Category: Early Career Researchers

In profile: Dr Anna Reed, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer

In the latest instalment of our Staff Profile series, we spoke to Dr Anna Reed about her recent Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Academic Research Partnership (CARP) fellowship award and future research ambitions.

Introduce yourself – who are you and what do you do?

My name is Anna Reed. I am a lung transplant physician at Harefield Hospital and work as part of a team providing cardiothoracic transplant and mechanical circulatory support to patients across the UK. My clinical interests are broad-reaching and include fungal infections following lung transplant, mechanisms of development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), extracorporeal bridging to lung transplant and mechanical circulatory support in the context of severe end-stage pulmonary arterial hypertension. (more…)

A great start: DoID Postdoc and Fellows Day 2021

By Julia Sanchez Garrido

On Friday 29 October, we held the first edition of what should become an annual DoID Postdoc & Fellow Day (#DoIDPFDay). It was virtual this year but should become an in-person, all-day event in the future!

Professor Wendy Barclay and postdoc champion Dr Avinash Shenoy gave the day a kickstart, emphasizing the importance of postdocs and sharing insightful advice. The DoID postdoc reps Anat Melamed, Kristin Krohn Huse, Catherine Kibirige and Julia Sanchez Garrido, main organisers and chairs of the event, also introduced themselves. This was followed by an extremely informative talk from Ines Perpetuo, from the PFDC, detailing how the PFDC can help us with our present and future, including fellowship applications, job interviews and networking. (more…)

Volunteering to support COVID-19 testing at Milton Keynes’ Lighthouse Lab

Dr Stephanie Ascough at work in the lab
Dr Stephanie Ascough at work in the lab

Dr Stephanie Ascough shares her experience of volunteering at the UK Biocentre in Milton Keynes, one of three Lighthouse Labs supporting large scale analysis of COVID-19 swabs from across the whole of the UK. 

In mid-March, along with many of my colleagues at Imperial, I transitioned to working remotely, and our group sadly suspended all clinical research at the Hammersmith and St Mary’s Campuses. After the first few days of writing manuscripts in the garden though, I think many of us were surprised to realise how much we missed the lab, and I was no exception. On top of this was the feeling that, as an immunologist working with respiratory viruses, I had a skill set that would be valuable in the middle of a global pandemic. So, as soon as the call went out for volunteers to help with COVID-19 testing, I signed up. Within a week I heard back from the NIHR UK Biocentre in Milton Keynes. Shortly after this, in mid-April I found myself driving up an almost deserted M1, past signs reminding us to ‘Stay home, Save lives’ and restrict ourselves to ‘Essential travel only’. (more…)

Embracing a new work-life balance during lockdown

Dr Carol Sheppard and her family
Dr Carol Sheppard and her family

Dr Carol Sheppard explains how lockdown has reinvigorated her research by providing a much-needed opportunity for planning and reflection.

In 2015 my husband and I were some of the first people in the country to take shared parental leave, an arrangement we both highly advocate. I had a baby (girl), published a first author paper and learnt to drive, all in the space of a year. It was a challenging year with a steep learning curve but I was immensely proud of all of my achievements. No-one patted me on the back more than myself! (more…)

In profile: Dr Richard Kelwick, Research Associate

This post was originally published on the Department of Medicine Staff Blog on 9 August 2018.

Dr Richard Kelwick is a Research Associate in the Section of Structural Biology. Having recently been awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Enterprise Fellowship, we asked him about his experiences so far of translating his research into the commercial world.

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As it happened: CMBI Away Day

CMBI Away Day

This post was originally published on the Department of Medicine Staff Blog on 22 July 2019.

The MRC CMBI had its annual Away Day on 21 June at the Linnean Society London in London’s Piccadilly. The theme for the day was “The Art of New Biology: Creativity, Technologies and Multidisciplinarity”. The day-long activities included five scientific talks and a treasure hunt organised by students and postdocs. (more…)