complicated. I spend ahuge type of person? agree? And doesitattract acertain incredibly complicated. Would you Immunology isknown for being

Profession and malaria and arthritisas such diseases T-cells in the roleat of haveI looked models of infection peptides, antimicrobial T-cells, Interests College London diseases, Imperial inflammatory T-cells and London; PhDon Imperial College MRes Biochemistry, Combined BSc and Qualifications Edinburgh University of Research, The Inflammation the MRC Centre for Donald Davidson at researcher with Dr Senior postdoctoral in vivo

29 MEDICINE 30 MEDICINE Neuroscience diseases treatments for scientists develop helps Learning the about The study of the nervous system N when thingsgowrong. will enableusto appreciate whathappens functions under normal circumstancesasit more abouthowthenervous system mental illnesses. diseases, suchasAlzheimer’s,and for better treatmentsforneurodegenerative important asitenablesscientists to develop Understanding thenervous systemis Why is neuroscience so important? cells()throughoutthebody. It is also important for scientists to learn It isalsoimportantforscientiststo learn and networks of sensory spinal cordandnetworks ofsensory system, whichincludesthebrain, euroscience isthestudyofnervous physiology, anatomy, andthestudyof including biology, chemistry, physics, that integratesmanyaspectsofscience aspects ofthenervous system.Itisafield computational, molecularandmedical including cellular, functional,evolutionary, broader areasofstudythanbefore, aretodayinvolved inmuch What careers are available? ● The SocietyforNeuroscience ● The EuropeanBrainandBehaviour Society ● Neurochemistry The InternationalSocietyfor ● Organization The InternationalBrainResearch ● The BritishNeuroscienceAssociation societies, including: university orthroughanumberoflearned through careeradvisersatschoolor Further informationcanbeobtained Where can Ifindoutmore? computing andmolecularbiology. genetics, ,physics,chemistry, vast, includingneuroscience,physiology, in neuroscience. doctorate andthenfinallyspecialising postdoctoral researchoramedical route tendstobeviaaPhD,followed by in neuroscience.Thestandardcareer There aremanyways togetintoacareer in neuroscience? What isthe best way to pursueacareer and pharmacareers. within the field, including research, hospital there isadiverse rangeofjobsavailable emotional andcognitive functions.Assuch, ● ● ● ● ● www.sfn.org www.ebbs-science.org www.neurochemistry.org ibro.info www.bna.org.uk The choiceoffirstdegreepriortoPhDis

Dr Zarinah Agnew FIRST PERSON your time inaway that suits you –it’s a real writing. That’s nice because you can structure stop and analyse the data and do lots of running these experiments and then you a lot to interrupt brain function. and use transcranial magnetic stimulation MEG (magnetoencephalography) scanners specialise inMRI scanning, butIalso use In LondonIwork inaresearch institute and Describe your typical working day. us abouthow are organised. patients sustain have agreat deal to teach by stroke, so the deficits that these movements that are commonly affected of speech. Unfortunately, they are allowed both tool use andthe development part of ourevolutionary history –they have our handsandmouths hasbeen amajor ability to make complex movements with advanced inhumans and itis likely that our Dexterity inthese movements ishighly more to help those with certain conditions. strategic way inhealthy people we can do that ifwe can understand the brain ina basic science – it’s early days. Theidea is Yes, ultimately, butmy research isvery cerebral lesions? develop therapies for people with feel like writing” andbeing able to dothat. luxury, actually, to wake up andthink “today I So your research may help to auditory feedback. with speech because of problems with have adeficit in the movements associated researching whether these patients also coming back from their limbs. I’m affects the visual and sensory feedback point to atarget because their lesion Patients with ataxia will often struggle to people with damageto their cerebellum. cerebellar ataxia, so mapping the brains of Francisco. I’mlooking at patients with a clinical project at the University of San as part of my postdoctorate with UCL–it’s I’m onafellowship at a hospital in America What are you doingat the moment? It’s very phasic – you work really hard

Understanding neurons of rapidly changing is set outto find? passionate about finding out what you’ve why would you bedoing this if you weren’t job that you meet someone who islazy – passion isimportant. It’s very rare inthis Dedication andintelligence too, but a goodresearcher isall aboutpassion. I don’tknow aboutneuroscience, butto be ? What sort of person makes agood and that was that – Iwas hooked. and how itispropagated down a neurone, She taught meabout the , good biology teacher who encouraged me. everyday life. At sixth form college I had a the human experience that we perceive as wanted to understand how brains produce was nothing taught in schools. I decided that I we knew about the brain –at that point there Even asa teenager, I was struck by how little in the first place? Why didyou want to study neuroscience neuroscience forever. age, but it means I've been studying something Iwanted to dofrom anearly your first degree. I realised this was so it’snot necessary to specialise in You have your whole career to specialise from a physiology orlife sciences career. people come into this sort of research neuroscience andthen aPhD, butmost advisable. Idid a master's inintegrative actually quite rare andisnot necessarily I dida degree inneuroscience which is How didyou get into your current career?

Profession important is passion but too, Intelligence passion. all about is researcher To good a be the articulators upper limbs andof movement of the especially the movement, complex voluntary The control of Interests Manchester University of neuroscience, BSc (Hons) Manchester, University of neuroscience from MRes integrative College London, PhD Imperial Qualifications London (UCL) University College Neuroscientist at

31 MEDICINE 32 MEDICINE Nutrition health and wellbeing affect development, Food choices directly The study of the effect ofdiet on thebody N directly impact growth and development directly impactgrowthanddevelopment Our dietsandthenutrientstheyprovide Why isnutrition important? biology, chemistryandphysics. food sciencetobiochemistry, molecular psychology throughfoodproductionand range ofdisciplines,fromsociologyand Nutrition thereforeencompassesabroad quality andquantityofdietaryintake. determine foodchoice,includingthe development. Italsoincludesfactorsthat intake of certain nutrients or food groups can intake ofcertainnutrientsorfoodgroupscan overconsumption and/orhabitualhighorlow health throughoutourlives. Under or in childhood,andmentalphysical impacts onhealth,wellbeing and the dietwithbody, andhowthis utrition focusesontheinteractionof

How doIget into nutrition? preventable causeofblindnessworldwide. nutrients suchasvitaminA–stillthemajor inadequate intakeofenergyorspecific people indeveloping countrieshave cardiovascular diseasesandcancers.Many such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, affect theriskofmanychronicconditions ● ethical standards throughacodeofconduct. science andagree toupholdprofessionaland whoare qualifiedinnutritional public healthandmaintainsaregister of nutritionists. Itpromotesnutrition and AfN isthevoluntary regulatorfor qualified ● and PublicHealthNutrition. including theBritishJournal ofNutrition, various aspectsofnutritionalscience, conferences andpublishesfourjournalson The NutritionSocietyhostsregular Where can Ifindoutmore? science writingorfreelanceconsultancy. and thefoodchain);sportsnutrition; (including animalnutrition,plantscience involved inpolicyandstrategy;agriculture new productsorresourcesbeing food industryandretailsectordeveloping Environment, FoodandRural Affairs;the Northern Ireland)andtheDepartmentfor Standards Agency(inScotlandand for theDepartmentofHealth,Food organisations; policydevelopment working authorities; charitiesornon-governmental promotion withintheNHSorlocal science throughtopublichealth);health academia orresearchorganisations(basic The broadrangeoffieldsincludes: Where can Iwork? Association forNutrition(AfN). Appropriate coursesareaccreditedbythe specialise duringpostgraduatestudy. nutrition ordietetics.Manywillchooseto public healthnutrition,sportandexercise specialist areaswithinthefield,suchas studying adegreeinnutritionoroneofthe The recommendedrouteisthrough ● ● www.associationfornutrition.org www.nutritionsociety.org

