Profile

Originally from Venezuela, I came to do my PhD at the University of Warwick in 2009. Since then, many good things have happened.

Now, I am still Venezuelan, but I am also British. I live in Coventry with my husband and my little 1yr old son and I commute to Birmingham for work.

A self-confessed Great-British-Bake-Off fan, I love cooking and baking for family and friends…. because at the end of the day, being in the kitchen is very similar to being in the lab… right?

In the picture, I am in Switzerland at the top of the Jungfrau, a very very high and beautiful mountain. I was visiting the city of Interlaken for a work conference and took the chance to go up the mountain using a cog railway. Travelling is another of my big passions and I am happy that I get to visit many places with my work.

I am a lecturer in the University of Birmingham. I teach chemistry to students that are preparing to be Pharmacists.

In my research, I look for new molecules that can kill cancer cells… but there is a twist. All the molecules that I am interested in have to have a metal atom in the middle. This means that I get to play around with many elements of the periodic table and their interesting chemistry.

At the University of Birmingham I split my time between teaching chemistry to Pharmacy students and doing research on new treatments for cancer. In a typical day, I would have a lecture in the morning, usually with around 60 students. In the afternoon, I would normally be in the biology laboratory working with cells.

In my experiments, I grow cancer cells in dishes. then, I feed them with the new molecules that I make in the chemistry lab. At the end of the experiments I check if the cancer cells are still alive or not. When I find a compound that kills the cells (I get very happy) and then I study the molecules further.

In the picture, I am in the laboratory with James, who used to be a PhD student. He has graduated now and works in industry. When we used to work together we would team up to do cell experiments. As these sessions are usually long, it is nice to do them with someone else, so you can chat a bit while you work.

James and I got to go to China to work with cells. It was a very exciting opportunity and we learnt a lot of science, as well as, a lot about the culture and the yummy food.