• Question: Do you find your work interesting and fun?

    Asked by footylad12 to Enda, Jean, Kate, Kev, Tim on 15 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by bombben6, jellytots54.
    • Photo: Jean Bourke

      Jean Bourke answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      I love it! I find my work really fascinating and exciting. I have to admit that I suffer from the delusion that everyone else thinks tb is just as interesting as I do: Don’t get me started!

      I’m working on things we know nothing about so everything I make and any information we find out about it is totally new. There is so much potential! Everyday is different as a scientist and this really excites me! Even when things don’t go as planned, you learn something from that.

      I think I may be using too many exclamation marks… 🙂

    • Photo: Enda O'Connell

      Enda O'Connell answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Hi Footylad12,

      It was good chatting to you earlier. I really enjoy my work and find it very interesting. I’m lucky in that I get to work on lots of different projects so every day is different. Since moving to NUI Galway, I’ve worked on projects involving Cancer, Stem Cells, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, DNA Damage and nanoparticles called Quantum Dots.

      I work in an Institute with people from all over the world who are experts in Biology, Engineering, Medicine, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics and Maths so there is always something interesting going on. Also, one of the major perks of a job in Science is getting to travel to present your work or attend training courses abroad. I’ve been to the US (Washington & Atlanta), the UK (London & Cambridge), Germany (Hamburg & Heidelberg) and Spain (Valencia) and all around Ireland with my work over the years.

      There is also a great social scene, as there is in most universities, and there are always gigs, movie screenings, quizzes, society events happening. We also have a football team, a tag rugby team and a basketball team and there are loads of other sports clubs you can join, so you’ll never be bored.

    • Photo: Tim Downing

      Tim Downing answered on 17 Nov 2012:

      Hi Footylad,

      Yes my area is interesting and fun. I study single-celled parasites. These are different to animal or plants because they evolve so quickly. This happens because of their short generation times – every day is a new generation, rather than the 25-30 years for us! Secondly, they also mutate their DNA more often. We are complex organisms made of many cells and protein that interact, whereas single-celled bugs have a fewer number of interacting proteins and only a single cell. So this means certain DNA mutations have smaller overall effects. The third aspect is that because these parasites can produce lots of new parasites, it can make more mutations in the DNA because only a small number of the new parasites need to survive to produce the generation afterwards. So this fast-changing DNA means our work is very interesting.

      Tim

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