Profile

Photo:

Hannah Currant

My CV

  • Education:

    University of Cambridge ’16-now (PhD), University of St Andrews ’12-’16 (BSc), Hayesfield Girls’ School ’05-’12

  • Qualifications:

    BSc Molecular Biology

  • Work History:

    University College London – Summer researcher, Imperial College London – Summer researcher.

  • Current Job:

    PhD Student in Biological Sciences

    • About Me:

      I’m a PhD student who loves science, snacks and sipping on a cup of tea.

    • Read more

      I live in Cambridge where I am just beginning the fourth year of my PhD in Bioinformatics. For the past three years I’ve been combining my passion for biology with computer science, learning lots along the way!

      I also teach young people computer programming, trying to spread the word of all the different fields computer science can be applied to, from physics to art.

      In my spare time I like to make and eat adventurous snacks, drink LOTS of tea, volunteer in my community and watch rom-coms.

       

    • Read more

      I am interested in finding genes that might effect the shape of the retina, an area at the back of the eye that changes the light that comes into the eye into signals that your brain can understand. I get information about the shape of the eye from scans, the same kind that you might have done at the optician. I use this information, and peoples genetic code to look if there is a link between the shape of the retina, and genes. The shape of the retina can change if people have certain diseases such as glaucoma, a disease that causes blindness, and albinism, a condition that effects how well we see due to pigmentation. Therefore we hope finding out about genes that cause different shaped retinas may help us find out about genes that effect these diseases.

    • My Typical Day:

      Lots of coding, fuelled by snack and tea. Talking with other scientists and sharing ideas about our projects. Catching up on the latest science news by reading and going to talks by scientists I admire.

    • Read more

      A large part of my day will be spent writing code and running computer programmes. I like coding as it’s really creative and is basically a big problem solving puzzle. In between I often have meetings with other scientists, either people working on the same project as me, people doing similar stuff or just other scientists whose work I think seems cool. It’s really useful to talk to different people to get new ideas and perspectives, plus it’s fun to meet people who like the same science as you. I also try to go to talks by visiting scientists and read up on the latest stuff, science is always changing and that’s one of the things that makes it amazing!

       

      As part of my work I also get to travel lots, to attend conferences, courses (you’re always learning as a researcher!) and give talks. I feel really lucky to get to do this as it means I get to see more of the world and meet people who I would otherwise never get to meet.

       

    • The most exciting thing that's happened this year in my research area:

      People have found that the shape of the eye seems to change in people with several brain based conditions such as Alzheimers and Dementia. This is super interesting as it means something in the disease is effecting both the brain and the eye. This could help scientists find new types of treatment for the disease, or help them be able to diagnose it earlier.

    • My latest work:

      I’m trying to use images of the human eye to get measurements about the retina, and then see if genetics is effecting these measurements. The eye measurements tell us about the shape of the eye, and the shape of the eye is effected by several diseases, such as glaucoma. So by looking for genetics that is effecting the shape of the eye, we hope to find genetics to do with these diseases. This may help us find ways to improve how we diagnose and treat these diseases.

    • My favourite misconception about my area of science:

      That coding isn’t creative! Coding requires lots of thinking about new and unique ways to solve problems, it’s basically just a big puzzle to solve. Therefore it’s not just those that are traditionally good at math and science, your typical “nerd”, who can be good at and enjoy coding. It takes lots of different skills and lots of different people use code to solve different problems!