Profile

Photo:

Iona Christie

    • About Me:

      I live with my Partner in Twickenham, London. My job is working with viruses. In the evenings I like to listen to jazz or go to the gym. I love Horse riding, pottery and dogs!

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      I like to go horse riding as often as I can and my parents have dogs which I go back and see and go on nice long walks with.

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • My Work:

      I currently work in an antiviral unit, providing high-quality testing for HIV, HSV and HSV in NHS samples. My department provides International reference and surveillance activities for antiviral resistance including acting as a WHO-specialised HIV drug resistance laboratory.

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      • Analyse the genomes of HIV and HSV using bioinformatic pipelines.
      • Maintain Vero cells along with performing plaque assays for HSV.
      • Perform whole genome sequencing on HCV samples
      • Guide and assist student undertaking masters’ projects.
      • I ensure reagents used for service work are all in date and validated prior to use
      • Help to improve current service work by investigating new reagents

    • My Typical Day:

      I get to work for 7 am we have flexi working so this means I get to leave a 3pm and also try and avoid all the traffic. I will have lunch whenever I have time, sometimes I will go out for a nice walk during my lunch. I get to plan my own day. Often a day will involve extracting material from patient samples and running them on a PCR and then often sending them for sequencing. This all happens in the lab. I also help with cell culture. This work mostly happens on Monday and Thursday.

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      We infect cells with HSV virus to try and grow the virus and perform a test on. This involves keeping healthy cells going. we have to split the cells on Monday and Thursdays and then if we are performing a test this happens on Tuesday or Friday since it takes 1 day for the cells to be nice an healthy.

    Candidate CV questions (extra)

    • Education:

       

      The Perse School, Cambridge

      University of Exeter

    • Qualifications:

      GCSE,

      A-levels, Chemistry biology geography

      Master Medical microbiology

      PhD in progress

    • Work History:

      research assistant

      Associate Microbiologist

      Assistant Research Scientist

      Waitress at a wedding catering

    • Employer:

      UK HEALTH SECURITY AGENCY

    • My Interview

      • What did you want to be after you left school?

        the next David Attenborough

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        yes

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        Vet

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Gregory Porter

        What's your favourite food?

        any Vegetables

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