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Rebecca Locke

    • About Me:

      I have recently moved to Cambridge with my partner. I work for the NHS in the day and in my spare time I love kickboxing, knitting, running and persuading people to let me take their dogs for a walk!

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      I was born in Bath, but I have also lived in Southampton, London and now Cambridge. I’ve run four half marathons, but I am definitely no Mo Farah. I’m hopefully starting some aerial trapeze classes soon so I can run away and join the circus!

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • My Work:

      I help write software to diagnose genetic conditions in the NHS! 🙂

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      I am currently on the NHS Scientist Training Programme, which helps to train up scientists in the NHS in different areas – my area is clinical bioinformatics. If a person has symptoms that may be a genetic condition, they might undergo some tests to see if they have a genetic condition.

      Clinical bioinformaticians help to make software to look for differences in a person’s genetic make-up compared to ‘normal’ which might be the cause of a genetic condition. This means that the person can get a diagnosis and have the best possible treatment!

    • My Typical Day:

      I wake up and normally have some oats (with Nutella) and coffee.  After that I usually do the long commute to my spare room and start work at 9am, though sometimes I go into the hospital to work. During the day I do some coding, go to meetings or read about new advances in the area. I finish work at 5:30pm.

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      When a patient gets their DNA sequenced (the string of A, C, Ts and Gs that make them who they are), this is run through a collection of software to check for differences compared to a ‘normal’ string of DNA.

      Any differences that bioinformaticians find are handed over to scientists who work out whether they could be causing the patient’s symptoms. Most of a clinical bioinformatician’s work is making sure that software works properly, writing extra bits to add on and making changes if it makes life easier for the scientists who look at those differences.

    My CV

    • Education:

      Hayesfield Girls’ School, Bath

      University of Southampton – BSc (Hons) Biology – 1st

      University of Bath – MSc Molecular Biosciences (Bioinformatics) – Distinction

      University of Manchester – MSc Clinical Bioinformatics (current, as part of my job)

    • Qualifications:

      GCSEs:

      Maths, History, Religious Studies, ICT, Science, Additional Science, Textiles, English Literature, English Language, German, Business Studies (6 A*, 5A)

      A-levels:

      Biology (A), Maths (A), History (A)

      AS-level:

      Psychology (A)

    • Work History:

      Customer Service Assistant – Sainsbury’s

      Seasonal Selling Partner – John Lewis

      Manuscript Assistant – Springer Nature

      Research Assistant – University of Bath + Public Health England

      Review Operations Specialist – Frontiers

    • Current Job:

      Trainee Healthcare Scientist (Bioinformatics)

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        dog-loving coding enthusiast

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        A nurse (but I'm afraid of blood)

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Never!

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Tom Rosenthal

        What's your favourite food?

        Burritos

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        Health, happiness and a fluffy golden retriever

        Tell us a joke.

        What is DNA's favourite piece of clothing? Jeans

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