Profile
Chris Pyatt
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About Me:
I live near Cambridge with my wife, son and dog. I work in the clinical genetics lab at Addenbrookes Hospital as a bioinformatician. Outside of work I enjoy food, running, films, and video games (when I have time).
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I grew up in North Bedfordshire and after school I studied Biology at the University of Sheffield for four years, then moved on to do a PhD at the University of East Anglia (Norwich). I was based in the Institute of Food Research, which later became the Quadram Institute, and worked mainly on finding particular genes in new yeast species. I was briefly introduced to bioinformatics in my final year of uni and continued the theme through my PhD and into my current job.
In my spare time I like to run, play football & squash, and explore hilly places like the Peak District, Lake District, Snowdonia, etc. I also like to spend time playing old computer games like Sim City and Age of Empires, although I don’t have much time for that these days. At the moment a lot of my time goes towards caring for my baby son, born earlier this year.
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My pronouns are:
he/him
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My Work:
I work as a Clinical Bioinformatician in the genetics department at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge. My job involves running and maintaining the computer programs that analyse the lab’s data.
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The genetics lab takes patient samples (blood, saliva, etc) and sequences the DNA so we can provide diagnoses to patients. This means we can work out what is causing their condition and how it needs to be treated. As a bioinformatician, I am responsible for running the software (computer programs) that analyse the lab’s data and translates it into a result we can take action on. The job also involves creating and testing software of our own either to provide a new service or improve and existing one.
I work in a team of about 20 people who all work on different aspects of the lab’s data analysis. We meet once a week (or more) to discuss how the different projects are going and what we need from each other. We also work with other professionals within the department and the wider hospital, from technicians to scientists and others.
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My Typical Day:
I wake up, have breakfast, and walk the dog. Then I take my son either to nursery or to his grandparents. Sometimes I go to work at the hospital, but mostly I work from home. I spend the day working on software projects, training others, or running data analysis programs. I finish at 5:30pm and make dinner, exercise, and put baby to bed.
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Before Covid I would drive to work, arriving at about 9am. At the moment I work from home as everything is computer based and done over the internet anyway. I do go in occasionally as there are a few small tasks that cannot be done from home (an example being collecting data from the machines in the lab). I check my emails and update the team on what I did yesterday and what I’m planning to do today.
If I’m working on a software project, I’ll either be writing and testing code on my laptop, or discussing the project in a meeting with other colleagues (probably over Zoom these days). Otherwise I log onto our computing system and transfer data to where it should be, and run analysis pipelines (a pipeline is just a string of different software tools where the output of each tool is fed into the next one). I then send the results to the team of clinical scientists for further analysis.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I’d like to donate the prize money to a school or charity.
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Education:
Sharnbrook Upper School (GCSEs & A-Levels) – 2005-2010
University of Sheffield (Undergraduate + Masters) – 2010-2014
University of East Anglia (PhD) – 2015-2019
University of Manchester (Masters in Clinical Science) – 2019-2022
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Qualifications:
GCSE – English Language, English Literature, Double Science, RE (short), Spanish, French, Maths, Geography, History
A level – Spanish, Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Critical thinking (AS only)
Master of Biological Science (Sheffield)
PhD Biological science (yeast phylogenetics)
Master of Clinical Science (Manchester)
Completed Scientist Training Programme (NHS)
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Work History:
Shop assistant (Shelter)
Waiter/barman (pub)
PhD student (you get paid!)
Trainee Clinical Bioinformatician
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Employer:
Cambridge University Hospitals
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
pet loving bioinformatician
What did you want to be after you left school?
I honestly didn't have a clue
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Only by accident
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Gardener, as long as it paid the bills
Who is your favourite singer or band?
London Grammar
What's your favourite food?
Lasagne
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
A million pounds, a better memory, more time
Tell us a joke.
When does a joke become a ‘dad’ joke? When it becomes apparent
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