Research Fellow, Institute for Inflammation and Ageing
What is your academic background and current research field?
I am a postdoctoral research associate working for Prof. Janet Lord. My current focus is investigating how injury and other factors can impact the ageing process at the cellular and molecular level. I did my undergraduate degree in genetics and molecular biology at the University of Wolverhampton before coming to the University of Birmingham to do an MRes in molecular and cellular biology and a PhD looking at biological ageing in the critical care environment.
Which BEAR Services have been most helpful to you in your research?
I often work with large genomic datasets, using the research data store to hold and share my data has been incredibly useful. I have also found that having the ability to run apps such as RStudio on the BlueBEAR cluster [using the BEAR portal] has allowed me to work on resource intensive datasets easily, quickly, and remotely.
How widespread do you think BEAR Services are known in your School and how do you plan to spread the word?
People who I speak to are usually aware of BlueBEAR but aren’t always sure how they can best utilise it for their work. When I speak to people who aren’t already involved in bioinformatic research they often aren’t sure where to start or aren’t confident in their computational skills. I hope to be an approachable face, at meetings or online, who can inform people about which services are available, and how to get the skills and training they need to take advantage of everything that’s on offer.
How can researchers in your school/college contact you?
I am regularly available via my email: j.sullivan.2@bham.ac.uk
What's an interesting fact about you?
I’m not sure that it qualifies as interesting, but I spend as much of my free time running as I can, and I have two cats!