Introduction
Hi, my name is Victoria Kinsley and
I am just starting my third year as a PhD student in Neurosciences here at the
University of Manchester. I finished my
Masters in Immunology and Immunogenetics in 2012 and started my PhD in
2013. My PhD involves studying the
nervous system in the gut and investigating a possible link between nerves and
the immune response. Hopefully this will
help us to better understand how and why diseases of the digestive system occur
and why some people are more susceptible than others.
In Depth
The gut, or gastro-intestinal tract, is responsible for taking nutrients
from food, and also for making sure any bugs we inadvertently digest are
recognised by our immune system and eliminated quickly. However, we all have naturally occurring
(commensal) bacteria in there too that we need to tolerate in order to be
healthy.
The gut is full of nerves, so many in fact that it is known as the
‘mini-brain’. It is controlled by these
nerves along with input from the brain; however the mini brain is capable of
working alone. Nerves are important to keep the gut moving and push through the
contents, but it appears they may have another role as well; we know that there
is a cross talk between this ‘mini-brain’ and the immune system to maintain a
healthy gut environment, but this is not yet fully understood. Some receptors and soluble factors are shared
by both nerves and immune cells and these may work together to keep the gut
healthy, but we don’t know yet how this impacts the progression of disease and
recovery from illness. Many people suffer
from diseases and disorders of the gastro-intestinal tract and some, such as
Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, have no known cure. These patients seem to have slightly
different gut nerves than those who are unaffected, and it may be that the
nervous system in the gut plays an important role in driving the disease. The gut is also affected in conditions such
as diabetes, and changes in gut commensal bacteria have been linked with autism
and depression, but further research is needed.
My research
My research aims to look at the nerves in the gut and investigate what is
happening during and after infection to see if there is a long term impact on the
nerve ‘maps’ that may then affect the way our guts respond to future infection
or disease. During the course of
ordinary life our gastro intestinal tract works hard; we all encounter the odd
bout of gut infection. Might this change our gut nerves and then affect our
immune responses in the future? Might this be why some people get chronic gut
disease and some people don’t? If we can understand the nervous system of the
gut a little better we may get closer to being able to answer some of these
important questions, and we may be able to help people suffering from gut disease.
Going further
To find out more
about my research image, click here-
http://www.psrs.manchester.ac.uk/images/personalexperiences/victoriakinsley/
To find out more
about studying neuroscience at the University of Manchester, have a look at
this-
http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/neurosciencebsc/
Look here if you
are interested in what type of research is going on in the Faculty of Life
Sciences-
http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/
Introduction
My name is Charlotte Pelekanou and I am a PhD student at the
University of Manchester studying Circadian Biology (body clocks). Body clocks
are found in all body organs and gives time of day messages to lots of body
processes. Altering these clocks can lead to the development of obesity and
type 2 diabetes (when your body does not regulate your blood sugar properly).
Before starting my PhD, I did my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences
and masters in Neuroscience research, both at the University of Manchester.
In Depth
Why am I interested
in body clocks?
When I tell people I research body clocks they always think
of sleep. However, over the last 50 years circadian biology has expanded
massively as more and more is found out about how the clock affects our body
functions.
I became interested
in the body clock because a family member had an illness that made them have
problems with their sleeping. I then found out in my undergraduate degree that
the body clock does more than regulate sleep; it also has effects on most
bodily functions including processing the food you eat, how your immune system
protects you and how you store memories.
I then chose to do a PhD on the effects of the clock on
obesity and diabetes as obesity is a growing issue in current society and it
costs the NHS a lot of money to treat patients who have health problems as a
result. I am also really interested in circadian biology itself as I like the
concept of ‘social jetlag’, where people are living in a different time to
their body clock, and how increased use of technology such as mobiles and iPads
in the evenings can lead to negative health effects and contribute to this rise
in obesity. I am also interested in the concept of chronotherapy which is looking
at how taking drugs at different times of day can have an effect on how well
the drug works. All of these make circadian biology a really exciting research
area.
What do I research
specifically?
