• Question: do you have a favourite aspect in your work, if so what is it?

    Asked by spivey to Alice JB, Andy, Barbara, James, Jo on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Andy Norton

      Andy Norton answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Heya!

      I love lots of different aspects of my work, so that is a tough question! In terms of experimental work, my favourite aspect is probably the microscopy stuff that I do. I do a lot of transmission electron microscopy (or TEM). So, this is like a normal microscope that you’ve probably used before, but rather than using light it uses electrons. So these electrons come down a big chamber, and through my sample. When they go through my sample, they get bent a bit (it’s like when you’ve been swimming. Ever noticed when you have your head outside the water, that when you try to grab something that it is in the water you miss? It’s because the light is shifted a little bit. It’s sort of like what happens in this microscope). They electron then come down, and I can see my image. I get to see stuff which is 300, 000 or 400, 000 times bigger than it is in reality, meaning that I get to look at some pretty tiny bits of deformation! So, that’s probably my favourite technique. But my favourite overall aspect is when everything sort of comes together – when I can tie together all my different techniques and results, and end up with an answer. That’s very exciting.

      Other bits that I find enjoyable are doing the Open Days for students – we always seem to have lots of very interested, hard working young people to do our experiments. It’s always really nice chatting to them about the things that they enjoy and seeing their faces light up when you show them something really exciting! I also enjoy teaching the undergraduate students, who are always full of excellent questions and comments.

    • Photo: Barbara Guinn

      Barbara Guinn answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I like most of it. I like travelling for work, I like being in the lab, I like teaching and I like doing lab work but I think I like the variety and the fact I can chose what I do each day. I have jobs that need to get done, so I can’t ignore things I don’t like forever but I am in charge of when I do things. So I can go into work and decide to do e.mail before lab work, or paperwork first for example. I like feeling like my own boss but still having someone else pay me – which is great!

    • Photo: Alice Jones Bartoli

      Alice Jones Bartoli answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I like working with schools. It’s good fun to go into a classroom and work with children and their teachers; primary school children can be very funny, and can ask some pretty excellent questions. I also really like the opportunities that my work gives me to do something new. This year, I’ve travelled to Canada to present my work, and a few years ago, I spent a few months living in America learning about new ways of thinking about brain imaging. Really, my work means that I never stop learning and helps me to think of new and creative ways of approaching problems – this is the best bit.

    • Photo: Jo Hulsmans

      Jo Hulsmans answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      You might be surprised but I actually don’t like lab work very much. That is why I choose systems biology, almost half of what I do is programming and mathematics, I choose research that would involve a lot of making mathematical models of how the plants react, because that is what I’m very good at.

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