• Question: what do you do as a scientist?

    Asked by mollyoanes to Callum, Gina, Katie, Michelle, Sam on 14 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Callum Johnston

      Callum Johnston answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      I’m a neuroscientist which means I study the brain and its cells. For my research I look at brain cells which have been damaged and measure all the proteins in them to see which ones have changed. Proteins are a bit like the machines in a cell that do all the jobs it needs. So if we find out which proteins are changing when the cell gets damaged we can try and come up with drugs which stop that machine breaking down so the cell stays healthy.

    • Photo: Sam Godfrey

      Sam Godfrey answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      Like Callum, I’m also a neuroscientist. But I have a slightly odd project where I work with the military in looking at several different types of nerve cell and how they can repair themselves. This means that I sometimes have to use special science equipment to blow nerves up to differing degrees. The other part of my project is a little bit like Callum’s in that I am looking at brain cells and their proteins and trying to make them regrow.

    • Photo: Michelle Linterman

      Michelle Linterman answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      I’m an immunologist, which is a person who studies the immune system.

      The immune system is an army of cells, with many different types of cells. The job of the immune system is to protect you when you get an infection. The cells of your immune system, your white blood cells, patrol your body looking for germs. They move from your blood into your organs looking for any signs of infection, and if they find it, BOOM, they attack, and the white blood cells kill the germs.

      I’m really interested in how your immune system responds after immunisation, you might remember have having some vaccinations in your life. One of the amazing things about your immune system is that it can remember things it has seen before. This is how getting a Flu vaccination can stop you getting the flu, because your immune system remembers the vaccination. I’m trying to figure out exactly what is going in with the cells during vaccination.

    • Photo: Katie Howe

      Katie Howe answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Hi molly,

      I work on egg cells. I am interested in why women’s eggs get a bit dodgy when she gets older as this could lead to problems when she wants to have children. Nowadays a lot of women want to have a career first and wait til they are a bit older to have children – so the problem of dodgy eggs is becoming more and more of a problem.

      We think that eggs from older women might be missing a key molecule which makes the eggs unhealthy. I am trying to replace this protein and help make the eggs healthier. We hope that this will help women to have healthy children.

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