During my PhD, I am looking at the clocks involved in metabolism
(how food is used to get energy) and the immune system and how altering them
can lead to negative effects on your body. Particularly, I’m looking at
inflammation in fat tissue caused by obesity and how it leads to the
development of type 2 diabetes. It has
already been found that people who work shifts, like doctors and nurses, can
have an increased risk of becoming obese and getting diabetes. This happens
because your internal timing is set to a different time to when you are
working, such as being awake and eating meals during the time your body wants
to be asleep. As we have already found that the body clock is linked to
metabolism and the immune system, we are looking for the specific pathways in
metabolism and the immune system that are linked to the body clock and how they
are changed with alterations in the body clock. We then want to see if we can
modulate the pathway to remove these effects of inflammation in obesity so that
fewer people would get diabetes from being obese.
Going Further
·
You can test when is the best times for
you to go to sleep and wake up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/crt/
·
You can look
up when is the best time to sleep, eat and exercise:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27161671
·
Some excuses
to start school/work later:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PSZ76rFZS0&index=11&list=PL9uTU-SI30pTlVyigGcnvDgHpDAFo4AEP
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11851311/Staff-should-start-work-at-10am-to-avoid-torture-of-sleep-deprivation.html
·
Here are links to interviews with circadian researchers
at The University of Manchester
https://lsmanchesterblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/tuesday-feature-episode-17-qing-jun-meng/
https://lsmanchesterblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/16/tuesday-feature-episode-16-andrew-loudon/
Introduction
My name is Catalina Cimpoeru and I have recently graduated
from The University of Manchester with a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience. My
degree captivated me from the beginning, taking me from interesting facts
about the human brain to how we use our senses (vision, hearing, touch) and the
way medicines interact with our bodies to alleviate the pain. During my third and final year of study we
all had to carry out a project in order to complete our degrees. I based my
project on something that I think is very popular at the moment, which is
gaming, and what effect this has on people. More specifically, I was looking at
the impact video games had on people’s motor and visual skills, which is
basically the effect on our eyes and movement. I have also reviewed what role
technology and games have in rehabilitation treatments regarding movement
problems.
In depth
How did I decide on what to study?
When I was in high
school, I knew I wanted to study Science in University, but there were a lot of
courses involving science so I had to narrow it down to the things I enjoyed
studying the most. I decided then that I wanted to study something biology
related, which is part of the Faculty of Life Sciences. This helped me look at
the different courses that different universities have to offer in this area. I
chose a biological area specialising in the brain as I wanted something more specific
to focus on.
Why precisely the brain?
The brain is the most complex and outstanding organ in the
human body, weighting only 1.5 kg and having more than 86 billion neurons that
connect and work with our body to produce all our emotions, the languages we
speak, the tasks we carry out daily and so much more. The work that the
students and, more importantly, that the researchers carry out is aimed at
discovering how the human brain works. By discovering this, we find out what
each of the parts of the brain are involved in, what causes different
illnesses, to ultimately find a cure for them. The work researchers and their
students conduct is very important in order to improve and prolong human life.
Why video games?
Around seven in ten British households are
active video games players, from playing games on their smartphones to computer
games and PlayStation or Nintendo Wii. Does it have an impact on people that
play very often? Yes. This is what my research has looked at and what I have
written in my Literature Review, which is a piece of writing you submit prior
to your big final year project write-up. Research showed that active video
gamers have improved dexterity, finesse and speed of their hand movements. Data
was recorded using Microsoft Kinect, a technological tool that records and
traces your eye and hand movements whilst playing games. This tool was
initially released in 2010 as a
controller for Xbox 360, so for gaming purposes. Soon enough, its powerful
tracing sensors were discovered and it was introduced in science and research
clinical trials. It is now used in different areas of research such as computer
graphics, human-machine interaction, eye-hand coordination and rehabilitation
programs for motor diseases-Parkinson’s Disease, cerebral palsy. I soon found
out researchers demonstrated that using exergames (a type of video games
focusing on exercising) improved the patients’ hand movements and reduced
shakiness. Microsoft Kinect was also used to produce different educational
games for children with autism, dyslexia, ADHD in order to enhance eye-hand coordination, focal
attention and short-term memory.In my degree, especially in my
final year of study, I was able to choose my own topic for my project, which
combined two very important topics to me: science and technology. As we are all
aware of this, technology is a big part of people’s lives, both socially and
academically. Technology is fast making advances in science, with continuous
advances in prosthetics 3D printing and developing a needle-free kit for
diabetics by using patches instead.
What about the future?
After graduation, I have been working as an intern at
the University of Manchester. During my university degree I have been a very
active student ambassador, which already allowed me to have a taste of the work
field. I am not working in Science or in my domain at the moment (which is fine
if you aren’t!) but I plan to return to health/technology in the future. I still find it tremendously interesting and
I always keep updated with the new technologies used in medicine and neuroscience.