Professor Julie Lovegrove FIRST PERSON therapies are tailored to anindividual’s moving to apersonalised approach where changing diet to promote health, but we’re population-level recommendations for At the moment we have one-size-fits-all What are the hot topics innutrition? in industry, research andacademia. study dietetics. There are also opportunities clinical nutrition or bea dietician you need to study of nutrition. If you want to practise biochemistry and physiology underpin the Get a good grounding in science –chemistry, nutritionists? Do you have any advice for budding stage where medical attention isrequired. and diabetes before they progress to a diseases such ascardiovascular disease try to prevent the development of chronic health andpreventing disease. Weneed to and what we eat isimportant inpromoting food. Nutrition isuniquebecause we all eat I’ve always hadapassion for science and What madeyou specialise innutrition? a PhDinnutritional biochemistry. the role of nutrition in health andthis led to but Iwas more interested in understanding I trained asaclinical dietician inahospital, and inpromoting health. During my degree interests in the way diet affects ourbodies that was aperfect match between my I studied nutrition and dietetics because What didyou study at university? levels, insulin resistance andblood pressure. reduce risk factors such as plasma andcarbohydrates, andhow they interested indietary components including disease-risk of diet and lifestyle. I’m It focuses on the impact on cardiovascular What’s the focus of your research? on nutritional policy. committees which advise the Government teaching to acting onexternal national My work varies from basic research and What doesyour jobinvolve? dietary modification. hopefully they will become a useful tool for the clarity of food labels isimproved, then there are nostandards for consistency. If Some food labels are far from helpful and make healthier choices? Does food labelling lead consumers to balanced diet should beenough. anaemia. But inthe general population, a is ill orhasaspecific disease, such as Supplements may be required ifsomeone Do supplements do any good? psychological barriers to dietary change. addressed, such as genetic links and obesity. Other factors also need to be activity should gohandin hand intackling be considered in isolation. Diet and physical development andtreatment, butshouldn’t Diet plays a very important part inobesity Can nutrition solve the obesity epidemic? qualified nutritionists. established aprofessional register for with the Association for Nutrition, which has discuss nutritional issues. I amcollaborating out there are not qualified to report or thinks they’re an expert, and some people often take priority over facts. Everyone reported because sensational headlines Nutrition isbadly andoften incorrectly well inthe media? Do you think nutrition science isreported nutrient related pathways. modification, anddetailed models of us to study behaviour inrelation to dietary mathematics. Collaborating hasenabled fields, including psychology and – Icollaborate with colleagues from varied Interdisciplinary research isalso important will continue to be important. Nutrition in relation to health anddisease Where isnutrition headed asasubject? expanding area of research. diet andgenes is very important, andan needs andrisks. Theinteraction between Profession research of area expanding and an important very is genes and between diet interaction The population groups in different cardiovascular risk Impact of diet on Interests nutritionist (RNutr) dietetics; registered nutrition and biochemistry; BSc PhD innutritional Qualifications Reading University of metabolic nutrition, Professor of

33 MEDICINE 34 MEDICINE Parasitology Pediculus humanus, Pediculus infests humans louse that a The study of the interaction between parasites and their hosts

P well-known cuckoo, which hides its in well-known cuckoo,which hides itseggsin global foodsupplies andpeople’slivelihoods. equally devastating effects bydisrupting but parasitesofcropsandanimals canhave billions ofinfectionsinhumansevery year, Parasites causemillions ofdeathsand the dynamicsofecosystemsgenerally. with their hosts is often key to understanding life cycleandinteractionoftheseorganisms species areparasitic,sounderstandingthe It’s estimatedthatatleasthalfofallknown Why is itimportant? from dysenteryanddiarrhoeatomalaria. some oftheworld’s mostdeadlyillnesses, extremely common,andareresponsiblefor microbiology andvirology. Parasites are agents the focus of fields such as bacteriology, prokaryotic parasitesandotherinfectious lice, mites,protozoaandworms, with concentrate oneukaryoticparasites,suchas Parasites arehugelydiverse. Fromthe hosts. In general, parasitologists tend to hosts. Ingeneral,parasitologiststendto interaction between parasitesandtheir arasitology isthestudyof the ‘zombiefied’ ant to climb a tree, die and the ‘zombiefied’anttoclimbatree,dieand behaviour ofants,includingonethatcauses alone have evolved tomanipulatethe remarkable. Over ahundredspeciesoffungi employ toexploittheirhostsareoften the tongueoncewas, thestrategiesparasites the tonguesoffishandattachesitselfwhere Cymothoa exigua,whichdestroys another ’sbrood,tothehorrificparasitic ● parasite researchers. represents theUK communityof The BritishSociety forParasitology Where can Ifindoutmore? Glasgow, offerparasitologydegrees. A fewinstitutions,suchastheUniversity of molecular parasitologyandvector biology. courses includemedicalparasitology, courses areatpostgraduatelevel; common PhD level. Themajorityofparasitology careers afterspecialisingatmaster’sor Many parasitologistsprogressintoresearch How doIget into it? international development. roles becauseofthefield’slinksto are alsoopportunitiesincharityandpolicy in orvisitdeveloping countries,andthere outbreaks. Manyparasitologistswillwork controlling infectionsandpredictingfuture through researchisalsoimportantin genes, proteins,lifecycleandevolution drug resistance,sounderstandingtheir people’s petsfreefromworms andfleas. agriculture andaquaculture,tokeep disease inhumans,toprevent lossesin parasitologists tohelptreatparasitic and thepharmaceuticalindustryneed parasitic infections.Biotechcompanies prophylactics andvaccines thatprevent organisations toevaluate treatments, public healthbodiesandresearch Parasitologists arelargelyemployedby What careers are available? parasites, knownashyperparasites. There areeven parasitesoftheseant release sporesontoitsfellowworkers below. ● www.bspuk.org Just likebacteria,parasitescandevelop

we have here inthe West andmaking it Absolutely. It’sabouttaking the technology attracted you to parasitology? Is public health, andsaving lives, what tropical diseases. soon to discuss diagnostics for I ammeeting with the Gates Foundation and oversee the of ourexperiments. lab so much now, butIdotrain people other manuscripts. Idon’twork inthe a project for publication orpeer reviewing are going.Then I’ll work on writing up how the enrolment of patients andresults a project coordinator abroad andcheck I’ll usually have aSkype conversation with What doesyour typical day involve? bites. trypanosomes delivered intsetse or sleeping sickness, iscaused by to 50,000deaths ayear. Trypanosomiasis, and causes aspectrum of illnesses andup Leishmania is spread via sandfly bites They are both protozoa, spread by . How are these diseases spread? parasite’s DNA inthe blood. results. Most of them involve detecting the tests can give more accurate andrapid miss alow number of parasites. Molecular you need skilled operators anditiseasy to has been anexcellent diagnostic tool, but No. hassaved many lives and for these parasites any more then? So you don’tjust look down amicroscope trypanosomiasis. diseases such asleishmaniasis and tools to sensitively test for Kinetoplastida an endemic setting. cost effective and simple enough to use in development of simplified molecular procedures. Iaminvolved in the these are compared with more traditional diagnostic tests andto see how effective train people how to perform new I develop new tests to detect parasites, What doesyour jobinvolve? Dr Emily Adams FIRST PERSON

to try to eliminate them. and there will be alot of work being done specified by the World Health Organization There are 17neglected tropical diseases the field in the future? What doyou think will be important for parasitic infection. some samples, sometimes revealing a are feeling unwell, they can give us on holiday. Ifthey come back andthey get their before they gooff Clinic where people can come inand in nature. Wehave the Well-Travelled great examples of the weird and wonderful some fabulous parasites out there, with LSTM, the really weird stuff. There are that showed some of the highlights of There have been a few programmes working at the LSTM? strange tropical parasitic diseases while Have you encountered lots of other (LSTM) andWarwick University. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine role isajoint appointment between the diseases such asleishmaniasis. My current developing and evaluating diagnostics for Amsterdam at the Royal Tropical Institute trypanosomes. Ithen worked in to differentiate between types of My PhDwas developing molecular tests How didyou get to where you are now? A trypanosome next to a human red

Profession blood the in DNA parasite’s detecting a involve tests molecular Most diseases kinetoplastid diagnostics, and implementation of Evaluation and Interests parasitology PhD inmolecular biosciences, BSc, MSc Qualifications appointment) Warwick (joint and University of Tropical Medicine Liverpool School of diagnostics, Lecturer intropical 35 MEDICINE 36 MEDICINE Pharmacology drugs target system which many crossing , a a illustration digital A of The study of how medicines and other drugs work andare processed by the body P biosciences industries. biosciences industries. andthepharmaceutical and health service, in universities, government agencies, the to today’sscience andtomorrow’smedicines Pharmacologists make a unique contribution What types of career are available? medicine discovery, testingandclinicaluse. providing vitalanswers atevery stageof millions ofpeopleacrosstheworld by drugs andwhysomecauseaddiction. individuals differintheway theyrespondto side effectsofmedicines,thereasonswhy essential forunderstandingtheunwanted many otherseriousdiseases.Itisalso depression andheartdisease,aswell as help fightcommondiseasessuchascancer, is vitalfordiscovering newmedicinesto other aspectsofmodernlife.Pharmacology drinks, environmentalpollutionandmany consumption ofalcoholandcaffeinein problem ofdrugsinsport,theeveryday through themedicinesthatwe take,the Drugs affectallofusinoneway oranother, Why ispharmacology important? crucial inmedicineandotherlifesciences. many otherdisciplines,pharmacologyis chemistry, physiologyandpathologywith Pharmacology improves thelives of are processedbythebody. Linking and otherdrugswork andhowthey harmacology studieshowmedicines pharmacological research into medicines pharmacological researchintomedicines pharmacologists helptotranslatebasic models ofdisease.Clinicalresearch medicines work, sometimesusinganimal research inalabintohowdrugsand and industrypharmacologistsconductbasic academia, industryorhealthcare.Academic broadly work inoneofthreesettings: pharmacologists go on to careers outside pharmacologists goontocareersoutside prescribing anduseofdrugs.Many to specialiseinthesafeandeffective therapeutics, whichtrainsmedicaldoctors specialty calledclinicalpharmacologyand ready foruse.Thereisalsoamedical ● including casestudies. of careersinformation available, Pharmaceutical Industry hasarange The AssociationoftheBritish ● studying andworking inpharmacology. and offersinformationsupport about Member Organisationforpharmacologists The BritishPharmacologicalSociety isa Where can Ifindoutmore? and therapeutics. specialising inclinicalpharmacology studied foramedicaldegreebefore youwillneedtohavethe healthservice, related fields. the disciplineofpharmacologyfromother, at graduatelevel. Manyscientistscometo working in industry will be employed directly PhD level, althoughsomepharmacologists undertake postgraduatestudyatmaster’sor academic orindustrysetting,mayalso wish tocontinueinresearch,whetheran as biochemistryorphysiology. Thosewho pharmacology orarelatedlifesciencesuch career withanundergraduatedegreein Most pharmacologistswillhave startedtheir How doIget into apharmacology career? discovery industry. policy andregulatoryrolesinthedrug teaching, sciencecommunication, the lab,infieldssuchasscientificpublishing, ● ● Pharmacologists carrying out research Pharmacologists carryingoutresearch careers.abpi.org.uk careers.abpi.org.uk www.bps.ac.uk/careers To becomeaclinicalpharmacologistin

