Dashboard – Darwin Tree of Life

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education

Borthwick Primary School (this doesn’t even exist anymore, the school building is now someone’s house and the playground is their driveway!), Lasswade High School, University of Edinburgh
Qualifications

Secondary school (biology, chemistry, geography, maths, english) – BSc Molecular Genetics from the University of Edinburgh – PhD in Evolutionary Genomics from the University of Edinburgh
Work History

I worked in TK Maxx and Tesco when I was at school and university. Then I did my PhD for four years before moving Chicago, USA to work as a researcher. I was only in Chicago for about 6 months and then the pandemic hit and I flew back to Scotland and switched jobs…
Current Job

Senior Bioinformatician
Employer

Darwin Tree of Life Project, Wellcome Sanger Institute (near Cambridge)

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
I'm currently solving this problem:

I am currently thinking about how to study the DNA of very small animals like microscopic worms. I am very interested in understanding how their DNA evolves but because they are so small, there is only a tiny amount of DNA in each animal. I’m working with my colleagues to work out how we can turn these tiny animals into data that we can analyse on a computer.

My Interview
- What or who inspired you to follow your career?
  
  David Attenborough
  
  What was your favourite subject at school?
  
  Biology of course
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  A zoologist
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  Always
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  Chocolate
  
  What is the most fun thing you've done?
  
  Hiked Mount Fuji through the night to watch the sunrise from the top