Profile

I am a student in the first cohort of the CRT in genomics data science funded by science foundation Ireland (SFI). This program aims to train over 100 students in genomics data science in Ireland. The PhD programme I am part of is a really great programme. I started the programme in September 2019. There were 15 other students in my programme and we all went to the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) for the first 3 months where we did different courses in data science and genomics. Each student was given a list of PhD projects to chose from in universities all over Ireland.

I chose a project titled “identifying genetic predictors for severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions” in the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin Ireland. I chose this project because since my undergraduate degree I have been interested in pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how medicine interacts with inherited genes. It means that difference in our genetics (DNA) may mean that medicine works differently for different people.

I am using Genome wide association studies to find genetic predictors in patients that develop bad reactions after taking anti-epilepsy medication.

Genome wide association studies are an approach used in genetics research to find specific genetic markers/genes that are associated with specific diseases. The method involves scanning the genomes from many different people split into two groups, people with the disease and people without the disease and comparing their genetic markers to predict the presence of a disease. Once genetic markers are identified, they can be used to understand how genes contribute to the disease and develop better prevention and treatment strategies.

Sometimes, on rare occasions when people take certain medicine for epilepsy they develop a bad skin reaction, these reactions are very serious. So, the aim of my project is to identify genes  for these reactions using genome wide association analysis, so that in the future before a person is given the medicine they would do a test to find out if they have these genes that cause the reactions. If they do have the genes they won’t be given the medicine and will be given an alternative.

Currently I am doing a mix of work from home/in the office. I much prefer being in the office but because of Covid I am not able to go in everyday just yet.

Whether, I am in the office or at home I usually start work at 9am and depending on the day, I reply to emails first thing and look at my plan for the day. The night before I always plan my tasks for the next day so I know what I have to get done. I find this works best for me as I am usually working at a few different things at the one time.

I usually start running my experiments on my laptop at about 10am and then at 11am I go get a coffee and have a quick walk. I then go back to the work until about 12.30 when I take an hour for lunch with my friends and then in the afternoon I go back to the office and look at my results from the experiments I ran before lunch, I might make some graphs, read some papers and also attend meetings I stop working at about 5pm.