What projects are you currently working on?

Alba Park de la Torriente answered on 8 Mar 2021:

I am currently working on a project to study a special kind of virus: phages. Phages are viruses that cannot infect animals, plants or humans; they only infect bacteria. Because of this ability to infect -and sometimes kill- bacteria, phages could be used similarly to antibiotics, to treat diseases in humans and animals. But there is so much we still don’t know about phages and the way they interact with the bacterial hosts. So I’m trying to get to understand better this part, as well as demonstrating that they can be effective and safe as a therapy.

Felicity Hunter answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Hi Logan! Thanks for the question. I am currently studying the friendly community of bacteria that live inside our guts and their importance for our health (especially our immune systems!). I am trying to figure out exactly how our gut bacteria are good for our immune systems and how having lots of friendly gut bacteria can prevent us from getting many illnesses including autoimmune diseases. For example, people who are sick with autoimmune diseases tend to have lots of unfriendly bacteria living in their guts. Now, you might be thinking: “how do we know about the gut bacteria if they live inside our guts?!” which is a great question! In order to study the gut microbes, I have to measure the bacteria that are in poo! Looking at cleaned up poo samples tells me all about what is going on inside our guts. I know that sounds very messy (and a bit smelly) but I promise it is actually very interesting!

Claire Price answered on 8 Mar 2021:

I am currently working on trying to produce a new enzyme involved in antifungal therapies to try and combat antifungal resistance (it’s like antibiotic resistance but involves fungi and not bacteria). This could be a whole new way to tackle fungal infections and potentially save millions of lives.

I am also working with a beer company to make different flavours using different microorganisms.

Jonathan Willis answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Currently working on a variety of treatments for hepatitis B, HIV, diabetic macular oedema and malaria. So quite a full workload!

Lizzie Pendlington answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Hi Logan 👋 I am currently working on some videos for British Science Week – this is a campaign running this week that is celebrating, you guessed it, lots of scientific research! The main theme is ‘Smashing Stereotypes’ so we are looking at what people think science is and how it actually looks 👀💥

Chris Waller answered on 8 Mar 2021:

I’m working on a few different things at the moment: I have several “method validation” projects, where we are checking our testing methods to make sure they work properly, as well as a few forensic cases on the go to catch athletes who have been using drugs to cheat in recent sporting events. Plenty to keep me busy!

Jess Buddle answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Hey! Great question 🙂

I am currently working on a bacteria called C. difficile which causes diarrhoea. I want to know how drugs used to kill this bacteria work, what they target, and also how the bacteria can avoid getting killed. This will eventually be used in hospitals to stop resistance spreading!

Rob Shorten answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Hi Logan. I’m working on a few things but the most exciting is a project to improve how we manage patients with a suspected allergy to penicillin. Most patients (>90%) who think that they have a penicillin allergy actually don’t! These patients are normally given alternative antibiotics that can cause all sorts of problems: have more side effects for the patient, require them to stay in hospital longer, be less effective at treating the infection, and importantly – they can contribute to the increase in antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Anna Westland answered on 9 Mar 2021:

At the moment I’m doing my PhD, which is like one really long bit of coursework!
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I’m looking at the shape of skulls in modern apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons). I want to know how much variation there is in each species (how different individuals in a species can be from each other), and why there are differences in skull shapes.
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This is interesting to me because what I’m really interested in is extinct species – which are obviously way harder to study than living ones! When we find a fossil it can be hard to decide if it is from the same species as another fossil because we don’t know how much variation there was in this extinct species. Maybe two fossils look different, but actually they’re just from a really variable species. Not sure I’ll solve this problem, but I’m enjoying trying! =)

Karen Burstow answered on 10 Mar 2021:

In my job we have quite quick turnarounds on projects (usually between 1 day and 15 days), so you’re always working on new and different things! At the moment I have a project looking at sedimentation in a problem batch of ingredient, one on identifying an unknown mark on a drug tablet, one on a shelf life study of chocolate samples and another one on imaging donuts!

Megan Metcalfe answered on 12 Mar 2021:

Hi Logan! Currently I’m looking at data from an area in the North Sea, looking for archaeology (such as old shipwrecks) and mapping out drowned landscapes under the sea. I’ve identified buried land surfaces that might have been home to Neanderthals and early humans tens of thousands of years ago!

Question: What projects are you currently working on?

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