Meet our Staff & Students
Dr Alex Spencer, Post-doctoral Researcher
How is your typical working day?
My mornings are usually spent processing samples and setting up experiments to identify ways to improve the immune response to the vaccines in our Grand Challenges for Global Health project and at the same time understand the immune response to the liver-stage of malaria. This means that my afternoon can be spent analysing data and writing papers/reports. We have a weekly lab meeting and there are numerous seminars nearby on a wide variety of topics to keep the mind buzzing.
The most enjoyable aspect of your work?
My favourite part of an experiment is analysing the data as this always opens up interesting questions to answer in the next experiment.
And the most difficult?
Trying to keep my head around all the different projects I am involved in and those of the students I supervise.
The biggest challenge you have faced so far?
Project milestones – the Grand Challenge project has many milestones and deadlines that need to be met. But I prefer to be busy and I love the challenge of having to get an experiment done by a particular date.
Any advice for potential applicants?
Get involved – with the wide variety in work, projects and people at the Jenner there is always something different going on both at work and socially.
Dr Sandy Douglas, DPhil Student
How is your typical working day?
It usually starts slowly with coffee and email before eventually getting more productive... My DPhil project is to identify, validate and optimise new antigens for the Blood-stage Malaria Vaccines Programme . This involves quite a bit of reading of papers, designing new vaccines and planning new experiments.
The lab-work itself is a mixture of molecular biology, which is making the vaccines using various forms of DNA cloning, some parasitology, and of course immunology, ie. testing whether the vaccines work!
Some of this is quite routine, but frequently I'll be working with a new technique which requires development and trouble-shooting. On top of this, I'll often have a meeting with my supervisor or the group to discuss ongoing work, or there will be a seminar by a visiting speaker.
The most enjoyable aspect of your studies?
I love being able to take an idea which has arisen from something abstract - for example, a bit of basic parasitological data in a paper I've read - and use it to design, construct, and test my own vaccines which could ultimately go into clinical trials.
I think that many clinicians, like myself, are keen to do research which has the potential for 'real world benefit', and I think this fits in well with the lab's pragmatic ethos. Many researchers talk about 'translational science'- not many people actually work in an environment which is set up to allow translation from idea to clinic within a few years.
Flexibility and freedom have been further hugely positive aspects of my DPhil - both intellectual freedom to think creatively, and freedom to manage my own time at work (and time off) have been a breath of fresh air after the pressure of NHS foundation jobs!
And the most difficult?
Keeping on top of multiple different projects, prioritising the important things and recognising the ideas which aren't worth spending time on.
What are your plans after graduating?
Probably further clinical training, hopefully in infectious disease. I haven't yet worked out how I'm going to manage to maintain my research interests alongside this - I want to maintain input into the projects I've started during my DPhil. In the long term, I'm definitely keen to do further translational research.
Any advice for potential student applicants?
Go for it! The Jenner is a large Institute spanning a wide range of work, and it's quite important to end up working on a project which is a good fit with your own interests and outlook.
Think about what interests you within the area of vaccinology. Do you want to design new interventions and test them pre-clinically? Or do you want to try to gain a better understanding of how the human immune system reacts to vaccines? Are you interested in a particular disease? Read some papers written by the different investigators in the Jenner. Once you've found someone doing work that interests you, get in touch, preferably with a CV.
