{"id":100,"date":"2019-06-11T17:17:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T16:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/?p=100"},"modified":"2019-06-26T10:12:38","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T09:12:38","slug":"claudia-bonfio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/claudia-bonfio\/","title":{"rendered":"Claudia Bonfio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Claudia
Claudia Bonfio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enthusiastic, curious, … and (just a bit) stubborn!<\/em><\/p>\n

Brief background\/short CV<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Professor John Sutherland’s group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge where I am studying the chemical origin of extant life. I completed my PhD in Biomolecular Sciences in December 2017 at the University of Trento (Italy), working with Professor Sheref Mansy on the origin and catalytic activity of ancient proteins. I have experienced interdisciplinary research in international teams across Europe and US and supervised high school students and undergraduates in Inorganic and Biological Chemistry for 7 years.<\/em><\/p>\n

I grew up in Siena, Italy. My first Science teacher ignited my love of science when I was 6 years old. I studied Chemistry in Italy (Siena, Padova, and Trento) and then I moved here to Cambridge for a postdoc position\u2026 It seems I don\u2019t like to live in the same place for too long! I love cooking (and then eating!), spending time with friends, watching TV series. The best thing is that you can do all at once!<\/em><\/p>\n

What do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have always been captivated by the question \u201cHow did life first evolve?\u201d At work I am trying to understand how life began on Earth: I design and carry out chemical reactions in the lab to recreate the essential building blocks of life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brief description of a typical day<\/strong><\/p>\n

My working day normally starts talking about projects and experiments with my colleagues and my boss. After (a bit of) reading and (a lot of) thinking, I am finally ready to start my experiments! Since I am usually more productive in the lab in the morning, I spend the afternoon analysing data, and reading scientific articles.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best thing about your job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every time I have an unexpected result\u2026 which means there is still a lot to learn before answering my scientific questions!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the journey, and not the destination that makes our life more meaningful\u201d (Paulo Coelho)<\/em><\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t doing this job, what would you be doing instead?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess a Science teacher (I still have time to change my mind!)…<\/em><\/p>\n

Your top tip for someone thinking about a career in science?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be curious, be accurate, be a dreamer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known\u201d <\/em>(Carl Sagan)<\/em><\/p>\n

What or who inspired you to follow your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My first Science teacher. She made me love Science (and candies) since when I was 6 years old.<\/em><\/p>\n

What did you want to be after you left school?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I just wanted to be free to choose my vocation. Then the academic world inspired me… and here I am!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How would you describe yourself in 3 words? Enthusiastic, curious, … and (just a bit) stubborn! Brief background\/short CV I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Professor John Sutherland’s group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge where I am studying the chemical origin of extant life. I completed my PhD in Biomolecular Sciences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-team","entry","gs-1","gs-odd","gs-featured-content-entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/sites\/recipe4life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}