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Stem cells can divide to produce both more stem cells and specialised cell types (such as muscle cells or skin cells). The proteins that are produced in a cell determine the type of cell it becomes, for example some proteins are required in all cells, but other proteins are only required in muscle cells. I’m studying some of the components of ribosomes to investigate whether all ribosomes function in the same way and produce the same proteins, or whether some ribosomes might be built slightly differently and produce different sets of proteins. If this is the case, how does this affect what type of cell is produced when a stem cell divides? To investigate this, I look at the germline stem cells (stem cells in the ovaries and testes) of fruit flies. Fruit flies are great to use because they grow really fast and don’t take up much space (so I can grow lots of them), are simple to genetically manipulate using tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 (“molecular scissors”), and their germline stem cells are very easy to find under the microscope.

My microscope and forceps ready for dissecting some flies

We grow the flies in glass vials, with food for them at the bottom

We keep the fly vials in big incubator rooms because they grow best at 25 degrees

Imaging my samples at the confocal microscope

My lab bench – we brighten it up with fairy lights in the winter

Presenting a poster with some of my research to other scientists in the department

My cat enjoys watching seminars to keep up with research

Currently to allow social distancing in the lab, we’re split into morning and afternoon shifts. I spend my mornings at home catching up on research by other scientists, planning my experiments, analysing the results of experiments I’ve done, and writing reports or presentations to update my lab on what I’m doing.In the afternoon I get to go into the lab and carry out my experiments. Each day is a bit different, but the tasks I’m usually doing include: collecting flies and setting up crosses; dissecting flies and staining their germline stem cells ready for the microscope; taking pictures of my samples with the confocal microscope; carrying out molecular biology techniques such as PCR (lots of pipetting); and trying to grow fly stem cells “in vitro” (in a flask in an incubator rather than in a fly!). When I’m interested in finding out what a particular gene does, I can cut up the gene with molecular scissors (CRISPR/Cas9) and then see what happens to the stem cells without that gene (by dissecting the flies and looking under the microscope).