Profile

My name is Alex and I live in Grove, Oxfordshire. I live at home with my parents, and work at the Medical Research Council. One of my favourite hobbies is playing and watching snooker, it’s a great game and I could probably play all day! Though I wouldn’t describe myself as very competitive. I love my work but also enjoy playing video games with my friends. Something I would love in life is a dog, which would make me very happy.

I am not a very serious person and I like to try and laugh and smile as much as possible, and make other people feel the same. I am a patient person and love to have a chat.

As a scientist in Medical Research, I work mainly in a lab, wearing a white lab coat and goggles. I work indirectly with mice, as these animals are quite similar to humans, though not on the outside. Our DNA, what we can’t see, is very similar, which means we can genetically alter a mouse in a specific way and then see what effects that has. The results can then be used to make a prediction about what the same genetic change might cause in humans, and how to fix it.

My role is to create and manage the library of genetically altered mice that go on to be used in research. Some of the mice I help to create are being used to find out more about type II diabetes, deafness, and neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease), for example. Though I do not have a role in this research myself.

As well as this, other scientist from other places in the country might want a specific type of mouse for use in their research. Those scientists can contact us, the Medical Research Council, and ask us to make that mouse for them. We do this free of charge. This means that we use very young mouse embryos (these are not mice yet but often single cells that have been fertilised) and inject them with ‘reagents’ (these are safe chemicals) which alter the DNA of the cell in a controlled way. Then, the cells continue to multiply until a mouse is born. We can then use our skills in the lab to find out if the mouse is how we expect.

I work through many different mouse ‘lines’ and also have a role in maintaining a good working environment for me and my colleagues. Everything we do is tested and safe, and we make sure that the mice we work with are looked after very well.