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Why do you do what you do?
I can very clearly remember the first time I noticed
that my forearm moved when I was writing and wondering
"why?". I have always been interested
in the human body, how it works and why sometimes
it goes wrong. At the moment my interests are
in studying the brain and in particular, mechanisms
of anxiety and epilepsy.
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How did you get in?
I studied a BSc in Applied Biological Sciences at the
University of the West of England studying mainly physiology
(how the body works) and pharmacology (how drugs act
on the systems of the body). I went on to study for
a PhD in pharmacology and have been doing research ever
since.
What's been the highlight
of your working career so far?
In 2000 I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Advanced Training
Fellowship to go to work at Cornell Medical School in
New York. This was a fantastic opportunity to learn
a lot of new techniques and update some of my skills.
Plus I got to live in New York for two years which was
just fabulous!
What keeps you going
through the hard times?
I'm not sure, but something does!
What's your favourite
trivial pursuit category?
Pink.
What was your
last project/piece of work/title of last scientific
paper?
Its a bit of a mouthful: "Variability in the benzodiazepine
response of serotonin 5-HT1A receptor null mice displaying
anxiety-like phenotype: evidence for genetic modifiers
in the 5-HT-mediated regulation of GABA(A) receptors."
Journal of Neuroscience 2004.
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Who inspires
you?
Mrs Pat Brookfield - my A-level
biology teacher and next door neighbour
Rosalind Franklin - described as "the dark
lady of DNA", she made significant contributions
to one of the landmark discoveries of the 20th
century, in a very male dominated environment
and until relatively recently was almost completely
overlooked.
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What would you
like to be remembered for?
On a professional level, I think I would most like to
be remembered by students who may have been inspired
by me to study and question the world about them.
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