Hello! We are Kirsty Bradley and Jo Mckenzie and we are 2nd year PhD students supervised by Prof. Alison Condliffe, Prof. Ian Sabroe, and Dr Lisa Parker.
We both work in the academic unit of respiratory medicine investigating the responses of respiratory viruses (rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus).These viruses are associated with the common cold, however certain individuals are more susceptible to these infections (young children or those with asthma) whereby symptoms may become more severe and in some cases fatal.
To investigate viral responses in the lungs during infection, we grow airway cells in our lab that have been isolated from donors. This is a complex experiment to manage and therefore much of the 1st years of our PhDs involved optimising our methods and liaising with other members of the department, specialists based at other universities and the company who provided the cells.
Our experiments involve infecting the airway cells with virus. Over the course of the week we then collect samples for analysis using a range of techniques including Western blotting, ELISA, qPCR, and immunofluorescence.
Using our approach, we’re hoping to contribute to the wider field of research concerning respiratory viruses with the potential of developing therapeutics.
We both work in the academic unit of respiratory medicine investigating the responses of respiratory viruses (rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus).These viruses are associated with the common cold, however certain individuals are more susceptible to these infections (young children or those with asthma) whereby symptoms may become more severe and in some cases fatal.
To investigate viral responses in the lungs during infection, we grow airway cells in our lab that have been isolated from donors. This is a complex experiment to manage and therefore much of the 1st years of our PhDs involved optimising our methods and liaising with other members of the department, specialists based at other universities and the company who provided the cells.
Our experiments involve infecting the airway cells with virus. Over the course of the week we then collect samples for analysis using a range of techniques including Western blotting, ELISA, qPCR, and immunofluorescence.
Using our approach, we’re hoping to contribute to the wider field of research concerning respiratory viruses with the potential of developing therapeutics.
