Profile
Joanne Hunt
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About Me:
Hello, I live near Liverpool with my husband and 3 children. I’m a bioinformatician by day but in the evenings I am very arty – I like to painting, crafting things and spending time with my children. I sing in a choir and I love reading and watching films.
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I love any films that involve magic and I love to make wooden wands.
I have a deep love for nature and I find natural history programs fascinating.
I love singing and I am a member of my work’s choir. We do lots of public performances throughout the year.
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I am a bioinformatician, which means that I investigate biological things using a computer. My main focus is on bacteria – good and bad. I look at the bacteria that can make you ill, give you spots, rot your teeth or make you smell. I also look at the bacteria that keep us healthy and protect us from harmful bacteria.
My main job is to try and find things that will help the good bacteria to grow whilst also stopping the growth of the bad bacteria that live on and inside our bodies.
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My Typical Day:
I wake up at 6.15 so that I can have a bit of ‘me’ time before I wake my children up at 7 so that they can get ready for school. After the school run I return home to my computer and do lots of investigations. As I work from home, I can arrange my working day to suit me. I have lots of meetings were I present the results that I have found. It is really exciting when some of my work leads to a new product. I only work part time so when I collect my children from school I usually turn off my computer so that I can focus on my children.
Every day is different. Sometimes I go into work so that I can see my friends face to face rather than just on a screen.
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A typical day for me is mostly spent on my laptop. It may sound a bit boring, but it isn’t. Every day I have to solve problems with programs that are not running properly, or I install new tools that will help me with my work. It’s a really good feeling when you figure something out and get a computer program to do what you actually want it to.
As I use a computer I can generate lots of results in a single day. A tool that I recently designed can do the same amount of work in a few hours that would actually take 1.5 years in a laboratory.
My job is all about improving things and finding things out faster.
I look at the DNA of bacteria and I can tell exactly what hat bacteria can do. I know what it likes to eat and I know what it needs to grow. If it is a good bacterium I will try and find things that will help it to grow and compete with the bad bacteria that live on our bodies. There are more than 37 trillion bacteria that live on us, so it is important that we understand what they can do.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would use the money to purchase equipment and apparatus so that could run interesting workshops in schools teaching children all about the importance of bacteria – not just about them living on our bodies, but how they affect the world as a whole.
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Education:
Park High School in Birkenhead
Birkenhead Sixth Form College
University of Liverpool
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Qualifications:
GCSEs: 9 grade A and 1 grade B
Alevels: Biology, Chemistry, French
BSc Hons: Genetics and Microbiology
PhD: Genetics and Microbiology
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Work History:
Assistant in a shoe shop
Assistant in a cafe
Medical Clerk during University holidays
Laboratory assistant in cytogenetics lab.
Research assistant University of Liverpool
Research assistant Clatterbridge Cancer Research Centre
Biophysics Scientist at Unilever
Bioinformatician at Unilever.
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Current Job:
Bioinformatician for the Microbiomics group at Unilver R&D.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
singing bioinformatician mum
What did you want to be after you left school?
A vet
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I like lots of different music so I can't choose
What's your favourite food?
Tomatoes
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I would wish that my children would have happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. I would wish that my husband wasn't allergic to cats so that we could have a pet cat. I would wish for a big 5 bedroom house with a big garden to explore.
Tell us a joke.
Q: What are the strongest days of the week? A: Saturday and Sunday, the others are all week days.
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