Profile
Fiona Scott
I recently defended my PhD in drug development.
My CV
-
Education:
University of Sussex (PhD, 2017-2020); University of Strathclyde (MChem, 2011-2016); Perth High School (2005-2011); Aberdeen City Music School (2006-2007)
-
Qualifications:
(N.B. Standard Grades/Int 2 are equivalent to GCSE/National 5 exams)
S3: Standard Grade Music
S4: Standard Grade English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, German; Intermediate 2 Modern Studies; Higher Music and Classical studies
S5: Higher English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics; Advanced Higher Music
S6: Higher Biology, Advanced Higher Chemistry, National Diploma in Music
ABRSM Grade 8 Violin and Piano and Grade 5 Music Theory
MChem Chemistry with Drug Discovery (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow)
PhD (University of Sussex, Brighton) -
Work History:
Chemistry Tutor (Brighton/Perth); Research intern, Corden Pharma (Switzerland); Chemistry Intern, Glasgow Science Centre
-
Current Job:
Science writer, soon to be Covid-19 lab support worker
-
About Me:
Medicinal Chemist who makes medicines of the future
-
Read more
I live in Perth, Scotland but spent the last three years in Brighton, England, working towards a PhD in medicinal chemistry. Due to the pandemic, we had to move my final exam online but I still managed to pass so I am now unofficially Dr Fiona Scott! I am currently working as a freelance science writer and am due to start work soon in one of the covid-19 testing labs part-time while looking for more permanent jobs in drug development. Outside of the lab, I enjoy playing music and watching theatre – I particularly enjoy musicals and get to see some for free working as a theatre critic!
-
Read more
During my PhD, I worked in a drug discovery research group who try to help develop better medicines for diseases like cancer, anxiety, cystic fibrosis, depression, Alzheimer’s etc.
I spend time in the lab making new molecules called “chemical tools”. They aren’t drugs exactly but they look a lot like medicine molecules. They are made in the early stages of a new medicine programme to help biologists work out if shutting down a particular process in our bodies using a drug is useful for treating a disease.
Our bodies are full of about 40,000 different enzymes/proteins which carry out various jobs in our bodies. Sometimes these proteins go rogue and cause a disease and need shut down by drug molecules. Drug molecules work by fitting into the enzyme, like a hand in a glove, and stop them from being able to do their usual job. I am designing and making chemical tool molecules for a type of enzyme called a kinase, one that often goes a bit rogue in cancer cells.
These days we are trying to develop cancer drugs that only harm cancer cells and not healthy ones, like traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, do. That way we can hopefully have drugs with fewer side effects such as nausea and hair loss.
-
My Typical Day:
At the moment my day involved getting up by 9 am, breakfast and then I spend my day applying to jobs, writing articles about science and generally enjoying a little bit of downtime before I have to start working in a lab again!
-
Read more
My usual day when I was working in a lab consisted of the following
7.30 am get up and go for a run
9.15 am get into uni – I preferred to ride the bus when it was less busy without students trying to get to 9 am lectures
Morning – catch up on e-mails and set up new chemistry experiments, or progress ones I had been running overnight
12.30 pm lunch, usually soup or a salad I had made at home
1.30 pm catching up on lab book or reading new research, or in the lab
3.30 pm usually back in the lab by this point to get my reactions finished or to a point where I could leave them overnight
6.30 pm leave uni
7 pm dinner
Evening – either chilling in my flat or going to review a show at my local theatre
-
What I'd do with the prize money:
Tell more people about chemistry and drug discovery
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Chatty, imaginative, enthusiastic
What did you want to be after you left school?
A scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Once or twice
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I love people who are in musicals like Carrie Hope Fletcher
What's your favourite food?
A nice spicy curry!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Get better at getting up in the morning; run a marathon; get less stressed about things
Tell us a joke.
I'm not great at coming up with chemistry jokes. All the good ones Argon.
-