Profile
Gavin Wright
My CV
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Education:
1987-1992 Holmfirth High School, 1990 – 1992 Greenhead College, Huddersfield.
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Qualifications:
1992-1996, University of Oxford, Biochemistry.
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Work History:
Cancer Research UK (London), Sanger Institute (Cambridge).
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Current Job:
Understanding how cells communicate and talk to each other.
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Read more
All of the cells that make up our bodies communicate with each other so that it all works together – at least when we are healthy. In fact, there are about 10 trillion cells in a human adult (that’s about 10,000 times more cells in each of us than there are people on the planet) and so we could imagine these discussions between cells as a ginormous Facebook network with groups of cells talking with each other. We don’t understand most of these messages and so I want to decode them so that I can understand what happens when things go wrong, for example when we get diseases. If we can do this, we might be able to correct it and provide cures and treatments.
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My Typical Day:
Email – chat with my team – reading – coffee – thinking – talk to other scientists around the world – more coffee – more thinking – more email.
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Read more
You can think of scientists all around the globe working towards solutions to some of the major problems that confront us in our world today. Therefore, I spend a lot of time talking with scientists (usually by email or Skype) from other countries. My day starts with reading and answering emails that have come in overnight from scientists in other countires, usually America and Australia.
Scientists usually work in small groups and so I also spend a lot of time discussing with the people in my team about the puzzles and problems that we need to solve to find the answers to our questions.
I also need to keep up-to-date with what other scientists around the world have been doing so I spend a lot of time reading and thinking and out what others have done. -
What I'd do with the prize money:
Genome sequences have revealed all of the molecules that are involved in communication and so it’s an important resource for me and my team.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Analytical, Determined, Tall
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Many times – the best one was probably inadvertantly (honest) destroying a fence to a field and finding the farmer rounding up cows from our neighbours’ front lawns the following morning.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Stone Roses, Keane, Black Sabbath
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Play cricket
Tell us a joke.
After the police reported the theft of a large number of toilets, they admitted that they had nothing to go on.
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