Dashboard – Darwin Tree of Life

CV

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.
Read more

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 grew up in London and have lived here my whole life. I work at Kew Gardens and study plant DNA.

I love the outdoors and go on long walks around my local parks looking for wildlife. I enjoy looking out for birds and trying to learn the songs they sing to identify them. I think I know a lot more about animals that I do about plants (even though I work at a botanic garden!).
Read more

I’m a research assistant and I work in a lab. I’m a part of the Darwin Tree of Life project which aims to sequence the genomes of all native UK flora and fauna (plants and animals).

My job focusses on the plant side of things.

Before a plant get sent off to have its genome sequenced, some material comes to me and I use it to estimate the size of it’s genome (the amount DNA that is found in a nucleus). This is called genome sizing and I do this using flow cytometry. This let’s the other scientists know how much DNA there is in a cell and how much they will need to sequence.
I'm currently solving this problem:

Some plants that end up in my lab are very strange. To work on the plants and get my results I need to cut them in to small pieces. Some plants are very gooey and slimy!

The slime is very gloopy and sometimes it makes it very hard for me to get results so I need to use different chemicals and solutions when working with these.

My Interview
- How has your work progressed recently?
  
  We have started to collect lots of plants to sequence which is very exciting.
  
  What have you got planned for your research over the next year?
  
  We have some targets to meet over the next year. We aim to collect over 100 species!
  
  How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  Big nature nerd!
  
  What was your favourite subject at school?
  
  Biology
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  I didn't know what I wanted to do until I had finished university
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  I think I'm meant to say no :p
  
  Who is your favourite singer or band?
  
  I love Paramore and a band called Rainbow Kitten Surprise (weird name but great music)
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  PASTA
  
  What is the most fun thing you've done?
  
  Travel to Madagascar and feed lemurs