Profile

At the moment I work at a number of establishments as required in a freelance role. Depending on the people I am working for I can be looking at different aspects of protein chemistry or checking for different kinds of bacteria growing in different environments. One of my most recent assignments was actually in South Africa where I was conducting animal research along with educating school children.

I enjoy the freedom this role gives me and allows me to use a variety of techniques that I have learnt over the years and apply them to situations that can be useful to companies making medicines for our use.

Depending on where I am working, I can be in the lab with my lab coat on performing routine experiments that act as a standards for a company to test their products or their cleanliness. Or I could be in a more research setting where I get to work and their are no guidelines to follow and I have to make them and accurately record them in case any one wanted to repeat what I did.

If I am not in the lab then I am working away on the computer outside. This could be emailing people my results or setting up meetings to discuss with them how the work is going. Some areas of science other people have worked on and if you are clever enough you can find their work and read what they did. If you are cleverer still you can use the methods they used and apply them to the work you are doing. This can save a lot of time, which stops me banging my head on the table and also saves a lot of time and money for the company. On the computer I also use a lot of programs like excel and word to present my work in an easy to understand approach, with the aim to let people with very little scientific understanding know what I am doing and why it is important.

The time I spend at work can also be highly variable. If I am growing bugs then my work can be done in a few hours, depending on how many samples there are to analyse. Sometimes I have to work on weekends if there is a deadline approaching and the data needs to be collected.