How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Jolly, curious, excitable
Brief background/short CV
Hello! I am Edoardo, I am 24 years old, and I am an Italian PhD student working in Cambridge. I grew up in Milan, where I lived until I was 18, when I moved to the UK. I was first in London for my undergrad in biochemistry at UCL, and I have been in Cambridge for the past three years for my PhD in the Holliger lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. When I am not in the lab and I feel energetic you will find me either fencing or bouldering, whereas if I am feeling lazy you will probably find me on the sofa getting lost in some novel (or Netflix tv show).
What do you do?
We have recently evolved in the lab an RNA sequence that can make copies of short sections of itself. I am now interested in studying the behaviour of such self-replicating RNA and improve its activity.
Brief description of a typical day
Obsess over some problem until late at night, arrive in the lab not at the earliest hours, sort out some admin and plan the day – go for coffee and discuss experiments with the rest of the team – come back and set up some reactions for the experiments of the day (back and forth from the computer to double-check designs). Stop for lunch and chat with my colleagues about life in and out of the lab. Keep the experiments going through the afternoon and evening and do some data analysis/procrastination during long incubations.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I love that we can have a picture of something in our minds, and have the possibility to test if that picture corresponds to the reality of the physical world.
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing instead?
Aeronautical engineer? Neuroscientist? Stand-up comedian? Programmer?
Your top tip for someone thinking about a career in science?
Read until you can’t find any more answers to your questions, now is time for you to be the one discovering the rest of the story and tell everyone else about it. Create opportunities to try and answers the questions you are interested in and find out for yourself what is the best way to do so.
What or who inspired you to follow your career?
During my undergrad I took part in iGEM, a world-wide synthetic biology competition that takes place during the summer. This was my first experience in a lab – and being able to carry out my own research as part of a team was a thrilling experience. I tried to continue this by regularly going to the London Biohackspace – a community lab where any member can carry out biology experiments as a hobby. This lab, and the online space that thrived around the so called ‘DIY biology’ inspired me to think of independent research ideas. I think that the design and execution of a project of my own was instrumental in my choice to start a PhD (which ultimately is just a mega-project that you are in charge of).
What did you want to be after you left school?
Scientist/entrepreneur