Profile
Anisha Wijeyesekera
My CV
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Education:
St John Fisher Primary School (London),
Twyford C of E High School (London),
University of Durham (BSc Hons),
University of Exeter (MSc),
Imperial College London (PhD),
University of Reading (PGCAP) -
Qualifications:
10 GCSEs (Maths, Double Award Science, English, English Literature, R.E., French, Geography, Media Studies and Economics), 3 A Levels (Biology, Chemistry and Psychology), BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences, MSc in Bioinformatics, PhD in Biochemistry, PRINCE2 (Project Management), Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
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Work History:
Postdoctoral Research Associate,
Project Manager, Research Manager/Research Fellow
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About Me:
I am a lecturer in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Reading
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Although I work in Reading, I live in London so enjoy a daily battle with the traffic to get into work 🙁 At home I live with my husband and two budding young scientists (I wish)! We love travelling, and spent this summer in Australia watching Aussie rules, learning how to surf, and enjoying beautiful sunsets!
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I teach Biochemistry to first year undergraduate students. People often forget just how fundamental Chemistry is in Food – when we talk about certain topics such as caramelisation and browning, its lovely to see the lightbulbs going off! I also teach about the Gut Microbiota to postgraduate students. We are starting to get a much better idea of how important the bacteria in our gut is to our health, so in my research I apply analytical chemistry approaches to generate biochemical fingerprints from biological samples, in order to better understand the impact that diet and the gut microbiota has on health. Earlier this year I had an amazing opportunity to visit Uganda to set up a new probiotic intervention research study. It was very cool to be on both sides of the equator at the same time!
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My Typical Day:
teaching, running experiments in the lab, analysing data on the computer, writing up my results to publish and apply for grant funding to do more research, oh and answering lots of emails!
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To try and avoid the traffic, I leave home early. This gives me time to answer emails and get ready for the day ahead. My teaching sessions can be timetabled at any time from 9am to 6pm, so I plan my other activities around this. This term I have a lot of lab practical sessions to teach, which are always lots of fun – last week the students made their own yoghurt! If i’m running experiments, then the day before I start to get my samples ready and prepare them for analysis. The main samples i analyse are blood, urine and faeces – definitely not glamorous! The first thing i do when i get home is jump in the shower!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Develop more resources to use in my outreach activities
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Organised, self-motivated and a perfectionist!
What did you want to be after you left school?
Forensic Scientist - CSI made it look so glamorous!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Never!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Too many - i have rather eclectic taste when it comes to music
What's your favourite food?
Anything chocolate
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Only 1 - I always wish I could have more time!
Tell us a joke.
Q: Why was six afraid of seven? A: Because seven, "eight" nine!
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