About

I am a student of systems biology at the University of Manchester, and this is my personal blog to record and share my experiences in academia.  I started this blog to document my journey from leaving industry in 2008 to embark on a 4 year PhD in Systems Biology.  I became interested in systems biology whilst working in industry. I had been involved in researching new antimicrobial compounds in large high throughput screening programs for a number of years, and systems biology presented an opportunity to go about this task in a more informed manner.  Also, the application of computer modeling interested me as a hobbyist in computing and technology.  I was also working on secondment within a high throughput experimentation group and could see the potential in the combination of computer simulation with wet lab experimentation.

I was keen to increase my exposure to the world of systems biology, however I was unable to gain the skills I required from my employer.  I came across the Manchester center for integrative systems biology through working on my employers systems biology project, and discovered they were running a 4 year PhD program with Professor Hans Westerhoff.  I applied and was greatly honored (and surprised!) to be offered a place to study there.  I thought for quite a while about leaving the comfort of an average wage in an average job doing average work to pay an average mortgage for an average house.   I was reminded by one of my managers that sometimes the greatest achievements require the greatest risks, and decided to throw caution to the wind and take this once in a lifetime opportunity to do something that could really make a difference to both my own life and the scientific world.

This blog therefore is a record of my own meanderings through the strange world that is systems biology. I hope to both document my own life in University, and my studies as part of the scientific community.

If you find anything interesting leave a comment and thanks for dropping by.