MRC Unit, Wellcome Images large companies you often end updoing molecular biologist at Pfizer, and at very My background isingenetics. Iwas a venom? How didyou get into working with very different, of course. , too. Venomous andpoisonous are tens of thousands of venomous and There are also many scorpion species, and , andalmost all of them have venom. species of tarantulas alone, and20,000 Tens of millions we think. There are 930 animal are there? you came there to do.SoIstarted to work what they need you to do, rather than what How many species of venomous variations andmutations. we are building a natural library of all these difference in the peptide sequence. So extent –sometimes it is just asingle amino inhibit pain inhumans. swimming away, butitalso appears to ’ motor signals and stop them The has evolved the venom to inhibit snail venom licensed to treat chronic pain. hypertension. There isalso a type of cone been very useful inthe treatment of development of ACE-inhibitors, which have pressure. But itprovided the basis for the causes acatastrophic drop inblood lance orpitviper’s venom, for example, them hitting their targets. The fer-de- selection pressure for millions of years on The main reason is that there has been same way asanexisting venom peptide. they have been created to function inthe venom-derived or‘peptomimetic’ –ie, There are 15drugs on the market that are pharmacological perspective? Why isvenom so useful from a for research ortherapeutics. discovery companies to develop into tools produces venoms –mainly for drug As the namesuggests, Venomtech What doesyour company do? Steve Trim FIRST PERSON Every species’ venom isdifferent to some catastrophic drop pressure blood in The fer-de-lance viper's venom causesa be turned into useful drugs. how these molecules have evolved andcan driving force for meis the pharmacology of hobby was purely anenabler. The a biologist isaway of life for meandthe pharma colleagues isvery rewarding. Being targets that Iknow challenge many of my Being able to deliver tools for difficult drug pharmacology? What doyou enjoy most about soft coral, which isanew one for me. new species. We’ve just received some myself ifitisaparticularly tricky oneora some of the venom extractions, ordo it but at some point I’ll typically supervise facilities. I don't really have an average day, – it'svery different from traditional rodent different species of venomous laboratory where we have more than 100 We now have apharmaceutical grade What doesanaverage day involve now? venom collection. develop safe methods of husbandry and apply the health andsafety skills Ihadto pet shop andthe first practical step was to interested inexotic pets. At the same time Ihave always been exist didnot conform to EUregulations. obvious suppliers andthe onesthat did problem was that there weren’t any purchasing venoms for aproject. The big biosafety, andbecame involved in less onmolecular biology andmore on We first set up the companya behind

Profession inhibitors of ACE- development the for basis provided the venom viper Pit discovery anatomy, drug physiology and invertebrate exotic pets, Venom biology, Interests Aberystwyth Genetics BSc, Qualifications Venomtech Managing director, 37 MEDICINE 38 SPECIAL INTEREST Aerobiology hay fever hay pine, asource of cones of an umbrella leaving the male pollen of The study of airborne biological

A the air are pathogens of UK crops or cause the airare pathogensofUK cropsorcause population. Many fungalsporescarriedin rhinitis inmorethan 20%oftheUK spores arethecause ofhayfever or allergic Allergens inairbornepollenorfungal Why isitimportant? animal andplanthealth. movement andimpactonhuman, biological particlesandtheir erobiology isthestudyofairborne environmental protection or agriculture. environmental protectionoragriculture. and publichealth,immunologyresearch, Careers mostlyinvolve samplingairquality Aerobiology isamultidisciplinaryfield. What careers are available? agriculture industry. particles isalsoimportanttothe allergies inanimals,sotrackingthese Sydney, Australia,inSeptember nextyear. Aerobiology –ICA) whichwillbeheldin Congress (International Congresson The IAAorganises theQuadrennial ● to monitorairborneparticlesinthe UK. Research Unit uses stateoftheartfacilities The NationalPollen andAerobiology aerobiologyinternational ● meetings. The IAAorganisescoursesandannual Where can Ifindoutmore? on Aerobiology(IAA). organised bytheInternationalAssociation advanced aerobiologycoursesarealso modules specificallyonallergens.Basicand Many biologyundergraduatecoursesrun as Worcester andKing’sCollegeLondon. allergies andinfectionsfromuniversities such master's degreesavailable thatfocuson specialised inmicrobiology. Thereare Many working inaerobiologywillhave aerobiology? How doIget into acareer involving climatology, meteorologyandforensics. study ofdust),ecology, botany, phenology, many otherdisciplines:(the areusedin Aerobiological mycologists andmeteorologists. medical doctors,plantpathologists, symptoms ofallergies. detectors orproductstocounterthe companies aredeveloping allergen industries, andmanycommercial population andthemedicalfarming around theworld advisethegeneral Research andforecastingorganisations ● ● pollenuk.worc.ac.uk https://sites.google.com/site/ Aerobiologists oftenwork closelywith

Did you help to track the spread are sensitive to. materials they give off, that many people – house dust mites andpets, andthe also the indooraerobiology environment so itisless sensitive. Don’t forget, there’s at products to harden the lining of the nose allergies andthere iseven research looking immunotherapy treatments for controlling Worcester Acute Hospital onusing change. Weare working with at suggests itcould beto do with climate pollen varies and research amount of allergen within the when they won’t. will pass over their crops and when particular pathogens use ifthey are able to track can minimise their pesticide are plant pathogens. Sofarmers Many fungal spores carried inthe air your aerobiology research? What other applications are there for lessen the effects of the allergens. start to take your medicine earlier and the unit.Ifyou know inadvance you can many of whom are honorary members of forecasts to their respiratory doctors, acute hospital andtweet our pollen collaboration with the Met Office. pollen –butalso the , so it’sa and are opening and releasing their coverage andphenology –when grasses concentration isdependent on vegetation been doingitfor nearly 20years. Pollen of the season, through to October. We’ve which we doinMarch, from the beginning We are best known for ourpollen forecast, What doesyour research involve? techniques that could have been used to information onash dieback andthe We were involved with reviewing the of ash dieback? or two spores to create anepidemic, but alleviate it. Many believe itonly takes one Professor Roy Kennedy FIRST PERSON We have also found the We also work closely with Worcester

particulates into different sizes; or allergen producing pollens. populations of fungal pathogens and allergy, andwhat’s goingonwithin individual genes are present andcausing whole cells, we want to look at which airborne biological material. As well as applying the science of genomics to need to focus more ongenetics and concentrated onmicroscopic tests andwe For along time aerobiology has Where isaerobiology research heading? iPhone. You don’t need alab any more. of certain airborne particles using an get anapp that calculates the concentration allergens –alab onastick. You can even colour reading in the presence of particular pregnancy test style kits that give you a samplers vary. Theones from the 1950s, what you find over a 24 hour . Air the season andgrass pollen. fever come from birch tree pollen early in The two majorallergens that cause hay sent to usandfed into our daily forecast. is measured onadaily basis. That is then and hospitals, where the amount of pollen data. They are mostly other universities About 20stations across the UK send us biological particles? How doyou sample airfor required for sensitisation inhumans. threshold levels of specific allergens establish aninfection. Similarly, there are the likelihood of there being enough to just talking aboutdetecting spores, but this isgenerally not the case. Weare not I think people would besurprised by when aerobiology really hadjust litres of air per minute andseparate started, were the industry samplers that can sample 500 standard for along time and under amicroscope. particulates were basically tape andthen looked at impacted onabitof sticky Now we have highvolume

Profession Worcester doctors in to forecast our pollen We tweet studies and population fungal genomics infectious agents, related allergies, fungal - Pollen and Interests University Belfast botany, Queen’s BSc (Hons)in Belfast; Queen’s University MSc inmycology, Sydney, Australia; University of pathology, PhD inplant Qualifications Worcester University of Research Unit, & Aerobiology National Pollen Director,

