Question: You describe yourself as innovative, what new things do you think of?

Natalie Garrett answered on 10 Nov 2015:

I think every scientist has to be innovative, and I love coming up with creative solutions to problems. For instance, I design pieces of equipment so that I can do things that haven’t been possible before in my laboratory. Also, I come up with new ways of preparing my samples that makes it easier and quicker. It’s important to streamline your work, to figure out ways of doing things more efficiently, and this sometimes requires you to think about a problem in a creative way. Another innovative thing I often do, is come up with new ways of analysing my data and presenting it so that it makes sense to people who aren’t scientists. Sometimes this involves me using techniques I’ve learned in photography and applying them to microscopy.