Profile
Joaquin de Navascues
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About Me:
I live in Colchester with my wife and two children. I am a Lecturer in genetics and molecular biology at the University of Essex. I like playing guitar, reading, building and repairing things, and martial arts. I really dislike vacuum-cleaning and washing lettuce for the salad.
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Personally, I grew up in Spain (Madrid), where I did my undergraduate studies in Biology and my PhD in Developmental Biology. Both my parents work in education and/or research, so it was natural for me to go into an academic career. I also did a mid-degree in music (guitar). Then I moved to the UK, going through Cambridge (where my first child was born), Cardiff (second child), and now Colchester, where I am a Lecturer at the University of Essex.
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I am a developmental and stem cell biologist. These disciplines try to understand how a fertilised egg becomes an adult individual: larger, more complex in shape, and with different tissues that perform each a different bodily function. This means manipulating the genetics of embryos with great precision, and this is something easy and cheap to do (and more humane, I think) in flies, which are an amazing organism to work with if you are interested in genes, cells and tissues.
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My Typical Day:
Every day is different, as I spend my time between research and teaching, and neither have typical days. However, two constants are taking care of my fly strains and crosses, and training people in one way or another (or be trained myself!).
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Every day I will have some form of meeting, lecture or practical session to attend, each at a different time. I prepare for each event, and use the rest of the time to make progress in my research – sometimes this means taking care of fly cultures, or writing papers, research proposals, perform experiments, look for instruments that I need for those experiments, etc. I like that every day is a different challenge, and every year I learn something new.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would probably spend it on a 3D printer to be able to print 3D molecules, cells, organs or whole flies (for which 3D models do exist!) to illustrate principles of developmental and stem cell biology.
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Education:
Primary School “Principe de Asturias” (Cantoblanco, Spain)
Primary School “Pedro Salinas” (Madrid, Spain)
Primary School “Miguel de Cervantes” (Tres Cantos, Spain)
Secondary School “José Luis Sampedro” (Tres Cantos, Spain)
Degree: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain)
PhD: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain)
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Qualifications:
Spanish primary and secondary equivalent to GCSEs and A-levels.
BSc in Biology
PhD in Molecular Biology
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Work History:
PhD candidate at the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa”, Madrid, Spain.
Postdoctoral assistant at the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa”, Madrid, Spain.
Postdoctoral assistant at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Research Fellow at Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Likes cells' personalities.
What did you want to be after you left school?
After primary school, probably a Fireman (can't remember). A Researcher after 2ary school.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes with bullies, sometimes with teachers.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Singer, David Coverdale. Band, too many to say just one!
What's your favourite food?
Same as bands, there are sooooooo many!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Universal access to free, good quality education; universal access to free, good quality healthcare; free the genie
Tell us a joke.
If I must... "time flies like an arrow, and flies like a banana"
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