39 SPECIAL INTEREST 40 SPECIAL INTEREST to sustainable farming newfind approaches discipline helps The The study of farm ecosystems Agroecology A systems while minimising thenegative or increasetheproductivity ofagricultural environment. Agroecology aimstosustain natural resources ordegradingthe future generationswithoutdepleting the agriculturalneedsofpresent and approaches arerequiredtoprovide for has enoughaffordablefood.New production toensurethepopulation the world willhave to doublefood Some projections predict that by 2050 Some projectionspredictthatby2050 Why is itimportant? cultural andpoliticalfactorsintheirwork. consider the interaction of economic, social, processes, agroecologistsoftenhave to ecosystems, landuseandcomplexfarming systems. Becausethefieldlooksatentire design andmanagesustainableagricultural the principles of ecology to help the principlesofecologytohelp ecosystems. Agroecologistsuse groecology isthestudyoffarm

regulatory agencies. Academic research regulatory agencies.Academicresearch various environmental,farmingor andagri-techsectors,for including cropandfarmmanagement,the Agroecologists work inavariety ofcareers, What careers are available? of modernfarmingmethods. environmental andsocioeconomicimpact food-security ● an organicgrowing charity. Coventry University and GardenOrganic, Security isajointinitiative between The CentreforAgroecologyandFood ● every year. meetings andnationalsamplingprojects scientists, andrunsanumberofpublic has anarchive ofresourcesforstudentsand agricultural researchfacilityintheworld. It Rothamsted Researchisthelongestrunning ● and membershipforaspiringecologists. research grants,resources,publications The BritishEcologicalSocietyoffers Where can Ifindoutmore? around theworld. improve conditionsinfarmingcommunities colleges runagroecologycoursestohelp in theUK.ManycharitiesandAmerican UK’s maincentresforagroecologyresearch Coventry University (seeright)arethe zoology orentomology. Rothamstedand to specialiseincrop,foodorplantsciences, biology orecologydegree,manygoingon Most agroecologistswillhave studieda How doIget into agroecology? organisms usedinagriculture. hotly contested,thegeneticmodificationof environment; soilmicrobiology;and,most the studyofpollinatorsinfarmed pestsandotherfarmflorafauna; climate change;thepopulationdynamicsof reduction oftheeffectfarmingon of various foodorbiofuelcrops;the things, includingtheoptimisationofyields posts arewideranging,andcover many ● ● ● www.coventry.ac.uk/agroecology-and- www.rothamsted.ac.uk www.britishecologicalsociety.org

in decline, butat the other end of the scale We are concerned about the moths that are industry? How doesthis relate to the agriculture ones indecline. the poorest mobility are therefore also the habitat if theirs isdestroyed. Themoths with north asthe climate changes, orfindnew for flying may be the ones that can move The theory is that the moths best equipped such asclimate change andhabitat loss. declining attributed this to different things, survey that found many species are The wider study from the Rothamsted going on? What doesyour research suggest is variable, but some fly for the whole night. to make them fly. It’squite you need to give them all sorts of visual tried to use mills with and found stimulus for them to fly – whereas people Yes. Moths don’treally require much even though they’re not goinganywhere? So they’ll happily fly round and round dispersing inthe wild. get anidea of how goodthey’d be at they spend travelling. I’musing this data to distance they’ve flown and how much time gather information about their speed, the how many revolutions they make so Ican round ina circle andacomputer records which turns round on an axis. The moths fly system –we attach the moths to anarm I’m measuring it using atethered flight mill How doyou measure that? that are increasing. of species declining innumbers and afew current population changes – there are alot dispersal ability to see ifitisrelated to their mobility so I’mtrying to quantify the We don’t understand much abouttheir moths with a wingspan of more than 1cm). different species of macro moths (mainly I’m looking at the dispersal ability of What doesyour research involve? Hayley Jones FIRST PERSON Large yellow underwing moth ( and an indicator species. moths. It’s a group that isvery important conservation priorities oncertain species of the information could beused to focus that makes it more interesting. thought not many people study moths, and projects, this one leapt outat me, andI career. But when Iwas looking at PhD didn’t think I’d want to study them asa empty it.So I’dencountered moths but years and he used to invite usto see him run amoth trap every night for the past 30 lecturer who was our unofficial patron. He’d and bird watchers’ society and we hada When Iwas at university, I was at anaturalist How didyou get into this line of research? mill andrepeat the process. the next day, I take those moths off the flight mill andleave them overnight. When Icome in Then I feed them, connect them to the flight are calm when they are attached to the pin. they are chilled for acouple of hours so they focusing on, then I take them to the lab where morning. Iselect certain species that I’m I start by emptying my moth trap in the What doesanaverage day involve? continent causing problems in the UK. potentially have dispersal from the could become crop pests. Wecould also we need to keep an eye on them asthey are pests of garden andhouse plants, but already have some species in the UKthat become pests as the climate warms. We those that are very strong dispersers could It’s a very satisfying thing to work on– noctua pronuba noctua ) Profession them to fly for stimulus require much Moths don’t conservation dynamics, population dispersal, entomology, agroecology, Ecology, Research Interests of York biology, University BSc (Hons)in Qualifications PhD student 41 SPECIAL INTEREST 42 SPECIAL INTEREST Cryobiology for centuries centuries for control spoilage food have been used to Low The study of how low temperatures affect organisms, systems and materials C (hypothermic) to cryogenic (−150°C (hypothermic) tocryogenic(−150°C ranging fromslightlylower than normal materials. Researchusestemperatures the transport of human organs, and the the transport ofhumanorgans, andthe (freezing) isused infertilitytreatment,for ancient times.Nowadays cryopreservation medicine andto prevent foodspoilagesince Low temperatureshave beenusedin Why iscryobiology important? and lower). biological systems, or biological biological systems,or temperatures affectorganisms, ryobiology isthestudyofhowlow

tissues freezing. tissues freezing. interesting adaptationstoprevent their while manyplantsandanimalshave of yearsinextremelycoldtemperatures, of biodiversity. either forfuturestudyorsimplyasarecord long termstorageofbiologicalspecimens, ● ● and meetings. endorsed cryobiology relatedcourses information oncryobiologyresearch, jobs, Cryobiology. Seetheirwebsites for for Cryobiologypublishesthejournal international meetingandtheSociety since 1964.Theybothhostanannual have promotedthe work ofcryobiologists Society forLowTemperature Biology The SocietyforCryobiologyandthe Where can Ifindoutmore? them. materials withoutfixingthemor that allows scientiststostudybiological microscopy isaspecialresearchtool protecting plantsfromfrost.Cryo-electron industries suchasagriculture,forexample research, withmanyapplicationsin biological materialisalsoahugeareafor and theeffectoflowtemperatureson industries thatusethem. as well asintheresearchlabsand the toolsandtechnologyoftheseprocesses warts off.Careersareavailable developing invasive ‘cryosurgery’tosimplyfreezing direct medicaltreatments,fromminimally and lowtemperaturesareusedinarangeof opposite) (seeinterview cryopreservation industrial andmedicinalapplicationsof and researchareas.Therearemany Cryobiologists work inarangeofindustries What careers are available? distant prospect. the hopeoffuturerevival. Thisremainsa bodies orbodyparts,suchasthehead,in cryobiology, which involves freezinghuman ● ● is a field outside mainstream Cryogenics isafieldoutsidemainstream Certain bacteriacansurvive thousands www.sltb.info www.societyforcryobiology.org The studyofcold-adaptedorganisms

Being able to store the or ? How doescryopreservation help selective breeding. making them robust enough to apply in developing the freezing techniques and generosa), alarge edible clam. I’m oysters, abalone and geoducks (Panopea green shell mussels, pacific and flat species we have here inNew Zealand – the commercially important shellfish preserving the sperm, eggs and larvae of I develop cryopreservation techniques for What doesyour research involve? different amounts for each species. their effects vary so we play around with chemicals are often toxic to the cell and cell orstabilise the membrane. These in the cell freezes. Some work outside the lowers the at which the water Antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is used as it to protect the cells while they are cooled. We use chemicals called and sperm? How doyou freeze the shellfish embryos you slice itupandeat it raw. this long sort of neck called a siphon and sashimi, which was really nice. They have I don’tlike oysters! I’ve tried geoduck Has itputyou off seafood? on developing disease resistant lines. the industry recently so a lot of their focus is oysters. Oyster herpes hadahugeimpact on also it’saboutmaking really nice looking shellfish with ahighmeat to shell ratio, but wild asabenchmark. , instead of using abunch of you can use to compare across means you can create a reference if breeding objectives change. Italso that you can goback to, which isimportant or library of your most valuable individuals particular individuals anditprovides abank make crosses ondemand between gives breeders more control –you can Dr Serean Adams FIRST PERSON Mostly the industry islooking to breed many ways. diverse array of fields, applying itin so so many interesting people, insuch a It issuch aninterdisciplinary field. There are What doyou like about cryobiology? the raft, the slower the rate of cooling. just above the nitrogen. The thicker out of polystyrene that float the specimens controlled freezers. We also make little rafts use dry ice, andspecially together various cryoprotectants andwe half of it is science. There isa lot of mixing Ha ha,yes. Half of what Ido is like witchcraft, nitrogen. Isyour lab like that? of dry ice fog andbubbling liquid images of aclassic science lab with lots The term ‘cryobiology’ conjures up can damagethe cell that way. the cell to highsolute concentrations and Equally ifwe cool really slowly we expose form intracellularly andthat kills the cell. still lots of water inside the cell, ice will vitrifies (forms a glassy state). If there is the cell issufficiently concentratedit that cells into liquid nitrogen, the of the cell andeventually when we plunge the then almost all of the water moves outof sub-zero temperature (about-30to -40) cells sufficiently slowly toan intermediate drawn outof the cell too. Ifwe cool the from the extracellular . Water is the extracellular , itdraws outwater cooling andwarming. When ice forms in Samples are frozen nitrogen with liquid It isalso important to control the rate of Profession more control breeders gives sperm embryos or the store to able Being biology, conservation biotechnology, species, marine biology inaquatic developmental reproduction and cryobiology, aquaculture, Shellfish Interests of Otago science), University PhD (marine Qualifications Zealand Institute, New scientist, Cawthron biotechnology and marine Cryobiology

