Meet the scientists!

In particular I make computerised versions of the metabolism in cells.  The metabolism is a set of chemical reactions that happen inside the cell, these help it to stay alive and grow.

This can help us in two ways.  The first is Biotechnology.  It’s a long word but it means technology that uses living systems.  Some of the chemicals that are made in the metabolism can be used as fuels.  We all know that coal, gas and oil will run out soon, and we want to replace them with fuels that we can make as quickly as they are demanded.  By understanding how the chemical reactions in the metabolism work we can hopefully re-wire the network, in a similar way as to how you would change an electrical circuit, so we can make lots of the chemical we want.

The second use is in disease.  Lots of health problems at the moment, such as diabetes and obesity are known as metabolic diseases.  By understanding more about the metabolism we can begin to understand more about how these diseases affect us, and maybe even how we can cure them.

I like to have really full days.  My favourite thing to do in the morning is to go running.  After this I head into work to start some research.  Because I’m doing a PhD I have a to write a really big report at the end so in the morning I do a lot of reading and writing.  Mid morning and into the afternoon I usually collect lots of data from the computer cells I make and then analyse it.  This data helps to tell me how the cells work, or at least how I think they may work.  After work I either meet up with friends, go out climbing, or do some reading.  Then I sleep and start the whole process over again