I have ‘’challenged the known and embraced the unknown’’; I wanted to try something
different - which is great because my degree equipped me with a wide set of
transferable skills that allows me to work in different areas!
Going further
For more information about the Life Sciences courses that
The University of Manchester offers, visit: http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/
For information about the research we carry out at the
University of Manchester, visit: http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/
For more information about different careers path you can follow
after graduating from a Life Sciences degree, visit: http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/careeropportunities/
For interesting facts about the brain,
visit: http://www.oddee.com/item_98246.aspx
For neuroscience news, you can visit:
http://neurosciencenews.com/ or http://www.bbc.com/future/tags/neuroscience
To find out more news about science,
visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science
To find more news about technology
you can follow: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology
For medical technology news, follow: http://www.medgadget.com/
The new Thinking Careers section will explore non-academic career options pursued by PhD students. The first case study
will be on Emily Robinson, who completed an undergraduate degree and a PhD in
Neuroscience at the University of Manchester. Emily now works as a Secondary
and Post-16 Co-ordinator for the Sciences at the Manchester Museum.
Introduction
When I was in sixth form, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I liked
both biology and geography, but wasn't sure if I wanted to spend
years of my life studying either. Then one day, in a very small section of
books termed 'Careers Library' in the corner of our study room, I found a book
about Neuroscience – the study of the brain and the nervous system. With every
page I turned, I realised that I had found what I wanted to study. My mum was
shocked that evening when I announced over my spaghetti bolognese, “I'm
applying for Neuroscience”. Her first reaction was to ask, “What is
Neuroscience?” But as she heard me enthuse about this intriguing subject and
how interesting studying the brain would be, she realised that she was going to
have to trust me.
Current job
Flash forward ten years and I am now working at Manchester Museum
coordinating their secondary and post-16 science programme. Therefore, I get to
share my passion for science by creating engaging science workshops using
Manchester Museum's stunning collection. But how did I get from Neuroscience to
museum? Well, I did end up studying Neuroscience for my degree at the
University of Manchester and I liked it so much I stayed and did a four year
research PhD in Neuroscience.
My research
The focus of my PhD research was on trying to block the immune system's
damaging reaction to brain injury. It might seem odd to try to stop our immune
system – which normally protects us from dangerous injections. However, when a
brain injury occurs, such as a stroke, our immune system can overreact and as
the brain is such a sensitive organ, it can easily be inadvertently damaged, making the situation
worse. The research group I was working with are currently trialling an
anti-inflammatory treatment which will hopefully reduce the potential damage
caused by a stroke if it is given within a few hours of it occurring. Alongside
my lab work, I also enjoyed communicating the research to the public.
Therefore, I was involved in creating a lot of family and school activities to
try and get people interested in Neuroscience and to highlight the important
research we were doing. So my current job is an extension of that in the wider
context of science; as I get to simplify complex scientific concepts and get to
show students the real life application and importance of the science you are
taught in school.
Experience
Although my current job does not directly use my Neuroscience knowledge,
my PhD has been invaluable and helped me to get my current job. Conducting
research, no matter what subject, develops your analytical skills as well as
your specific subject knowledge. So whether I mean to or not, I now think like
a scientist! Along the way you also gain many useful transferable skills such
as communication and project management skills. Don’t get me wrong, doing a PhD
isn’t all rosy; there were tough times when things got me down and I had a few
wobbles with my confidence – but the challenge was all definitely worth it. I
loved being part of a large laboratory group, seeing how everyone’s separate
research linked together in the hope of making a big difference to people’s
lives in the future. On top of that, I have made some lifelong friends along
the way. Looking back, I can't say that I had the last ten years mapped out
since sixth form. I could never have guessed I would end up becoming a doctor
and working in a museum. But I’m always glad I chose to study a subject that I
found so interesting.
Going further...
To find out about studying Neuroscience at the University of Manchester,
go to the Faculty of Life Science's webpage and
the Neuroscience Research Institute.
The book which inspired my interest
in Neuroscience.
For up-to-date news about Neuroscience, go to Neuroscience News.
The Guardian has excellent articles about
Neuroscience.
For more ideas about what you can do with a Neuroscience degree, visit
the British Neuroscience Association’s website.
To find about more about non-academic career options for PhD students, visit
the Prospects website.