43 SPECIAL INTEREST 44 SPECIAL INTEREST Photobiology on the Maldive islands Noctiluca scintillans Noctiluca Bioluminescent algae The study of the interaction of light with living organisms andbiological systems

P light is important to a huge range of light isimportant toahuge rangeof The studyofhow livingtissueinteractswith What areas can photobiologists work in? conventional electric lighting. bioluminescence couldonedayreplace research. Itisthoughtengineered luminous pigmentsasatoolinbiological and scientistsincreasinglyusetheir produce light themselves (bioluminescence) industries. Certainfascinatingorganisms widely inthesterilisationandimaging and treatmentsfordiseaseisused of livingtissueorbiologicalmolecules. use lighttofindoutmoreabouttheproperties only studytheway organismsreacttolight,but photosynthetic organisms.Photobiologistsnot harnessing oftheSun’s energyby Most lifeonEarthissustainedbythe Why is itimportant? systems byanynon-ionisingradiation. physical changesinducedinbiological responses aretheresultofchemicalandor Light can be used in various therapies Light canbeusedinvarious therapies biological systems. Photobiological biological systems.Photobiological light withlivingorganismsand hotobiology studiestheinteractionof covering everything from vision to circadian biology isanotherlargeresearchfield, and reflecttheSun’s energy. Photosensory into howplantsandaquaticecosystemsuse climate changestudiesdependonresearch dermatological disease,forexample,while treatment ofskincancersandother research isfocusedonthecausesand research areasandindustries.Much ● ● of interestformembers. offer education,training, events and papers The AmericanSocietyforPhotobiology The EuropeanSocietyforPhotobiology and Where can Ifindoutmore? the University ofOslo). universities offerPhD level courses(suchas for MScorPhDstudentsandoccasionally photosensory biology, fluorescence diagnosis) of thefield(photomedicine,, short annual course covering the main aspects European SocietyforPhotobiologyoffersa few undergraduatecoursesinthesubject.The unit ofahospital. conducted researchinthedermatology studied medicineorphysiologyandthen in lasertherapy, however, mayhave in plantphotobiology. Someone working biochemistry beforegoingontospecialise research mayhave studiedbiologyor in anenvironmentalsettingorphotosynthesis of interest.Forexample,someoneworking particular aspectofphotobiologythatis Educational routesdependonthe How doIpursueacareer inphotobiology? understanding oflight. products areallreliantonscientistswithan spectroscopy, sterilisation andsampling genetics andclinicalresearch.Inindustry non-invasively. Itisnowusedwidelyin or organismstostudybiologicalprocesses that codesforluminousproteinsintocells imaging involves splicingsegmentsofDNA towards oraway fromlight). rhythms andphototropism(growth ● ● www.photobiology.org www.photobiology.eu The fieldissodiverse thatthereare very In termsofusinglight,bioluminescence

reflection andhow it affects their vision. would beinteresting to use research onUV reflect UV light to attract them – so it bees are sensitive to UV light –flowers reflective properties of , and I’d love to findoutmore about the benefit from your research? What other areas of biology could ozone depletion to Australia. America, which hassimilar problems with here, butalso lots of people from South people from all round the world working the field was in England I think. There are I’m not sure aboutthat –the birthplace of sunny areas? Do photobiologists tend to work inhot so we work inthe lab, too. at the university that generates UV light, sunscreen! But we also have machinery and goggles, it’sahat, sunglasses and tell them that my uniform isn’t alab coat is outside. When Igo in to talk to schools I I think of myself primarily asa How didyou get into photobiology? Yes, when I’mdoingresearch much of it outdoors. Presumably you spend alot of time What doesanaverage day involve? ratings for different material types. an impact over time. I’mtrying to develop painted andless reflective surfaces have levels may increase by upto 50%.Even face isfacing, say, galvanised metal, UV highly reflective structures. exposed andoften working alongside construction industry are especially cancer inthe world. People working inthe levels asitis, andthe highest rate of has onpeople –Australia hassuch high UV important to help understand the impact it properties of man-madestructures. It’s –specifically the reflective My research involves monitoring UV What doesyour research involve? Dr Joanna Turner FIRST PERSON My preliminary studies suggest ifyour

radiation, which children of any agecan do. with paper that changes colour under UV science. I currently doafun experiment younger are the future of excited by science at school, because the science ingeneral. people interested inphotobiology and light. Iamalso involved with getting young can give usalot of information about UV detecting UV. Reflective UV photography I would love to get into the technology of What else interests you inthe field? so that’s how Igot into that side of things. and postgraduate research for a UV expert, biology arena. Ididphysics at university join ushere –lots of them from the chemistry too, andquite an array of people use chemical sensors so I’ve donesome photons affect biological systems. Imostly photophysicist who isinterested in how Sun Queensland, rising in Australia Children need more opportunities to be Profession sunscreen! sunscreen! and sunglasses is ahat, My uniform education research structures; science man-made reflection from ultraviolet radiation measurement; Ultraviolet radiation Interests Queensland Southern University of PhD, physics – Qualifications Photobiology Society of the American council member of Queensland; Southern at the University of Associate lecturer

45 SPECIAL INTEREST 46 SPECIAL INTEREST environmental policy environmental policy crop science to in many areas, from advisers are needed Researchers and Uses the principles of ecology to make farming efficient and environmentally friendly Sustainable agriculture

S sustainably goes beyond science and sustainably goesbeyond science and produce andtrade productsmore economics, trade andtheenvironment. a complexissueinvolving politics, socio- sustainable agricultureisjustone aspectof generations tomeettheirs.Thescience of compromising theabilityoffuture meet theneedsofpresentwithout sustainable agriculture;thatwe must Many peoplecontributetotheideasof Who isinvolved? producers makefairprofits. environment, whilealsoensuringthat needs ofsocietywiththeprotection Sustainable agricultureaimstobalancethe such asdeforestationandclimatechange. crops onlyexacerbatesglobalproblems using morelandtoraiseanimalsorgrow its growingpopulation.At thesametime, double foodproductionby2020tosustain It ispredictedthattheworld willneedto Why isitimportant? human communitiesandanimalwelfare. that protecttheenvironment,publichealth, animal productsusingfarmingtechniques the productionoffoodorotherplant or even positive environmentalimpact.Itis The drive toencouragepopulations to as efficient as possible with minimal as efficientpossiblewithminimal principles ofecologytomakefarming ustainable agricultureusesthe

advise on specific aspects of sustainable advise onspecificaspectsofsustainable require scientiststohelpresearchand Government departmentsandagencies What careers are available? charities andeven activistgroups. theretailsector,civil service, thinktanks, together acrossgovernment, farming,the technology. Itofteninvolves peopleworking ● innovation nationally. promotes sustainable agricultural Agriculture Research andOrganisation farming associations,whileSustainable In theUS,therearelocalsustainable ● science policy-makersintheUK. represents agriculturalscientists and plant The UKPlantScienceFederation Where can Ifindoutmore? in farmingcommunitiesaroundtheworld. courses thataimtohelpimprove conditions charities andUScollegesrunagroecology agricultural researchintheUK,andmany Rothamsted Researcharemajorcentresfor ecology. Coventry University and such ascrop,foodorplantsciences,and routes intothisfieldviarelateddegrees universities, buttherearevarious other Agriculture degreesareavailable fromUK How doIget into this area? reward producersfairly. do notdamagetheenvironmentand agriculture toensuretheproductswe buy consultants withknowledgeofsustainable charities andgreenbusinessesemploy and theUN. Likewise,manyenvironmental organisations suchastheEUCommission local authoritiestointernational found inallareasofpolicy-making,from transport. Asaresult,positionscanbe energy, and business,conservation concerning agriculture,environment, and overlapping government policies sustainable agricultureinvolves complex ecosystems. Aswithallgreenissues, crops, domesticanimals,wildlifeand farming, includingwater, soil,energy, air, ● ● www.sare.org www.plantsci.org.uk these messages need to come across. All take homeandtry. That’s how a lot of things from ourgarden that they could Yes, lots of people picked uppractical what works? about spreading the message about Is abigpart of sustainable agriculture around the garden like we did. allowed to encourage people to walk things. Wealso didn’tknow you aren’t capture, apermeable path – lots of little wetland, composting, , rainfall very small indoorspace – vegetable crops, concept very quickly. Wegot a lot into a him onboard andheunderstood the submitting anentry that year so we got City Council’s head gardener wasn’t was hard to resist. Wefound that Leeds ecosystem services inanurban setting idea of agarden teaching people about of uswere that fond of gardening, butthe entry into the show outof the blue. None Yes, that was fun. We were invited to putan 2012 Chelsea Show. I believe you won agold medal at the ecological experiment of itskind. Evaluations of GM Crops, the largest agro- for Ecology andHydrology’s Farm Scale professionals. Ipreviously led the Centre scientists, engineers andeven legal disciplines, such associal scientists, soil problem, andbuilding ateam from various skills are required to solve a particular experimental design –that is,seeing what and agriculture. My skills are really in monitor interactions between biodiversity in with the global narrative. farmers andlooking at how their stories fit practical, using studies from individual hopefully even making itbetter. It’s very without damagingthe environment and increase and resilience project to pull together the to Intensification Platform, amajornational I’m working for the Sustainable What doyou do? Professor LesFirbank CBiol FSB FIRST PERSON My academic expertise isinhow to Farmers need help to environmentally be sound much greater engagement with industry. big data andengineering, andthere’ll be areas will besensor technology, the use of be donemore sustainably. Ithink growth we need more production andthat hasto in demand. It’sincreasingly accepted that The thing that excites memost is that it’s areas will beexciting inthe future? Where isthe discipline heading andwhat of ameeting ground, Isuppose. agriculture isless of adiscipline andmore better andit’smore fun. Sustainable and Manchester. Itmakes the science our soil scientists andscientists from York We have aunifarm that’s being used by us, quickly andcome from all over the place. can’t doby yourself, asideas change very small teams: it’sadiscipline that you groups where people work individually orin It’s avery sociable field. It isn’t like lab sustainable agriculture? What sort of people are attracted to career flowed quite naturally after that. could visit aspart of that. Each step of my and all the wonderful environments you became hooked onthe ecology lectures College Londonto study biochemistry. I I grew uponafarm andwent to Imperial sustainable agriculture? How didyou come to beaprofessor of arrogant of the research community. doesn’t work andwould actually bequite it. Trying to dictate anew way of working you just need to help them find ways to do environmentally sound andprofitable– farmers want to bemore efficient, Profession over the place come from all quickly and ideas change as yourself, can’t do by youdiscipline It’s a intensification use, sustainable Sustainable land Interests dynamics in plant population BSc inzoology; PhD Qualifications University of Leeds agriculture, sustainable Professor of 47 SPECIAL INTEREST 48

