Research in Genetics

Dr. Helena Seth-SmithG and L 1987-1994

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Cambridge

What I’ll talk about...

• Science as a career

• Career structure in science

• My Ph.D. project

• The Sanger Institute

• A day in the life...

• Questions

Science as a career

Science as a Career

Interesting

Use your brain

Continue learning

Discover the unknown, and pursue it

Expert in your field

Freedom of research

Flexible work

Variety within work

Active

Not a traditional job for life

You can travel with jobs

You can travel with conferences

South Africa - Kruger

Zimbabwe – Victoria Falls

South Africa – Cape Town

Puerto Rico

Young and varied people

- casual

Further personal development

You don’t do it for the money

Science has geeks

But other professions have issues too

Career structure in science

Career Structure in Science(not that you have to decide early on)

Postdoctoral position

Undergraduatedegree

Ph.D.Lectureship

(Professorship)

Second postdoc...

Undergraduate degree

– Natural Sciences for choice of subjects•First year: cell biology, physiology, chemistry, maths

•Second year: molecular cell biology, biochemistry,

history and philosophy of science•Third year: Genetics

– Can lead to a number of careers

– Need 2.1 or above for PhD

– Format: lectures and practicals

Ph.D.

– Format: research (papers and lab work)– Choose a subject you are interested in– Autonomy : planning– Social life, sport, teaching ... – Produce a MAJOR piece of work (STRESS!!)– Useful skills for other jobs

Postdoctoral position

– Continue in same field or choose to learn another

–Location, location, location

–2-3 years to do publishable research

Second postdoc...

– Ditto– And maybe ditto again– Find your own niche / area of interest– Or move into industrial science

Lectureship

– Own research group

and teaching– Permanent post– More permanent location– Fewer women

(Professorship)

– Highest level in academia– Head of Department

My Ph.D. Project:Microbial Degradation of RDX

Bacteria eating explosives

Explosives are dangerous...

...to our

health

Explosive polluted sites

Explosives in bombs

CH3

NO2

NO2

O2NTNTTrinitro-

toluene

N N

N

NO2

NO2O2N

RDXRoyal demolition explosive

Seeing bacteria eating explosives

RDX makes the

agar on the plate

look white and

grainy

Where RDX has been eaten and removed, agar is clear

Up close and personal

(Electron microscopes don’t show orange!)

5m

Growth curve

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

0 24 48 72

Time (h)

The gene I discovered

Gene..... makes... Protein

Gene in plants

Normal, wild type plants - get sicker as they are grown with more explosive

Plants with my gene in - healthy when grown with explosive

more explosive in the soil

The future

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

www.sanger.ac.uk

The Sanger Institute

AIM: To sequence and analyse genomes, for future research on human biology and disease

Organisms with Sequenced Genomes

From organism to DNA...

...to sequence

A day in the life...

A day in the life

A day in the life

A day in the life

A day in the life

A day in the life

A day in the life

A day in the life

Conclusion

• Worthwhile career

• Plenty of time to decide

• Huge variety of research projects

Thanks for your attention!

Questions…?

Slides and contact details at:www.sanger.ac.uk/Users/hss/

DNA double helix

My work at the Sanger Institute

Comparing bacteria

Nice bacterium

Nasty, infectious bacterium Very similar to nice bacterium What are the differences? Can the genes tell us about infection?

Name a bug after yourself!

•Walter H Burkholder

•Burkholderia cepacia

•Degrades pollutants, infects plants, infects human lungs, helps crops