• Question: What do you do on a day to day basis?

    Asked by 203prmc53 to Alex, Laura, Lesley, Richard, vediacan on 13 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Prince

      Richard Prince answered on 13 Jun 2015:

      Hi 203prmc53
      During term time I spend most of my time giving lectures to students, teaching practical classes and taking tutorials (small group teaching to around 10 students at a time). I do my research in the evening.
      During the summer I work on e-learning programs and make sure I have everything ready for teaching in the coming year (updating lectures, setting exams etc). I also try to have some time off – a couple of weeks to recharge my batteries…. I’m playing tuba in my son’s band on a tour of Poland this year!
      Best wishes
      Richard

    • Photo: Laura Newton

      Laura Newton answered on 13 Jun 2015:

      Hey!

      Mostly experiments, lots of experiments! But lots of different kinds of experiments so it doesn’t get boring. For a few months I was working on making peptides (small parts of proteins), so doing basic chemistry reactions. Now I’m testing how good the peptides I made are at binding to the molecule I am interested in by using spectroscopy which means mixing them together and putting them inside a machine which makes the measurement.

      I also read a lot of papers to see what other people have discovered and make sure I am doing my experiments the best way possible.
      During the university term I also help teach undergraduate students during their experiments and at the moment I’m marking some of their exams.

      Thanks for your question!
      Laura

    • Photo: Lesley Pearson

      Lesley Pearson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      I split my time almost 50:50 between the lab and the computer. I spend a lot of time in the lab, running small or large experiments. But in order to decide what experiment to do next, I need to analyse the data that I have produced.

      I also need to communicate my results to other members of my team, so that can be via email, in small meetings, or giving presentations.

      If I am lucky I might get to spend a few days at a conference listening to other people in my field talking about the work that they are doing, and learning something new.

      And if I am very lucky, I get to go out to local schools and talk to them about science!

    • Photo: Alex Agyemang

      Alex Agyemang answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hello 203prmc53,

      I do not have a typical day as such but my day usually consists of attending meetings where I present clinical data to explain how the drug being investigated is being absorbed, broken down, interacting with its target receptors and is being removed from the body. In between meetings, I also spend time responding to emails from colleagues that I work with on other projects. So, when not in meetings or responding to emails, I analyse data mostly collected from clinical trials and write reports on the findings from the data. However, a given day may not be the same as the next because I may be attending a conference, visiting colleagues in either our US or Japan office to discuss projects or simply working from home.

      I hope this helps.
      Alex

    • Photo: Vedia Can

      Vedia Can answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hi 203prmc53,

      Hope you’re well.

      My daily basis changes everyday. If I am not carrying out exciting research in the laboratory, I am running tutorials for the undergraduate and postgraduate students. During the summer I supervise Master’s research students in the laboratory (I have 5 at the moment). This involves teaching them the techniques, and guiding them through their experiments. I also read up on a lot of articles published by my peers to find out about their discoveries. There have been times where I have tried to repeat their experiments too (just curious to find out if what they claim is true) 🙂 Besides all the research, I also attend regular meetings as part of the committees I am a member of.

      Best Wishes,

      Vedia

Comments