• Question: What’s good about being a scientist? What do you do all day?

    Asked by gear490rat on 11 Jul 2023.
    • Photo: Bruno Silvester Lopes

      Bruno Silvester Lopes answered on 11 Jul 2023:

      I work on bacteria in the lab and how they become powerful to antibiotics. My hours are 9-5 but I do work more than that. We can grow bacteria on agar (jelly like material). It is their food. We can then do a lot of experiments to see how they can change their shape/size or become powerful to the drugs designed to kill them. We are running short of newer drugs hence it is my job to find new solutions to tackle the problem of bacterial infections. I also discovered viruses which can kill bacteria which that break down antibiotics. This is a novel way of treating infections rather than the traditional way of using antibiotics. So yes I am potentially discovering things that can save lives.

    • Photo: Sophie Shaw

      Sophie Shaw answered on 11 Jul 2023:

      Every day is different. There is always a new challenge or problem to solve, this makes it really interesting!

    • Photo: Blair Johnston

      Blair Johnston answered on 12 Jul 2023:

      I think working in science tends to mean there is less routine job and that’s what makes it exciting and interesting. I do different jobs every day from writing risk assessments, researching new technologies and providing safety advice if a patient is safe to get an MRI scan

    • Photo: Caroline Addey

      Caroline Addey answered on 12 Jul 2023:

      What’s good – the variety and all the different people I meet and work with. I’m in lots of meetings and I have to do lots of online research and write reports and papers

    • Photo: Dawn Sutherland

      Dawn Sutherland answered on 12 Jul 2023:

      I like helping people and making a difference to people lives. The blood components I make are used by hospitals in Scotland everyday to change to lives of patients.

    • Photo: Chigozie Onuba

      Chigozie Onuba answered on 12 Jul 2023:

      The good thing about being a scientist is that you get to find out why people are unwell (diagnostics) and take part in research (clinical trials and drug discovery). All day scientist do investigative work to help save patient lives

    • Photo: Simon Anderson

      Simon Anderson answered on 12 Jul 2023:

      Being a scientist offer you opportunities. Opportunities to help people, to find out new things, to always have more to learn.

      I spend my days looking after hearts. A lot of the time looking after people, often older people, with pacemakers making sure that they are working correctly.

    • Photo: Cheryl Williams

      Cheryl Williams answered on 13 Jul 2023:

      I test patient samples to check if they have a bacteria or virus that is making them ill.
      I enjoy being a scientist because it is different every day, there’s always something new to learn, and it’s not a typical 9-5 job.

    • Photo: Kip Heath

      Kip Heath answered on 16 Jul 2023:

      Every day is different. I spend a lot of time in meetings and answering emails, but I also use that time to make changes and help scientists get to where they want to in their careers.

    • Photo: Hannah Scholes

      Hannah Scholes answered on 20 Jul 2023:

      I like helping people and knowing I’m saving lives out in the wider hospital. Sometimes it can be a little bit stressful, but it’s worth it when you can see patients blood test results getting better.

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