Profile
Jonathan Benn
My CV
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Education:
I went to school and sixth form college at Wellsway Secondary School in Keynsham (between Bristol and Bath) before going on to study a degree in Biomedical Science at the University of York.
As part of my degree I did a year in industry placement at the pharmaceutical company UCB, which was by far the most useful and rewarding part of my degree. I was given a research project, £2000 a week in spending, and let loose in their research and development labs for a whole 12 months.
After graduating in 2018 I took a gap year before then starting my PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cambridge University. -
Qualifications:
GCSEs
– Maths
– Biology
– Chemistry
– Physics
– Music
– French
– ICT
– Geography
– Statistics
– English Language
– English Literature
AS-Levels
– Physics
A-levels
– Biology
– Chemistry
– Maths
Undergraduate degree
– Biomedical Sciences with a Year in Industry -
Work History:
My first Job was working in a backwater countryside pub where everyone spoke like Hagrid. Before going to Uni I spent about half a year working in the kitchen of the café in Waitrose which I returned to during some of my Uni holidays.
After finishing my undergraduate degree I worked for six months as a Quality manager in the laboratory of the local water company where I saved up money to go travelling. -
Current Job:
I’m currently a first Year PhD student (Most PhD’s in science are paid like jobs) in the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Cambridge.
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About Me:
I’m a first year PhD student studying Neuroscience at the UK Dementia Research Institute, currently dividing my time between writing up experiments and Animal Crossing.
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In pre-corona times I lived in Cambridge but am currently back at home in Bristol with my family including our grumpy cat and dopey dog. I’ve been spending quarantine so far getting back into running (and gaming) but can’t wait to get back into the lab, which is something I thought I’d never say two months ago!
I’m a big fan of Mexican food and, much to my own surprise, have got particularly into baking during this lock down. I also play piano and guitar to an incredibly mediocre standard and love travelling, I started my PhD last year after spending 6 months travelling down through South America!
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My work involves looking for and testing potential new medicines to treat Dementia. Dementia is caused by the cells of the brain slowly and irreversibly dying in a process that we unfortunately have no cure for.
Scientists currently think that most types of Dementia (including Alzheimer’s Disease) are caused by the aggregation of proteins within brain cells, leading the cell to die. These proteins normally contribute to the healthy functioning of our brain cells but start to form toxic aggregates in Dementia.
My research takes parts of our immune system that destroy viruses when they enter our cells, and uses them to create molecular machines which will hopefully destroy these toxic aggregates of proteins. To do this I use models of protein aggregation in cells in a petri dish and make these molecular machines in bacteria (which stink!).
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My Typical Day:
No day in the lab is ever the same which keeps things exciting! I’ll normally rock up to the lab in the morning and check if any exciting research has come out before going to check up on the cells I look after, which almost feel like my pets by now.
I’ll then spend a while planning and carrying out experiments which can be anything from genetically engineering DNA to analysing my cells under the microscope! -
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No day in the lab is ever the same which keeps things exciting but makes it difficult to say what exactly a typical day is!
I’ll normally rock up to the lab around 9:30 where I check online to see if any new exciting research about Dementia has come out. I’ll then go check up on my cells which need feeding every couple of days and almost feel like pets to me by now! Normally I’ll spend a while before lunch designing and checking over what experiments I want to carry out in the afternoon.
Quite often at lunch there’s an exciting talk going on somewhere on the hospital site which can be on anything related biology or medicine.
In the afternoons I’ll start up an experiment which could be anything from genetically engineering DNA to create my molecular machines, or setting up some cells in the microscope to try see if the molecular machines are doing their job properly.
Usually things will wind down around 5:30 but this is completely flexible and depends on the state of whatever experiments are still ongoing!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Chilled, Outgoing, Nerdy
What did you want to be after you left school?
I didn’t have a clue.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
A couple of times for talking and forgetting homework.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Gang of Youths, their 2017 album is a banger.
What's your favourite food?
Anything Mexican, love the spice and cheese combo.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To be good at every musical instrument, to be able to speak every language, to be able to summon a burrito whenever I want.
Tell us a joke.
As a young boy, Joe was completely obsessed with tractors. He had pictures of tractors all over his bedroom walls; he had tractor toys, tractor T-shirts, a tractor carpet, and duvet cover, the whole works. He ate, drank and slept tractors. On his 17th birthday he was thrilled to get an invitation to go to a tractor factory nearby and test-drive a brand new tractor. His excitement was incredible as he told his family and friends. The great day came and he went to the factory for the test-drive. Unfortunately something went terribly wrong with the tractor when Joe was driving it and it flipped over, trapping and breaking Joe's leg and fracturing his skull. He was so upset and tried to sue the tractor company for negligence. But the company would have none of it and told him there was no liability and he could get lost! You can imagine he was very annoyed with tractors after this and vowed to shed them from his life completely and forever. All the posters came down, the toys were given away - tractors were GONE. Many years later, Joe went into a bar for a drink. Inside, the cigarette smoke was terrible but through it he saw a beautiful girl seated at the bar on her own. Tears were streaming down her face. Joe asked her what was wrong and she said that the smoke was making her eyes sting and stream with tears. With that, Joe looked around and then took a huge breath, sucking in all the smoke. He then walked outside into the car park and blew all the smoke out again. He goes back into the bar where the air is now clear and sweet and sits down next to the girl. "That was amazing!" she said, "How did you do that?" "No problem", said Joe... "I'm an ex-tractor fan"
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