FUTURE BIOLOGY Bioinformatics The application of information technology to biological problems

Some believe that to work in any biology related field in the future, biologists will need certain competencies in bioinformatics.

What careers are available? The IT, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are all in need of bioinformatics graduates to help develop products like research software or drugs. There is a high demand in the ‘’ research fields (such as genomics, proteomics and glycomics) for competent analysts and computing solutions to process the large quantities of data produced by researchers. Big employers in the UK include the major pharma companies, the European Bioinformatics Institute, the MRC’s Mapping Project Centre, and the Centre for Human Genetics. Smaller companies are using bioinformatics too, including those involved in agricultural applications, industrial organisms and personal care products. There is generally thought to be a shortage of expert statisticians working in many areas of biology and bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is ioinformatics is the application of dependent on information technology to biological How do I get into a career involving large amounts of problems, most commonly the bioinformatics? genetic data B analysis of DNA, RNA and Universities tend to run postgraduate sequences or structures. It relies heavily courses in bioinformatics for those with a on the use of IT, mathematics, and statistics or background. to capture, store, and analyse complex Some, such as Imperial, Cranfield or biological information. Manchester universities, offer master’s courses in bioinformatics or the related Why is bioinformatics important? and systems biology. Recent advances in molecular biology There are many shorter practical training and genomic technologies have led to an courses to teach scientists how to use explosion in the amount of biological specific software tools. information generated by biologists. This has led to a huge demand for specialist Where can I find out more? tools to store, organise, view, index and You can find information and analyse such data. announcements on bioinformatics research, Bioinformatics can generate new industry and education at the Bioinformatics understanding in genetic interactions, Organization website. metabolic pathways and drug development. ●● www.bioinformatics.org It is crucial to the development of There is also a network for those working software and technology that assists in bioinformatics research or industry. biologists’ research. ●● www..org relevant skills, aswell as physicists and backgrounds who have picked up the are people from biology and chemistry come from avariety of backgrounds. There In my group the best bioinformaticians researcher inbioinformatics? What sort of person makes a good on a standard machine. data back, much of the analysis can be done here at UCL. But again, once you get the high-throughput computers, which we have standard PC. Somecalculations require most of what we donow can be doneona graphics systems that cost abomb. But In the early days you needed special of abioinformatician? What isthe bread andbutter equipment the function of a ? gene actually do? What isthe definition of gene function. What does this protein or other interesting things like protein and completely. But my lab islooking at many you unless someone solves it you doa PhD itscentral question never the area I spend most time on– I think if fold, based on their aminoacid sequence, is Predicting and simulating the way proteins What are you working onat the moment? questions inbiology. here” – computing, physics and answering was it really. Ithought, “Ican do everything became fixated with protein folding and that my master’s and PhDinbiochemistry. I modules in my third year and did with maths, and computationally. I took problems could be approached theoretically, helix and itoccurred to me that biological programme on the discovery of the DNA really interested in computing. Isaw a wanted a career in science, but was also didn’t appear until the early 1990s. was being doneof course, butthe word was aPhD student in 1989.This sort of work The word bioinformatics didn’t existI when How didyou get into bioinformatics? Professor David Jones FIRST PERSON My first degree was inphysics,I and Professor Jones’ lab at UCL proteinExample 3D of structures from had to get involved. undergraduate I’dhave given all the money I happening. IfI’d seen this when Iwas an projects like this – shows it’salready to come upwith novel synthetic biology – where undergraduate teams get together could create a new biological machine. for endless industrial or medicinal uses; you from different organisms, modifying biology together that could never work inacell or have novel functions. You could putproteins proteins that are not found innature and work onit would bethe design of new biology. If Icould pick another problem to A lot of funding isbeing directed at synthetic future applications? What areas excite you interms of are very simple ideas. the complicated equations andprograms data andusing the right tools. Underlying physics degree. It’sabout getting the right tackle these problems without amaths or People overestimate how difficultto itis daunted by the complex mathematics? What would you say to biologists who are getting numbers andresults. statisticians are: it’s the difference between emphasise how important good with colleagues in both departments. Ican’t and biology departments, so Iget to interact appointment across the computer science computer scientists. Ihave a joint The iGEM (www.igem.org)

Profession simple ideassimple very are equations complicated Underlying protein folding of analysis, prediction and Protein structure Interests College physics, Imperial London; BSc from King’s College MSc biochemistry College London; from University PhD biochemistry Qualifications for Bioinformatics Bloomsbury Centre director of the College Londonand Group at University Bioinformatics Head of the 49 FUTURE BIOLOGY 50

FUTURE BIOLOGY Epigenetics The study of changes in gene activity not caused by changes in the DNA sequence

What careers are available? Its huge potential as a medical treatment means that most epigenetics work is focused on biomedical research. Cancer epigenetics is probably the largest field, with hundreds of institutes worldwide looking to identify biomarkers of the disease and epigenetic drugs to treat it. Huge sequencing programmes, such as the National Institutes of Health’s 10 year Roadmap Epigenomics Project in the USA, are surveying epigenetic variation on a genome-wide scale, while smaller laboratories use this data to answer more specific questions about the mechanisms of disease. There is a high demand for biologists factors pigenetics is the study of any changes with computational, bioinformatical bind to specific in gene activity not caused by changes or mathematical expertise to help sections of DNA, in the DNA sequence. process the vast amounts of data making genes more E or less active in produced by epigenetic research. different cells Why is it important? Medical doctors are increasingly Epigenetics explains almost any change moving into epigenetics research fields in DNA function that is not caused by a related to their disease speciality. . The ‘epigenome’ at its simplest is the cellular machinery that switches on or Where can I find out more? off certain genes, allowing stem cells to The Epigenetics Society is an international differentiate into all the cell types required scientific organisation open to all those to make a human being. interested in the field. Adding methyl groups to DNA (DNA ●●es.landesbioscience.com ) or modifying (the The EU-wide Epigenesys network provides proteins that package DNA) are ways of epigenetics news, research and events changing how genes are expressed without for scientists and interested members altering the underlying DNA sequence. of the public. Although exquisitely complex, with one ●●www.epigenesys.eu epigenetic change often causing a cascade The Human Epigenome Project aims to of further epigenetic changes, researchers map all the epigenetic variation found on can now remodel the epigenome of the entire human genome and its website organisms using these techniques and contains most of the data and publications study the effects. from the project so far, as well as details of DNA was once thought to be an inflexible the contributing organisations. that set out our from birth, ●●www.epigenome.org but it is now known that the epigenome, Johns Hopkins University is a world leader operating above the level of the genome, in epigenetics research, topping the list of can change how DNA is expressed citations for institutions in the field. In the throughout our lives, depending on all sorts UK, the Babraham Institute, Institute of of factors, such as our environment. As a Cancer Research and Wellcome Trust result, epigenetics is of huge relevance to Sanger Institute join the many universities the study of both development and disease, actively researching in this area. especially cancer. ●●www.jhu.edu determined quite late, and you that is,the caste isnot fixed, is that is‘primitively social’ – particularly interested ina form of epigenetic differences. Weare identical, can be explained by may begenetically workers andqueens, who difference between –at how the look at caste in A lot of people are starting to the lab do? the workers just by looking at can’t distinguish the queen from What other research does interesting possibility. information. It is controversial, butan passed onthrough inherited epigenetic previous generation appears to have been where something that happened inthe smell (Dias, B.G, recent example isthe study of mice and small part of itsurvives. An interesting next generation, butit is possible that a most epigenetic information is lost inthe Large scale reprogramming happens and the next generation? epigenetic information ispassed on to What aboutthe evidence that some into any cell type needed. cells afterwards have the potential to grow need to ‘wipe the slate clean’, meaning the brain cells. When you form anembryo you cells actlike liver cells and brain cells actlike epigenome which, for example, makes liver In , different cells have adifferent information inmany areas of the genome. an enormous removal of epigenetic say ingerm cells or embryogenesis, there is first came uponit.Innormal development, actually happens invivo, which ishow we stem cells, liver cells etc. But the process cell types you can derive from them –like We work mostly with lab mice and all the ‘reprogramming’ cells involve? What doesepigenetically Professor Wolf Reik FIRST PERSON Nature Neuroscience , 2013)

