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Sujai Kumar
About Me:
I grew up in India, love dark chocolate (yes, even 99% cocoa), like to sing, doodle a lot, and I care about doing good science that helps humanity.
My Work:
I look for interesting patterns in DNA sequences of many different species of animals, plants, fungi.
Status:
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Seanna McTaggart
About Me:
I am the project manager for the Darwin Tree of Life single cell protist project at the Earlham Institute. I use my evolutionary biology and genomic background to support the scientific team to successfully complete this project.
My Work:
It is my job to make sure that projects outcomes are delivered on time and on budget.
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Sam Rowe
About Me:
I’m a science communicator in the fine city of Norwich, sharing my love for science and making sure that science is for everyone. I work in the communications team at the Earlham Institute and in my spare time I love reading, gaming, baking, travelling and doing gymnastics!
My Work:
I work with scientists at the Earlham Institute to help them tell stories about all the amazing work they do.
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Sally Warring
About Me:
I’m a protistologist – a scientist who studies protists. Protists are single celled eukaryotic organisms. I grew up in New Zealand, have lived in Australia and the USA, and moved to the UK in 2020 to join the Darwin Tree of Life project, working at the Earlham Institute in Norwich.
My Work:
I study protists, microscopic single celled eukaryotes that live all around us.
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Sahr Mian
About Me:
I love plants and animals! I think we need to understand the world around us in order to properly conserve it and allow it to flourish. I work at Kew Gardens and study plant DNA.
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Rebecca Yahr
About Me:
An intricate pattern of intricate patterns – lichens on rock.
I am a lover of fungi and plants and being outdoors, pondering what everything is and why there is so much diversity in life. I have been lucky to find jobs that let me be doing just that.
My Work:
I work on lichens – those gorgeous little ecosystems-you-can-hold-in-your-hand – at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. I study and teach about how they change over time, how they get around, and how to protect them.
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Peter Holland
About Me:
I am a Professor of Zoology at Oxford University.
My Work:
My work is teaching and research. I teach University students about animal evolution, and I run a research group doing research into how evolution works – from mutations in DNA to diversity of animals.
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Peter Mulhair
About Me:
I am an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford. I use computational tools to look at animal genomes and try to understand how they have evolved.
My Work:
I look at genomes to understand how animals have evolved
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Peter Bickerton
About Me:
I am a poet and a scientist: I love the natural world, art, music and history, and I use words to express that in engaging and compelling ways. I also play the piano, the ukulele, juggle, love to support Blackburn Rovers FC, and enjoy cooking delicious food!
My Work:
I write stories about the wonderful science that goes on at the Earlham Institute.
Latest Question:
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Patrick Adkins
About Me:
I’m originally from the channel island of Guernsey, now I work as a marine biologist in Plymouth (Geddon!). I Love games, sports, music, worms, normal stuff!
My Work:
I collect marine species and send them off to Sanger to have their genome sequenced. I work at the Marine Biological Association
Latest Question:
What is the most satisfying part of your job? -
Owen Lewis
About Me:
I am very lucky to be paid to do what I love: studying insects and rainforests (sometimes at the same time)
My Work:
I work at the University of Oxford where I study the ecology of plants and animals and teach Biology to undergraduate students
Latest Question:
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Michelle Grey
About Me:
Hi! I’m an environmental scientist who loves both lab and field-work. I love nature, art (including music) and my family.
My Work:
As research assistant within the Neil Hall group here in the department of Organisms and Ecosystems, I am assisting with projects relating to plant pathogens which infect our wheat and sugar beet crops, as well as assisting with nucleic purification in the DToL protist project. I spend most of my time working out the best method to extract DNA from plants, fungi and now protists!
Latest Question:
What equipment do you use to study protists? -
Michael Cunliffe
About Me:
I am a marine biologist who works at the microbial scale on protists (microbial eukaryotes) and fungi. I am based at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.
