February 2024
Science Beyond the Textbook
A Day in the Life of a PhD student
Anna Brown
Hi, I’m Anna and I’m doing an integrated master’s at Warwick University. A Master’s is a degree following on from your initial degree at university, and integrated just means that it’s already part of my course. My project aims to increase our understanding of feto-maternal diseases - diseases that affect pregnant women. These diseases are caused by problems with the placenta - the organ that forms in the mother’s womb during pregnancy to help give the baby nutrients and protection. To investigate the issues with the placenta, we can grow placental cells in the laboratory and use them as a model for the placenta. The cells stick to the bottom of a plastic flask with a liquid food source, known as media, on top. This makes it a lot easier to investigate the effects that certain conditions have on the placenta. My current research is focused on the effects that high blood sugar levels, which can be caused by feto-maternal diseases, may have on the placenta. To investigate, I treat placental cells with growth medium with lots of sugar in it.
I begin my day by writing a To-Do list to keep me focused and organised. I then collect the high-sugar media for the cells and put it in the freezer for now. Next, I put a special substance on the layer of cells to make the cells burst open, so that all the contents of the cells are released and mixed together. I take this mixture and put it in a really cold freezer. In the following days, I will do an experiment to look for the molecules that indicate disease in the cell contents mixture and the media I froze earlier, to see if the high sugar conditions have impacted the ability of the cells to make the disease-indicator molecules that I mentioned.
A flask containing placental cells attached to the flask surface and pink liquid food source known as media.
Next, I hurry back to my desk and chat with my friends over lunch until it’s time for our weekly lab meeting. A lab meeting is where the whole lab group (about 8 of us) get together and one of us does a presentation about how their research is going, so that everyone is aware of the work our team is doing. After the lab meeting, I make a coffee and continue working on an assignment. My Master’s year involves ~10 assignments as well as the lab project, so it’s a bit of a juggling act. After I make some progress with my assignment, I looked at what experiments I have to do tomorrow and plan out the day. Then it was time to get the bus home and enjoy my evening!
Scientist Spotlight
Dr Meera Unnikrishnan
Dr Meera Unnikrishnan is an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, part of the Microbiology and Infection research sector. She supervises a large team of researchers, and we asked her a few questions about how she got into science!
What do you research?
I work on disease causing bacteria called ‘pathogens’. Cells in our body can respond to these pathogens and produce molecules that can protect us from them but pathogens can produce toxins that help break our cellular defenses, invade our cells and cause an infection. My lab is studying the pathways used by the pathogens to take over our cells. These studies will help developing new drugs against such pathogens.
What did you study at university?
I did a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology followed by a Masters’ degree in Biotechnology.
Was there someone that inspired you to work in science?
As a schoolgirl I always wanted to study Medicine, but unfortunately did not get the grades I needed (I was in India then). I then started studying Microbiology and these tiny microbes really fascinated me! I am inspired by scientists like Marie Curie, who discovered radioactivity.
What motivates you to continue working in science?
Science is as exciting as it was hundreds of years ago, there’s still so much to understand! Personally, I think the world of microbes is fascinating, and we have lots more to learn about these very clever organisms. The more we understand the tricks microbes use to outsmart us, the better we get at getting rid of the harmful ones.
Have you got any advice for someone interested in science and wanting to learn a bit more?
Talk to University students studying science or scientists doing research and find out more about what they do. There are several opportunities from local Universities to do work experiences in science labs, this would give you a flavour of how it feels like to be in a lab doing research!
Spot the Difference!
See if you can spot all the differences in the lab and note them down below!
Image Credit: https://lumblog.com/2014/04/29/spot-the-difference/
Competition Time!
Draw your best microbe and enter our competition! Go all out and the student with the best submission will receive a £50 voucher!
Student submissions must be made by teachers.
Deadline for submissions is 31/03/24.
Upload your submission here: Submission Form
This prize comes as courtesy of the Athena Swan committee at the University of Warwick, working to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research.