Lucy has always had a strong interest in research, cemented during her undergraduate degree, when she completed an industrial placement year. Lucy completed this year with AstraZeneca in their high content biology group, where she developed a novel proliferation assay which was used to assess proliferation activity of AZ’s drug compound library in a beta cell cell-line.
Lucy graduated from her BSc (Hons) in 2015 and immediately began her PhD in the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Professor Gareth Lavery. Lucy’s research focused on identifying changes to cellular metabolism in response to altered NAD levels in skeletal muscle cells. Her work culminated in a first-author paper and successful completion of her PhD in 2020.
Following her work in basic science, Lucy decided to embark on a career in research support at the University of Birmingham.
Initially, Lucy did this through her role in the research facilitation team, where she supported academics across the Institutes of Microbiology and Infection and Inflammation and Aging. Here she worked on development of grant applications, from initial concept, through to costing support and final submission. From here, Lucy joined the Translation Research team where the focus was on grant applications with a purely translational focus. This also included working on the internal translational project awards with the Wellcome Trust and MRC, Translational Development Fund and Confidence in Concept, respectively. Following this, Lucy took the opportunity to become Professor Shakila Thangaratinam’s Research Manager where she managed the Maternal Health portfolio.
Lucy has now taken on a Programme Manager position for PHRESH, a member of NIHR’s School for Public Health Research. This programme sits within the Institute for Applied Health Research and is Deputy Directed by Professor Peymane Adab.