A great tool for scientists

I mentioned in my last blog that my inspiration for going into science was a primary school biology lesson where I dissected a flower only to be amazed by what I found inside. Last week I met with the teacher that led that class, Doug Brawley. He remembered that class too; they were fuchsias from his own garden. Interestingly, though, at ten years old he would have placed me as a philosopher over a scientist. I guess they’re not too dissimilar. This month I’ve been giving talks to potential undergraduate students who are visiting the university. It’s interesting to be on the other side of the table; now the person trying to inspire.A colleague has introduced me to a great referencing tool called Zotero. Throughout my Master’s I used (and loved) EndNote but Zotero takes it one step further by allowing you to sync your reference library to any computer you’ve downloaded it on. That means I have access to all the same references when I’m working at home as I do when I’m in the office. You can capture a reference from a webpage with one click and it’s completely free to download. I love it! You can find it on their site Zotero.org.

Research this month has been somewhat disrupted by our lab refurbishment. We’ve had to move everything into the university’s teaching lab for the work to be carried out and then all back in to our lab again afterwards! The lab looks great and we’ve got heaps more storage space but there’s no way I’m reaching the top shelves without a step ladder! I’ve christened the lab by doing tons of qPCR!

The lab disruption was briefly forgotten when I visited Fisher’s Science World at Wembley Stadium. It was great to talk to some scientists and get some fantastic freebies but the highlight of the day was definitely a talk by Professor Brian Cox. My understanding of the Higgs boson progressed from extremely vague to moderately vague!

I love to connect with other scientists on twitter! Follow me @KarlyBroadway.

Karly first joined BJS Biotechnologies as an undergraduate placement student in 2007. A bachelor’s and master’s degree later and Karly is back working with BJS but this time as a PhD student in conjunction with her alma mater, Brunel University. Her research looks at the mTOR signalling pathway in endometriosis and ovarian cancer.

In her spare time, Karly is learning to play the guitar and drinks a lot of tea.

You can follow Karly on twitter @KarlyBroadway