My Work:
I work on the biology and ecology of marine microbial life, including bacteria, protists (microbial eukaryotes) and fungi. My interests include the complex mechanisms these organisms use to live in marine ecosystems.
Latest Question:
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Max Coleman
About Me:
I am a botanist (name for a scientist who studies plants) who has moved into working on public engagement and communication.
My Work:
I work at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and try to make the world of plants and fungi inspiring and engaging for everyone, even those who think they don’t care.
Latest Question:
Are you ready for Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life? -
Luke Lythgoe
About Me:
I’m not actually a scientist at all – well, not since my A levels! I’m a professional writer and communicator who loves the environment, nature and projects that are making a real difference in the world. My role includes running the social media feeds, blogs, videos and everything else that gets the stories from the Darwin Tree of Life Project to the public.
My Work:
I work in the communications team at the Tree of Life programme, based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire. My job is to tell people about all the exciting work happening on the project.
Latest Question:
What is the most important animal to you and why. -
Liz Cook
About Me:
I am a scientist who now works in the office, and love talking about science and my work to anyone who will listen! After hanging up my lab coat, I now help to co-ordinate samples for other scientists to work on.
My Work:
I work in an office (not the lab!) and help to co-ordinate getting samples to our lab team, track what is happening to each sample as the DNA sequence is “read” and report back to the scientists who provided the samples to us.
Latest Question:
what is your favourite thing about the tree life project? -
Liam Crowley
About Me:
I’m an entomologist and I love insects! You can usually find me outside looking for, photographing and recording interesting species.
My Work:
I find and identify insects at Wytham Woods for full genome sequencing. I study the unbelievable diversity of insect species and try to find out about their ecology, behaviour and evolution.
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Lewis Stevens
About Me:
Hello! My name is Lewis and I’m an evolutionary biologist who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. I use computers and DNA sequences to understand how animal genomes evolve. I am a big fan of microscopic animals.
My Work:
I use computers and DNA sequences to understand how animal genomes evolve
Latest Question:
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Laura Sivess
About Me:
I am a biologist with a love of everything which crawls, flies or hops!
My Work:
My work focuses on finding and collecting samples, mostly insects, for DNA barcoding and whole genome sequencing. You’d be most likely to find me outdoors on a field trip or at the Natural History Museum in London.
Latest Question:
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Kieran Woof
About Me:
I’m a biologist working on all things Fungi here at Kew Gardens. I love messing about with things in the lab or outside – so really, a Biologist is the perfect job for me!
My Work:
Research Assistant – DToL (Fungi)
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Kes Scott-Somme
About Me:
I love water and am always curious about the things that live there, I’m really passionate about protecting our world and making sure the people who come after me can enjoy it too. I love animals and especially fish, in fact one of my hobbies is fishkeeping and I have two fish tanks as well as a tortoise and some bunnies at my home in Plymouth.
My Work:
I work as a research assistant at the Marine Biological Association, we are collecting lots of marine life in the UK, identifying it and getting a genome sequence for it, this is to help conservation and research.
Latest Question:
What does a conservation biologist do? -
Kerstin Howe
About Me:
I’m fascinated by how life works and love investigating and bringing order to data. Working in bioinformatics dealing with genome data is therefore more a hobby than a job!
My Work:
Using computing to make sense of genome sequence data.
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Jonathan Threlfall
About Me:
I live in London with my partner and some friends. I love running, eating pizza and riding my bike.
My Work:
I help turn the genomes produced by the Darwin Tree of Life project into papers for other scientists to read.
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Joanna Harley
About Me:
Marine microbiologist / biologist who delights in all things that live in the sea, especially those that photosynthesise.
My Work:
I am a Marine Biology technician who specialises in microbiology and molecular biology
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Jamie McGowan
About Me:
I am a bioinformatician at the Earlham Institute. I use a mix of biology and computer science skills to understand the genetics of microbes found in the environment.
