Profile
Lucy Garner
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About Me:
I live and work in Oxford as an immunologist. Outside of work, I enjoy running, baking and travelling. I am also a bit of a chocoholic!
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As a child, I didn’t picture myself as a scientist. I did a lot of dancing and singing competitions up until the age of 16, so I thought I might go into musical theatre. However I also really enjoyed science and at university I discovered immunology which has been my passion ever since. As well as immunology, I enjoy running and exercise classes, baking, and travelling when it’s possible! I have been able to travel to San Francisco and Singapore for work which was great fun.
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Before the pandemic, I was working on a special type of T cell known as MAIT cells, or mucosal-associated invariant T cells. These comprise up to 10% of T cells in human blood and are still relatively unexplored. Currently I am working on the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines. I still do some wet lab work, but currently I spend a lot of time at my computer analysing large sequencing datasets, particularly single-cell RNA-sequencing.
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My Typical Day:
I start work at 9 ish. I typically spend a lot of time on the computer analysing data, reading papers, and writing up results. I might have a meeting or two during the day with my boss or with potential collaborators – these are currently online.
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I start work around 9 ish. I do a lot of computer work, so I often work from home at the moment due to the pandemic. I enjoy working at home as I can wear my comfy tracksuit and make myself a proper lunch, but it is definitely nice to go into the lab and see my colleagues sometimes. When I have a day doing an experiment in the lab, the start time can vary depending on how long the experiment takes. Sometimes I need to start at 07:30 am, which is a struggle for me, as I’m not a morning person! In the lab, I could be processing tissues, for example gut biopsies that we get from patients having an endoscopy, or generating sequencing libraries (collections of DNA that can sequenced i.e. have their amino acid sequence read).
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Generate a computer game for learning about the immune system.
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Education:
Barton Peveril College (sixth form)
University of Cambridge (undergraduate)
University of Oxford (PhD)
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Qualifications:
11 GCSEs
4 A Levels (Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology)
Bachelor of Arts (Natural Sciences)
Doctor of Philosophy (Infection, Immunology and Translational Medicine)
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Work History:
Research Assistant in the lab of Professor Richard Cornall
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Current Job:
Postdoctoral Scientist in the lab of Professor Paul Klenerman
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
smiling running immunologist
What did you want to be after you left school?
wasn't sure
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Adele
What's your favourite food?
chocolate
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
to go to New Zealand, to win a Nobel Prize, to having loving friends and family
Tell us a joke.
no good at those (but I'm generally quite sarcastic)
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