Profile
Leo Swadling
My CV
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Education:
GCSEs and A-levels: Matthew Arnold School, Oxford.
St Aidans College, University of Durham.
St Catherines College, University of Oxford -
Qualifications:
11 GCSEs: – including French, Geography, Art.
A-Levels: Art, Biology, Chemistry, Maths.
As level: Physics.
BSc in Zoology (!).
D.Phil (PhD) in clinical Medicine. -
Work History:
First job was a research scientists in a small pharamceutical company in Oxford, then I did the graduate scheme at the health protection agency (research done by the NHS) in Salisbury. I worked on vaccines for Tuberculosis there! Then I moved to Oxford to work on vaccines for hepatitis C where I did my PhD. I then moved to University college London to do my first Post-doctoral (after PhD) job, where I am now. I also got my first grant (which is where you say what research you want to do to funders like the charities and Medical Research Council and they say yes that’s a good idea and give you some money to spend on experiments, or they say no thats not a good idea and you go back to the lab and think of something better to do :D!
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Current Job:
I am now working in London on trying to understand how we fight viruses, in particular I study immune cells called T cells (because they grow in the thymus) and how they go around the body and find cells with viruses inside them and then destroy those cells. In particular I am trying to design vaccines that make your body produce T cells that recognise specific viruses such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and SARS-CoV-2. I am also interested in what immune cells eat! Their metabolism. And how T cells survive in the liver where hepatitis B and C like to live, as this is a hard place for T cells to do their job because it doesn’t have much for them to eat and has little oxygen which they also need.
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About Me:
I am a scientist studying the immune system (immunologist) 👨🔬🧪🔬🧬 working at University College London🏛️ and I am really interested in vaccines💉, how your body recognises and kills bacteria/viruses🧫🧽 and other things that make you ill! 🤒😷🤧
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I am from Oxford but I moved to London 4 years ago. I like sport (doing and watching), football is the best, but also hiking, tennis and cycling! I love music and festivals and going to see comedy and theatre, so London is a great place to live. I read a lot of books and I have a garden centres worth of houseplants in my house which I spend time trying to keep alive 😉
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My Typical Day:
What I like the most about being a scientist is every day is different and I am always having to learn new things! So I really don’t have a typical work day.
I always cycle to and from the lab, to the centre of London. I always have a coffee (essential) and plan the days experiments or analysis. See below for a list of things I can do in a work day…
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Some of the things I do:
- Experiments: I work on human samples, mainly blood (as this is one of the transport systems immune cells use to get around the body and is a good place to find them) but also I am interested in the immune cells in the liver. I isolate the cells and test them, to see what they do, what they look like, how many you have. I use analysers, large machines, and microscopes to see and measure the cells.
- Looking at data: I look at the results of previous experiments, making colourful graphs and trying to understand what new things I have discovered.
- Writing: I write reports and talks on what I have found so I can let all of the other researchers know and get their feedback.
- Reading: I read other peoples work to see what they’ve learnt and to see if their new knowledge can help me plan better experiments.
- Teaching: Teaching undergrads and medical students about immunology by giving lectures or small group tutorials, or training students and new staff how to do things in the lab.
- Travel: To conferences to hear other people talk about their work, going to other labs to learn a new experiment or teach them how I do my experiments!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Festival vaccine/outbreak demonstration:
I want to set up a stall at some festivals and at schools to run a lesson about vaccines and how infections can spread!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Enthusiastic, Curious, Precise.
What did you want to be after you left school?
Pro footballer ⚽, then pro cyclist🚲, then park ranger, then a scientist👨🔬!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Nope, too quiet and geeky! 🤓
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Radiohead (I am from Oxford so no choice)
What's your favourite food?
That's easy, Pizza...
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I wish to discover something completely new about the immune system, I wish to work as a scientist until I am very old, and I wish to stay healthy enough to keep cycling and playing football until I am very old!!!!
Tell us a joke.
Why can't ants get Coronavirus? Because they have anty-bodies!
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