Profile
Nadia Terrazzini
My CV
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Education:
Secondary School Liceum of Classical studies in Milan, State University of Milan, National Institute for Cancer Research (Milan, Italy)
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Qualifications:
I studied in a Secondary School in Milan called Classical Liceum, because they teach ancient languages Latin and Greek. They helped to study literature and poetry, as well as philosophy and art. I loved all that but I discovered to love the sciences more so I went on to study Biology at the University of Milan and specialised in Molecular Biology. I completed my doctoral experiemental studies at the National Institute for the Cure and Research of Cancer and qualified as Doctor in Biological Sciences (Immunology)
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Work History:
After working for a couple of of years in Milan at the National Institute for the Cure and Research of Cancer, I moved to London for a two years immunology reseach fellowship in UCL. I was then offered a lectureship in immunology at East London University and I worked there for over 14 years, going more and more part time as I started to juggle work and starting a family, In 2004, as the family expanded, we moved out of London to Brighton and I took a position as Biology teacher in a local sixth form college. But after a year of ‘just teaching’ I was missing the lab too much and I approached BSMS Medical School asking to join their research. They offered me a postdoc position which was very helpful to restart my research. In 2014 I was offered the position of Senior Lecturer in Clinical Immunology at Brighton University.
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Current Job:
My job as Senior Lecturer at UoB involves lots of teaching to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I love Immunology and I am passionate about making student understand this topic which is often seen as very complicated. I run research in collaboration with BSMS medical school on T cells responses to chronic CMV infections in older people. Recently, I have also been studying host immune responses to the microbiota in the skin.
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About Me:
I am a senior lecturer at Brighton University. I am a researcher and teach immunology, which is the most fascinating science explaining how we can survive things like infections and cancer.
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I grew up in Italy and I first moved to Uk for a short-term research position in UCL. The plan was to live in London just for two years but I have been in Uk 22 years! I now live in beautiful Brighton with my husband Bren and our three kids. We have a lovely cat called Ringo who just loves humans. We are a very outdoorsy family and enjoy long walks but footbal is the clear family passion and all kids play in local teams. My favourite food is , of course, Italian and I am very lucky that my hubby is a good chef. He cooks our meals but I am still the one doing all the baking in my spare time.
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In my job I am resposible for teaching immunology to a lot of students, both in class and in the lab. We have very large labs like this one, where students learn how to plan and run experiments.
I also run my own research and spend long hours in front of instruments like this:
This big machine allows me to look at million of cells I take from people’s blood to find out how they respond to infections. In blood there are lots of different types of cells that help us keep us healthy.
I study responses to a large virus that most of us carry hidden into our cells, called Cytomegalovirus. This is a very special virus, which normally does not affect our health unless our immune system is weak.
I also study the responses of our skin cells to a fungus called Candida albicans, who is part of microbes normally found on our body. Here is a picture of Candida, I recently took using a microscope. And where did I find it? in somebody’s saliva!
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My Typical Day:
every day is different but typically include some teaching, lab experiments and an evening swim
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Run events for parents in my local community to talk about the basic facts of immunology and the importance of vaccination.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Friendly, Curious, Persistent
What did you want to be after you left school?
a scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
not really, I liked it
Who is your favourite singer or band?
The Beatles
What's your favourite food?
a good lasagna
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
to see each of my three kids grow happy healthy lives
Tell us a joke.
.. but only the antivaxxers will get it. Measles
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