Question: what got you so interested in water?

Natalie Lamb answered on 13 Mar 2019:

I did a degree, a three year undergraduate degree, in BSc Biology. The BSc means Bachelor of Science, which is the name of the degree like GCSE. I chose biology because I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a job but I enjoyed my biology A level and found that I was getting good grades. In the last year of my undergradauate degree you had to do a research project, an experiment worth a lot of marks like a big piece of coursework. I found my microbiology lessons (lectures) at uni really interesting so asked the microbiology teacher (lecturer) if I could do my research project with him. He told me to take water samples from up and down a local river to see if there was a parasite in it that gives people an upset stomache.
I really enjoyed wading around in the river in my wellies, collecting big buckets of water then talking them back to the lab and seeing if I could detect the DNA of the parasite.
After my degree, I did a one year MSc in Microbiology (an MSc stands for Master of Science) because I felt like I wanted to know about more of the microorganisms in water. Now I’m doing my PhD in the same topic.
So, for me it’s not the water specifically I have an interest in but the microorganisms that live in it that can make people ill.