epigenetically are being studied bladder tumours – Cancers such – as ones surrounding common human there, quite basic biochemical ones,butalso There are very many bigquestions out What does the future hold for epigenetics? been fantastic to see the subject grow. really quite a large industry now, and it’s programme at Babraham. Epigenetics is in Cambridge, then started the epigenetics called epigenetics. Iestablished my own lab epigenetic way, before the field was even by thinking about cell differentiation inan area, Rudolf Jaenisch. Ibecame fascinated did a PhD with oneof the pioneers in this I’m a medical doctor, trained inGermany. I How didyou get into this research? something hasgone wrong with it. epigenetically at will, when you see manipulate specific parts of the genome a more refined approach where we can cancer patients. Ithink in future we will have drugs that remodel the entire epigenome in stem cells, andthere are already epigenetic Our work has led to abetter way of making What are some of the aimsof this work? changing the epigenome. can reprogramme social behaviours by are epigenetically determined, maybe you workers ifyou remove the queen. If castes them. Anew queen can emerge from the diseases –diabetes, cancer, heart disease. How much is explained picture we don’t know yet. to know how much inthat picture to use, but it’s important environment. It’s a good mental between the genome andthe look at it, asanintegrator That’s exactly how you can by genetics andthe the epigenetic dark environment, andhow does Is epigenetics Is about contribute inthese diseases? nurture’ debate? answering the ‘nature vs. Profession diseases? these in do the genome in matter’ thisall ‘dark does What cell stem, undifferentiated, or to revert itto an removed from acell instructions are where epigenetic reprogramming’, ‘Epigenetic Interests in Cambridge Babraham Institute programme at the epigenetics Head of the 51 FUTURE BIOLOGY 52 FUTURE BIOLOGY used as a a as used fluorescent protein green rendering a A of The large-scale study of proteins Proteomics P Proteins are essential components of Proteins areessentialcomponentsof Why is proteomics important? known asbioinformatics. mathematical modellingandcomputing and electrophoresis–withspecialised from chemistry–suchasmassspectrometry enormously complexsetsofmolecules. catalogue andunderstandthese ‘’ andproteomicsattemptsto orcelltypeisknownasits set ofproteinsthataremadebyan genomics, thestudyofgenomes.Theentire Genome Project. Genome Project. programmes such astheHuman more promisethan hugegenomics and soproteomics arguablyholdseven a bewilderingarrayoffunctional proteins, Genes aremerelythe‘recipe’for creating of alltheproteinsproducedineach cell. systems, we needtounderstandthe role mapped, totrulyunderstandbiological ofmanyorganismshave been found inlivingtissue.Nowthatthe and formingmanyofthestructures life, performingavast arrayoffunctions The field combines skills and techniques The fieldcombinesskillsandtechniques the 1990s to make an analogy with the 1990stomakeananalogywith of proteins.Thetermwas coinedin roteomics isthelarge-scalestudy

Proteomics labs tend to develop specialist Proteomics labstendtodevelop specialist screening andcomputingtechnologies. until thearrival ofhigh-throughput large-scale studyofproteinswas notpossible biology, medicineandbiochemistry, butthe biology, molecularbiology, developmental essential partofmanyfields,suchascell Studying proteinshasalways beenan How come I’ve never heard of it? services to other researchers or labs. tootherresearchersorlabs. services facilities providespecialistproteinanalysis industrial experience. a relatedfieldofbiology, as well as analysis, requiringaPhDinbiochemistryor understanding ofproteinpurificationand treatments. Candidatesneedagood biomarkers tohelpdevelop diagnosticsand industries toidentifyandassessthese in thehealthcareandpharmaceutical with expertiseinproteomicsareemployed predict ordiagnosedisease.Manypeople studies theprotein‘biomarkers’thathelp Clinical proteomicsisagrowingfieldthat What careers are available? who work withthesecomplicatedmolecules. tools tosupportresearchersinotherfields ● ● societies around the world. topic. Thereare many othersimilar special interestgroupandforums onthe Spectrometry Societyhasaprotein analysis events andcourses, whiletheBritishMass is asmallcharitythatlistsproteomics The BritishSocietyforProteome Research ● ● thousands ofproteinsandnucleicacids. the structureandfunctionofhundreds free resourcescontaininginformationon Bank andUniProt arecomprehensive and Large projectssuchastheProteinData Where can Ifindoutmore? protein analysis. design toprocessthedatageneratedby experts inmaths,computinganddatabase Any proteomicsresearchalsorequires ● ● ● ● www.bmss.org.uk www.bspr.org www.uniprot.or www.wwpdb.org Biotech companiesanduniversity

Proteomics machines to help measure metabolites. I I started my own company designing How didyou get into proteomics? proteomics. mass spectrometry, we wouldn’t have wasn’t for the quantum leap we’ve seen in like 2Dgels would bea lifetime’s work. Ifit another 100using the old analysis tools No. Comparing 100samples versus today’s cutting edge equipment? Could you dowhat you dowithout spectrometers pretty much all the time. the hospital next door. Weare running mass clinicians working within the institute andin What doesyour average day involve? change after sample collection. there isnoprotease activity, so itdoesn’t hasalower concentration range and blood ischanging, even after collection. and Mount Everest at the same time. Also ruler that can measure both ahumanhair no machine could cope; itislike having a concentration range of proteins isso large blood, butitwas too complex. The Everyone inthis field started by looking at and peptides inurine. Why? Lots of your analyses are of the proteins the proteins present are so different. healthy people is not particularly useful, as similar symptoms. Comparing patients with these diseases andpeople presenting with We compare the proteome of people with ‘fingerprint’ of a disease? How doyou create an accurate the resulting chronic kidney diseases. on cardiovascular disease andobesity, and than existing ones.A lot of the work focuses ones that are more specific and sensitive identify biomarkers of disease andfind We work closely with clinicians to try to group do? biomarkers of health in nutrition. At started looking at proteomics for What doyou andyour research Dr Bill Mullen Bill Dr FIRST PERSON It’s very much lab-based, butwe have with recommended treatment options. diseases andcome upwith a health report to take aurine sample, screen itfor disease. In the future Ithink you’ll beable discipline with the actual physiology of the have changed, we start to connect our Once we understand why these proteins really know what they are orwhat they do. migration of peptides present, butwe don’t disease by cataloguing the mass and We currently pick up‘fingerprints’ of What excites you aboutthe future? you don’tunderstand. something, you find out two more things that saying –every time you learn genomes was just the beginning. It’slike still to explore. Unravelling organisms’ The proteome isjust such a massive area about proteomics? Aside from the kit, what do you like what other analysis can do. between devices that hastaken us beyond machines andworking on a new interface as your work. I’mstill tweaking my into science, itmust beyour hobby aswell the field, basically. If you’re going to get Yes, I’ve always worked with itandthat is tools such asmassspectrometry then? in proteomics should have apassion for Do you think anyone thinking of acareer from eating more andvegetables. improvements incardiovascular health present there isnoway of measuring explore area still to massive a is proteome The and nutrition analysis, health metabolite proteomic and spectrometry, Mass Interests Glasgow from University of metabolites, both PhD onflavonol in raspberries, MSc onphenolics Qualifications Glasgow University of Medical Sciences, of Cardiovascular & research, Institute Director of Profession

