Profile
Bill Carton
My CV
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Education:
I went to school in my hometown of Waterford in Ireland. Once I finished my secondary school education I studied Biomedical science at University College Dublin. I finished this degree in 2018 and moved to Dundee in Scotland to do my PhD.
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Work History:
I worked part time to help pay for school and university in a pharmacy, a McDonald’s, as a waitor on a canal boat restaurant and as a shop assistant in the university shop on campus. All these jobs were tough but ultimately they helped me get to my current position and get through college so they were worth it in the end.
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About Me:
My name is Bill and I am an Irish scientist doing a PhD in Scotland. When I’m not in the lab I love to hang out with my friends, read, run and explore the lovely Scottish countryside!
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Read more
My name is Bill and I grew up in Waterford, a small city in the south of Ireland. I moved to Scotland two years ago to do my PhD after I finished college in Dublin. I live alone in my flat with my many house plants (since I’m not allowed to have a pet). My favourite thing to do is visit my family and friends back home in Ireland as much as I can. We spend a lot of time walking in the countryside or at the beach. In Scotland, I love to do the same and try to spend my free time hiking or walking in the countryside!
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Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that affects mainly the older generation. It is caused by the death of cells within the brain. We aren’t sure exactly what causes the cells in your brain to start dying yet but we know that a big problem is when proteins inside these cells start to clump together and form lumps or aggregates. My research focuses on trying to break up these aggregates and get rid of the proteins inside them. I do this by getting cells in the lab to express these proteins and make these aggregates and then I try treat them with different approaches to see if we can fix the problem.
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My Typical Day:
I get up early and walk to the lab with my coffee. Most days I spend some of the morning setting up experiments and looking after my cells and in the evening I do some computer work before going home and relaxing!
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I usually wake up around 6.30am (way too early to function) and get to the lab for 8. Firstly I look at my plan for the day to see what I need to get done and then I usually get straight into the lab. I put on my labcoat and goggles to make sure I am protected from the chemicals I use in the lab. I sometimes start off by running gels to look at proteins within my cells. This normally takes a whole day to do so I start early. Once I have my gels running, I go to the special room where we grow our cells. This room has to be super clean to stop any bad bacteria or contaminants getting into our cells which could ruin our whole experiment. I normally spend a few hours in this room looking after my cells, splitting them into new dishes when they’ve grown too big and sometimes harvesting them to look at the proteins inside them! Normally I spend my evenings on the computer, looking at my results, reading up on the latest research and planning my day for the next day. I usually leave the lab at around 5 or 6pm and walk home. I eat my dinner and relax for the evening with a book or some netflix and get ready to do it all again the next day.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Motivated, clumsy and funny
What did you want to be after you left school?
A scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No
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