Profile
Craig Anderson
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About Me:
I live in Edinburgh with my cat, Arnie. I love to read, travel and adore science and skateboarding.
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I’m 34 and was born in South Africa. Arnie is 7 and was born in Glasgow. We live in central Edinburgh which is exciting and beautiful.
For the last 3 years, I’ve worked as a scientist for the University of Edinburgh in the Human Genetics Unit. I love it here: there are lots of people from all over the world and they’re interesting and clever.
In my free time I like to explore and have been to lots of different countries. I love music , cooking and like to read lots of books. My favourite is about a long train journey through Europe and Asia by Paul Theroux.
My favourite thing ever is skateboarding. I can do lots of tricks, including flips, grinds and slides and my favourite place to skate is Copenhagen in Denmark.
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Bad chemicals like cigarette smoke can cause changes to DNA that we call mutations. I take data from machines that read DNA and use powerful computers to make sense of where mutations occur as I try to understand how they contribute to diseases like cancer.
One of my major discoveries was that not all DNA damage is fixed by cells. We have learnt how to follow the damaged DNA as cells divide and transform into cancer.
There are lots of different types of DNA damage and I use computer code to understand the variety of mutations and how they interact: I have recently discovered how some mutations cause even more mutations!
Here is a drawing of DNA being damaged, before it divides into the gold and the blue strands.
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My Typical Day:
The cat wakes me up and we have breakfast. I like fruit and coffee, he likes cat food.
I cycle to work at 9 AM and do lots of reading and computer coding. More coffee. After lunch with my friends, I make lots of charts and graphs of my data.
I am home by 7 PM to do exercise and play with the cat.
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Arnie the cat wakes me up to let me know he needs breakfast, bright and early. I cycle to the institute where I work, make a coffee and read all about the latest science discoveries.
I then write lots of computer code to find out the answers to all the science questions I have. I meet lots of other scientists that I help so we can find out the answers to their research questions. If the day has gone well, we’ll make lots of pretty charts and graphs to show off the results. We can then work out the questions we want to answer tomorrow.
When I’m all done, I go skateboarding in the evening and come home to play with Arnie the cat before reading a good book.
Here’s a group photo of me (far left) with the other members of my lab- from all over the UK and Europe. We work together most days in Edinburgh. You can see the castle behind us!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would transform the mutations in cancer into art using computers and lights.
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Education:
St. George Boy’s School in Southampton, 1998-2003
Barton Pevril Sixth Form College in Hampshire, 2003-2005
University of Plymouth in Devon, 2005-2008
Cardiff University in Wales, 2008-2012. I did my PhD in Cardiff, but spent two years in Oxford at the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology.
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Qualifications:
I don’t remember how many GCSEs I have, but I got all B’s, except for an A in French. Bonjour!
I did very badly at college (age 18). I got two A levels: a C in biology and an E in maths. I got a few ASs in chemistry, French and Philosophy.
I turned it around at uni where I got a First class (Hons), the top score.
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Work History:
My first job was in the fruit and veg section of Waitrose.
When I got to uni, I got a part time job in an aquarium where I would talk about the fish all day long.
In my PhD I went all over the UK looking for earthworms to understand how they can live on very polluted soil.
My first job after my PhD was for the government in Australia, where I looked at how moths that eat our food adapt to pesticides and fly all over the world.
I then got a job at the University of Stirling in Scotland, where I was looking at how fruit flies living in Chernobyl had adapted to the radiation there following the accident in the 80’s.
Then I got my current job in Edinburgh and I LOVE it!
I used to do lots of field work- here is a picture of me (left) with two PhD students in front of the Chernobyl power plant where I was looking for fruit flies.
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Current Job:
I’m employed as a “Postdoctoral Fellow” which means that I’m experienced enough to do experiments on my own and to help people with their experiments.
I call myself a geneticist as I spend all day thinking about DNA, how it is damaged and repaired, and what that means for cells or animals. I use powerful computers to run experiments and then need to come up with ways of communicating the results to other scientists and the public.
As part of my work, I work with lots of other scientists in my institute and even scientists from all over Europe. We bring all our skills and experience together to answer big questions. Below is a picture of most of us in Edinburgh when we met just before Covid.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Rad Skateboarding Geneticist
What did you want to be after you left school?
I always said a doctor, but I didn't really know
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I was well-behaved!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
David Bowie, Supergrass, This is the Kit
What's your favourite food?
Japanese food- delicious.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To be more clever, to go in a deep sea submersible and to see the Northern Lights.
Tell us a joke.
What did the zero say to the eight? Nice belt!
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