53 FUTURE BILOGY 54

FUTURE BIOLOGY Synthetic biology The engineering of biological systems to create products or devices

projects with a synthetic biology slant and a range of , such as iGEM, encourage innovative synthetic biology projects from teams in schools, universities and industry. Thanks to cheap and commercially available toolkits, synthetic biology is also popular with the growing number of hobbyists known as ‘biohackers’ who use borrowed, homemade or unwanted lab equipment to conduct their experiments. Courses in synthetic biology tend to be at postgraduate level, most as one-year master’s degrees. Imperial College London offers a synthetic biology final year option as part of undergraduate degrees in biology, Novel DNA sequences ynthetic biology is the engineering of biochemistry or bioengineering, and some can be synthesised biological systems to create useful US universities such as Berkeley allow a and inserted into the products or devices. It has the synthetic biology specialisation during genome of existing S organisms potential to create new life forms with certain bioscience degrees. extraordinary properties that exist purely to meet human needs. What careers are available? The field offers many opportunities for early Why is it important? career scientists. Practical applications of Synthetic biology is a fast-growing the technology include the production of subdiscipline of the life sciences. In 2014 the biofuels, vaccines and antibodies, industrial Government identified it as one of the eight and chemicals, and biomaterials great technologies of the future and and agriculture, with placements in industry committed £40m to developing three to reflect these areas. However, the majority synthetic biology research centres in the UK. of careers remain in academic research. As well as splicing in genes from other organisms, novel sections of DNA can now be Where can I find out more? synthesised cheaply from scratch and iGEM holds a global competition for inserted into organisms, creating schools and universities. experimental cells with new functions and ●●www.iGEM.org features not seen before in nature. Synthetic The BioBricks Foundation runs an annual biologists choose a ‘chassis’ organism and add international synthetic biology conference features such as genes, the promoters that and provides resources for researchers. activate them and the systems they drive. ●●www.biobricks.org There are many parallels with open Research Councils UK’s Roadmap sets out source software programmers, but rather a vision for synthetic biology in the UK. than sharing code, scientists share DNA ●●www.rcuk.ac.uk/publications/reports/ sequences that code for a certain feature. syntheticbiologyroadmap Open registries of synthetic biology ‘parts’ The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences have helped drive rapid innovation. Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council How do I get into it? fund research and have resources on There are numerous synthetic biology their websites. initiatives, networks and research centres. ●●www.bbsrc.ac.uk A huge amount of funding is available for ●●www.epsrc.ac.uk place now. Simple standards underpin nuts andbolts. Ithink biology is in that making absolutely everything, like the parts so you didn’t have to think about you began to see standardisation of scratch. And then inaround the , something, you had to make itall from revolution ifyou wanted to engineer I think it’s alot like how before the industrial How doyou define synthetic biology? That is what I am looking at. patterns and an ordered structure. cells as they divide that creates strange long string –it’s aslight buckling of these within a few days. However, cells grow inone perfect domes containing billions of cells agar plate, you’ll often find they’ve formed and grow. When you scrape microbes on an understanding the physics of how they divide the shape of agroup of cells without reprogramming cells. the processes of, say, manipulating or the eventual shape. You can’t think about interactions between the cells that determine inplants, itis the physical different versions of existing plants. teosinte, you can potentially create very made over time to create maize from understand the changes that have been organism] is controlled. Ifyou can shape andrelative size of parts of an crop isdue to the way morphogenesis [the minimal – the fact that maize isauseful maize and itswild ancestor teosinte is The genetic difference between the crop your work to develop new crops? How doesyour work with bacteria inform happens asthey grow. easiest access to cells’ genomes andwhat plant science lab, but bacterial cells offer the cells grow and interact –itsounds odd for a other work islooking at the way bacterial organism for developing new plants. Our first uses the Marchantia plant asa base There are two branches of our work. The What doyou doinyour research lab? Dr JimHaseloff FIRST PERSON If you are trying to engineer

something that really fascinates me. Light andcreating bioluminescence isalso ways –for example, biological plastics. biomaterials that can beused indifferent The 1000 project creates Metabolic engineering –creating molecules. are exciting for the future? What other areas of synthetic biology and altered photosynthetic capabilities. vaccines from plants, improved nitrogen fixing, Creating highvalue pharmaceuticals and What sort of traits are you looking at? context of trait development. working infundamental science into a collaboration, putting people who have been is ontrait development. It’s a really exciting fundamental science; inNorwich, the focus Norwich. InCambridge, it’smore about the Cambridge and the JohnInnescentre in The funding is split into two halves: here in funding. What isitlike to work there? Your OpenPlant project received £12m would belike gold dust. notes that you’d then photocopy andthey the world to a lab andmake handwritten techniques. Except then you would fly round it was still about tweaking andrefining molecular biology. Even then, pre-internet, came into the field in the 1970s when it was No, it didn’t exist innameor intent, I guess.I you began your career? Presumably itdidn’texist asafield when How didyou get into synthetic biology? your experiment. model of your system running alongside very important to have acomputerised cellular, phenotype level. Then it’s also often to measure what’s goingonat the DNA, Once you have that, you’ve got to use things genome, acontrol circuit madeof DNA? want controlling that system – anentire You have the chassis, then what do you What’s involved in making aliving system? you use? What other types of ‘standard parts’ do Profession structure ordered an that creates they divide as cells these of buckling – it’s aslight string long a Cells grow in tissues inplants engineering of of cell behaviour, precise monitoring and morphogenesis, Interests Harvard University Research , Molecular Biology; Laboratory of Fellow, MRC Adelaide; Research University of PhD (biochemistry), Qualifications Cambridge the Haseloff Lab, Cambridge, head of University of biology at the Reader insynthetic 55 FUTURE BIOLOGY 56

FUTURE BIOLOGY Systems biology The study and modelling of complex biological systems

element of a living system and try to control other variables in to study it – typical of many bioscience experiments throughout the ages. Systems biology uses information and data from a wide range of sources to build as full a picture as possible, with computer modelling at its core to understand how everything in such an immensely complicated system is related. Although a systems approach can be applied to many areas of the life sciences, it is often focused on combining genomic, proteomic and other molecular data to understand entire cells or groups of cells.

How do I get into it? Systems biology is a relatively new field – the term only really entered the scientific lexicon around the year 2000, but there are around 15 universities with dedicated systems biology departments or research groups in the UK and hundreds across Model of the human he aim of systems biology is to Europe and the world. immune system understand vastly complex biological Many opportunities currently are attacking a Tsystems in a way that allows us to rooted in academia and fundamental model and predict how they will behave. It research at PhD and postdoc level. In the often uses mathematical and computer UK, there are a number of systems biology modelling to define the rules and principles master’s available, many of which focus that govern and regulate systems, which on bioinformatics and computing. can range from microbial cells to organs or Undergraduate degrees in systems even entire ecosystems. biology are less common but are available, especially in the US. Such courses often Why is it important? have a molecular biology focus and may Systems biology is helping our be combined with a related subject such understanding of itself, not as bioinformatics (see page 46) or just the principles that underlie complex computational biology. systems. Systems biologists aim to develop Systems biologists are also employed in a quantitative as well as a conceptual hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry, understanding of biological phenomena, biotechnology companies and cancer which permits the prediction and accurate institutions, where analysis of huge amounts of extremely complex processes of experimental data is required. such as the , or epigenetic changes during disease. The ability to model Where can I find out more? and predict what happens to systems under The International Society for Systems certain conditions is already having a Biology and the International Society for profound effect on how theories are tested. Computational Biology both provide information on systems biology careers, What does systems biology involve? research and conferences. In some ways systems biology is more easily ●●www.issb.org defined by what it isn’t: it does not take an ●●www.iscb.org synthetic biology. they combine systems biology and The thing that bindsall the work is that , to work ongutproteomes. , to -fixing from development of artificial human is avery broad range of work going on- I work inPamela Silver’s lab, where there biology department at Harvard? What else isbeing doneinthe system closed environment. , aslong as you hadsunlight and a be grown anywhere from out at sea to a be used to grow food. The bacteria could you’re not competing with land that could need to befed ,which would mean The aim is to produce E.coli that donot energy andprovide to the culture. and microbial communities of cyanobacteria take upspace needed to grow food. sugars to grow, andgrowing that sugar can chemicals. But the produce biofuels or useful medicines or E. coli bacteria are often optimised to What doesyour research involve? E. coli bacteria renderedE. 3D a in illustration Stephanie Hays FIRST PERSON I am trying to engineer photosynthetic E. coli. The cyanobacteria capture solar E. coli still need to befed

one area where it will beparticularly useful. say the discovery of new antibiotics will be to understand the biology of something. I’d you can just apply itto research if you want everywhere. You can apply it to medicine or Quantitative modelling can be applied future?the Where doyou see the field going in is goingon. comprehensive picture of everything that the cells into the media –to get a more metabolic, proteomics, the secretions of cell count for example, butmeasuring experimental systems –not just taking a in entire ecosystems. the interactions between proteins ina cell or look at an entire system, whether that beall individual components in isolation you try to everyone’s expertise. Instead of looking at a bunch of times. It’sinterdisciplinary, using In ourdepartment we have tried to define it How would you define systems biology? and data to really back it up andunderstand. going on without having the numbers where you just believe what you think is didn’t want to beoneof those scientists something that isreally quantitative –I how that works. I also wanted to do another. It’sso complex andhard to explain –how one thing depends on From anearly ageI’ve liked the idea of I grow up’. ‘I want to beasystems biologist when Presumably not many people think How didyou get into systems biology? from the system. we have more measurements anddata move to a more computational model when things you wouldn’t expect. I’mhopingto but when you put them together they do nice models of I work with isnot well understood –we have I’m definitely a wet-lab person. The system mainly lab work orcomputer modelling? What doesatypical day involve? Isit It’s also about better measurement of E. coli and cyanobacteria,

Profession biology synthetic and biology systems combine that they the work is all that binds The thing education symbiosis, science communities, microbial Photosynthetic Interests biophysics master’s BSc biochemistry; Qualifications Harvard System Biology, Department of PhD student, 57 FUTURE BIOLOGY