• Question: what inspired you about this area of work??

    Asked by bethanybramhill to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 14 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by caitlinhoare, robertsd09, charliedraco, danrumford, jord, abihoulbrooke, histed, dickinson, charlottedavies, hinnah7202.
    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi Bethanybramill,

      I was originally pushed in to this area of work because I wanted to know all about animal diseases and find ways to cure them or stop them spreading! And it was all caused by pony getting a nasty bacterial infection called Strangles when I was 14!

      I think my A level biology teacher was one of the greatest people to encourage me. He kept telling me to keep asking Why (which i think he soon regretted) and I’ve kept asking why since!

      What inspires me to keep doing my research is the potential for my research to make the lives of farmers, cows and badgers better. It really is a huge motivator!

      Hope this answers your question!

      Cat

    • Photo: Pamela Lithgow

      Pamela Lithgow answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi bethanybramhill,
      I got interested in microbiology when I wat at university. I went to university to study Veterinary Science with the hope of becoming a vet. But when I was there I realised I prefered the science stuff so I focused on that. Once I started working on microbiology and virology I was hooked!!
      Hope that helps!
      Pam

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi Bethany, Caitlin,

      Inspiration came to me because it’s quite a ‘blue sky’ area. ‘Blue sky’ is apparently one of the most hated and clichéd business phrases, but its meaning to me was a fairly new and open area with a degree of risk but some potential of great success. Basically, antibiotic resistance is a real problem, frequently reported in publications and the media*MATOMO_URL Drug companies haven’t had great luck in making new drugs to fight it, and a big reason why is that the area is now unattractive – it’s difficult, and on top of MANY other reasons doesn’t really make lots of money. A way to help this would be to better study the enzymes (proteins) which make the bacterial cell wall, as they are where a lot of resistance problems arise. Understanding the enzymes better and getting them to behave in a lab means people can more easily make drugs for them**MATOMO_URL

      I hope that helps!

      Daz

      **the media very often over-hype things, so always be wary of the source….
      ***this is like, an epic epic simplification 🙂

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