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Postgraduate Lives: Back in the lab

Clare Thorn, PhD student at Peninsula Medical School, Exeter

Interview,Caitlin Davies
Thursday 28 April 2005 00:00 BST
Comments

People often hear about what the top scientists in the UK are doing, but the work being done by postgraduate students is equally fascinating, especially in the field of medical research.

People often hear about what the top scientists in the UK are doing, but the work being done by postgraduate students is equally fascinating, especially in the field of medical research.

After an undergraduate degree in physics and an MSc in medical physics, I worked at University College London as a research medical physicist. My job was to bring new technology into the clinical arena so doctors and nurses could use it. I began in a geriatric department investigating changes in the electrical activity of the brain to see if it could help make an early diagnosis of Alzheimer's. At the time the only way to confirm Alzheimer's was to examine the brain after death.

I then joined a team who were just developing the cochlear implant for people who are profoundly deaf. Twenty years ago this was pioneering research and it's fantastic to see people using the implants now.

I then became involved in another exciting field of research developing in the 1980s, using the technique known as Near Infrared Spectroscopy to "see" how well oxygenated a baby's brain was simply by shining light through it. UCL developed the technique and my role was to move it on and have it used in neonatal units. It's now a well-established procedure.

In 1989 I moved to Devon to work as a hospital physicist, later joining the water industry as a wastewater scientist. I had two children during this time and after the second was born in 1993 I decided I wanted to be a stay-at-home mum. I took eight years out and this has been as important in my life as my career.

In 2001 my youngest child started school and I wanted to return to work. But eight years is quite a break, especially in medical research. Luckily I got help from the Daphne Jackson Trust, a charity to help scientists and engineers return to work. I worked part time in the physics department at Exeter to update my skills. I couldn't be where I am now without the Daphne Jackson Trust and the university.

I started a PhD last year in the Microcirculation Innovation Centre at the new Peninsula Medical School, financially supported by the Darlington Trust. I've returned to the simplicity of using light as a clinical tool, but my focus is now on diabetes. The tiny blood vessels in diabetics can become dysfunctional, causing complications in the eyes, kidneys and skin. We have an instrument built in the physics department that lets me study some fundamental physiology in these minute vessels. At the moment I work in a physics lab, but later I'll take what I've learnt into hospital.

At first it was daunting going back to university. The average PhD student is 23 and I looked at myself and thought, what do I have to offer? But experience is important - you have a confidence you don't have at 23.

caitlind1@aol.com

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