• Question: why do you want to treat water ?

    Asked by anon-207646 to Natalie on 14 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Natalie Lamb

      Natalie Lamb answered on 14 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 treating water specifically I have an interest in but the microorganisms that live in it that can make people ill.

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