My Work:
Decoding the genomes of weird microbes 🔬🦠
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Jack Monaghan
About Me:
Hello, I’m Jack. I like exploring new places and talking about new things. My job usually involves meeting people like you in person, to share ideas and find inspiration, so this year has been quite different. And that makes me doubly excited to get to speak to you on here.
My Work:
My work involves bringing people together to share ideas about the science we do – whether that’s students, scientists, nature enthusiasts or just people walking past on the street. Science is better with more people involved.
Latest Question:
What’s you’re favourite part of your job? -
Jack Sewell
About Me:
I am Senior Science Interpreter at the Marine Biological Association who loves the ocean, nature and wildlife.
My Work:
My job is to make marine science accessible, interesting and understandable to everyone and to develop opportunities for scientists and non-scientists to engage with each other in a positive and meaningful way.
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Graeme Oatley
My Work:
I work in the lab to get DNA out of a range of different species, make sure the quality is really good so that we can see what their genomes look like
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Gavin Broad
About Me:
I am a lover of bugs, birds, brambles, all of nature. I am luck enough to work at the Natural History Museum in London.
My Work:
I help to look after one of the world’s biggest collections of insects: 30 million insects at the Natural History Museum. My favourite insects are wasps, especially parasitic wasps, and I discover many new species of these.
Latest Question:
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Elena Arrigoni
About Me:
I am a molecular biologist, a trumpet player and a mountaineer. I am lucky enough to have a job that allows me to be outdoors and use my creativity while exploring the wonders of the Fungal Kingdom.
My Work:
I study the diversity of fungi by sequencing their DNA
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Dominic Phillips
About Me:
I am passionate about the natural world and love everything it has to offer, from orchids to lizards from moths to pangolins. I am very fortunate to work at the Natural History Museum London whilst also studying tropical insects.
My Work:
As an Invertebrate Research assistant on the DToL project, I spend a lot of my time looking at insects and other invertebrates (marine and terrestrial). This includes collecting specimens in the field and assisting in their identification, preservation and preparation for DNA barcoding and whole genome sequencing.
Latest Question:
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Chiara Bortoluzzi
About Me:
I was born and raised in Italy by a French mum and an Italo-Belgian dad. Aside from literature, history, music, and art, I love to use science as a tool to understand and protect our world’s biodiversity.
My Work:
I look for interesting signatures in the DNA that can explain why species look like that and what we can do to make sure that they do not go extinct
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Brian Douglas
About Me:
I’m a mycologist, with half of my knowledge and skill set in field mycology, and the other half in molecular lab skills.
My Work:
Darwin Tree of Life Coordinator at Kew (Plants and Fungi)
Latest Question:
No questions to show
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Alice Minotto
About Me:
Hello, I’m Alice!
My Work:
I write a software called COPO
Latest Question:
do you work in a lab or go places -
Alexandra Davey
About Me:
Ex-globetrotting botanist, now Science Policy and Impact Officer at RBGE
My Work:
My role involves targeting science activities at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to solve important global issues, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, and communicating our science to the public and politicians.
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Richard Wright
Latest Question:
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Removed Expert
Latest Question:
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Piotr Cuber
Latest Question:
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Neil Hall
About Me:
I am Director of the Earlham Institute, where we develop new laboratory and computational methods understand the living world by analysing genomes. I have four children and two cats.
Latest Question:
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Neil Bell
About Me:
Hello, I’m a bryologist – that’s someone who studies mosses and liverworts! I work at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.
My Work:
I study mosses and liverworts – those tiny green plants you see growing on tops of walls, on trees and in many other places. I’m interested in how all the different types of mosses and liverworts have evolved.
Latest Question:
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Marcela Uliano-Silva
About Me:
I’m very smiley and communicative. I share too much in work meetings and people laugh at me =)
My Work:
assembling DNA puzzles
Latest Question:
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Inez Januszczak
Latest Question:
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Ilia Leitch
Latest Question:
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Ian Barnes
Latest Question:
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Clementine Geeves
Latest Question:
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Chris Fletcher
Latest Question:
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