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I am really interested in our immune system and how we can use vaccines to direct our immune cells to protect people from nasty diseases. There are many different things that can change the way your immune cells respond to vaccines though, which can change how well the vaccines work. Age is a good example of this- elderly people don’t respond as well to vaccines because their immune cells are more mature. There is even a fancy word for it: immunosenescence.

What’s really interesting is that there is a type of virus, called cytomegalovirus, that can cause very similar effects. If you’re infected with cytomegalovirus, then your immune cells can change and act like what you might expect from your grandparents! My work looks at how immune cells in people with cytomegalovirus respond to vaccines, compared to people without cytomegalovirus.

I get into work about 9:30am and make a list of the top three things I want to get done during the day while I drink my coffee. Usually it’s a combination of reading (there is a lot of new research to keep up with!), analysing my own data, and maybe getting into the lab do an experiment. I also am spending a lot of time writing at the moment because I am getting near the end of my PhD so am working on my thesis.. it’s almost 30,000 words so far… Days in the lab are great because they get you away from your desk and moving around- it’s cool to actually do something! I normally leave between 6:30-7:30pm, but it depends if I have an experiment that last a realllly long time or if I have found something interesting and can’t stop! Other people in my lab work completely different hours though, you can usually organise work to suit you best.