Profile

I have always enjoyed imaging and medical science, and this is likely because I spent a lot of time in hospital as a child. I loved the scanners and was fascinated with how they work and that we can use them to see inside of our bodies!

I love to crochet! I have made many toys over the past few years, and thoroughly enjoy making octopuses (octopi? octopodes?) I have started making my own clothes recently and now my home is completely overrun with wool! Fortunately my partner does not mind.

Exercise has always been an important part of my life. I have been boxing/kickboxing on and off for the approx 10 years, and have competed in a UWCB event which I loved! I have done many mudruns (like Tough Mudder), and aim to do my first triathlon this spring.

In the same way that different filters on your phone are good for some things but not good for others, different types of scans in my machine can be good for different organs in the body. For example, one scan might be really good for looking at how the heart beats, but less good for looking at a break in a bone. It’s my job to make sure the scans are as good as possible to get the best images for the research. I work alongside researchers working in many different medical diseases, including bone fractures, dementia, and cancer.

We have to use animals in our work as there are no alternatives just yet. There are many people working on ways to not use animals, but at the moment they are not good enough to completely replace all animals. We work very hard to use as few animals as possible, and make sure the animals we do use are as happy as possible.

A lot of my job is to make sure the animals are comfortable inside my scanner, and I spend a lot of time optimizing the scans to makes sure we get the best images possible within the shortest time. Animal welfare is extremely important in the work we do, and we take many steps to make sure the animals are not in any pain and have a good life. For example we make sure animals aren’t alone, and give them lots of toys and chew-sticks (especially important for rodents as their front teeth never stop growing!)

Outside of animal work, I have also spent a lot of time imaging random things like chocolate bars to see what they look like! I have made a Kahoot! quiz if you want to try it out!:

Because of my lungs, I have to do daily lung treatments to keep me from getting sick, and I find the best time to do this is first thing in the morning because then I can focus on my work instead of my lungs! Exercise is also very important for my lungs, so I find cycling a great way to get that ticked off – and it is cheaper than getting the bus!

Usually researchers like to do their imaging in the morning. So as soon as I’ve showered I head up to the lab.  The imaging lab is security protected because of the animals, so only people with a special pass and training can enter. We have to get completely changed into scrubs, with a mask, gloves, a hair net, and wear specialist shoes! This is to help us not take any germs with us to the animals as they may get sick easily. After imaging, I make sure the animals recover from the scan, as we need to use a special gas to make sure they don’t move during the scan. Sometimes I give them some extra treats for being well behaved.

Afternoons can be filled with more imaging, or some repairs/checks on the scanner. I also train people to look at the images we make so that they can see how well their treatment is doing. This is important because we want to make current treatments even better in people, but we need to make sure they work and are safe.