• Question: What do you mainly do in your job?

    Asked by anon-234827 on 18 Sep 2019.
    • Photo: Nina Rzechorzek

      Nina Rzechorzek answered on 18 Sep 2019:

      90% of my time at the moment is spent doing biomedical research (both clinical research involving brain scans of healthy volunteers, and basic lab research studying human brain cells ‘in a dish’). Most experiments I do are related to circadian (‘around 24-hour’) rhythms – these rhythms are driven by molecular ‘clocks’ that exist in each of our cells, including all of the cells of the brain. All of my research is geared towards discovering new mechanisms that will lead to new treatments for human and animal patients with brain disorders like dementia, epilepsy, mental illness, and brain tumours.

    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 20 Sep 2019:

      I have 2 main tasks. Firstly I design and write the software for the next generation of satellite Data Recorders. The Data Recorder is a unit in the spacecraft that captures and stores the data from the imager (the imager is basically a complex camera). This task takes up most of my time.

      My second task is supporting the Spacecraft Operations team throughout the life of each spacecraft. This is particularly important when the spacecraft is first launched as it spends the first few months being configured and tested before it can go into full operation. Its therefore the time when problems not seen during ground testing are found so occasionally I have to provide software “fixes” that are uploaded to the spacecraft. Currently I looking after some 6 spacecraft in orbit.

Comments

  • Photo: anon-234836

    anon-234836 commented on :

    Wow! What a great job to have. Does it feel like a great to know you are helping animals and people?

  • Photo: Nina

    Nina commented on :

    The process is always slow and can be quite frustrating at times, but this is exactly why I became a clinician scientist – so that I could do science to help patients. I am very lucky to have the opportunity to help humans and other animals, and certainly there is a lot of crossover between human medicine and veterinary medicine. The more we learn about the brain in different species, the better chance we have of being able to fix it.