Meet Laura Taylor.

This is Laura’s story…

Did you always know you wanted to be a scientist?

I have always enjoyed science, but don’t think I saw being a “scientist” as the career for me, primarily because for as long as I can remember I was desperate to be a doctor. I also considered being a doctor in the army. During secondary school I also considered a career in History, and wanted to be a museum curator. I was torn right up until applications where I had to make my decision earlier to choose which AS Level to not take to full A-Level in my first year of sixth form, it was the lack of job prospects actually in history that swung it for medicine. I applied for medicine, sat my entrance exam, did my interviews and got my offers, but on results day I didn’t make the grades. I ended up ringing universities to try and get something similar, I tried to get onto mental health nursing just to have a course that I thought would let me help people in the same way medicine would, but ended up at the University of Lincoln on Biomedical Sciences, which I chose as I liked the city, and thought that I could always do medicine after my degree, I also did enjoy science! It was pretty soon into my degree that I realised that this massive change was actually the best thing for me! I realised how much I would have disliked medicine, and how much I loved being in the lab doing practicals. I also did some summer research projects and this just made me completely realise that I wanted to be a scientist.

What did you dream of becoming as a small child?

When I was young I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. A lawyer because I thought that was what my mum was (she’s a legal secretary in conveyancing), and a doctor because I always wanted to help people!

What fuels your passion for science?

How interesting it is! I just think science is so cool and there’s so many different fields and so many different kinds of scientists from academics to industry, dry lab, field researchers, wet lab. Science is so diverse and there’s always something new to learn, always techniques to learn and things to do, so I think how much I genuinely adore science really fuels my passion for it. I’m also fuelled by the belief that everyone in some form should understand science as it has a huge effect in everyone’s lives. I think this has become especially apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, as there was a lot of misinformation and myths spread online about the virus and the vaccine, so if there was a greater public understanding of science then this would have been reduced. This is why I think science communication is so important as it’s so important to increase public understanding and trust for science.

How would you explain what you do for a living to a 5 year old?

I would say that I take tiny pieces of things like skin that are making a person unwell, and would make notes on them and look at them using equipment which makes them look really big to see what is making them feel unwell. I then pass this on to someone who can look and see what we can do to make the person feel better.

What’s one piece of advice you received over time that has helped you in your career?

To have more confidence! I know it’s easy to say and it might take a while to feel it but it’s honestly so important to believe in your abilities and to not think or care so much about what other people think of you. It helped me to improve my confidence as a scientist and improve my ability of communicating my science to others.

What inspired you to start #ANoteToMyYoungerSelfChallenge?

I honestly didn’t intend for it to become a challenge, and I feel really grateful that a handful of people decided to take it and run with it. When I made the post I sent it to some friends on my science Instagram and was like if you want to have a go please do and tag me and they came up with the hashtag and more people joined from there! I wanted to start the challenge because there have been so many points in my life where I felt like the world was ending because things had gone wrong and I couldn’t see a way out almost, but things did work out and almost always for the better, so I wanted to write what I’d had said to younger Laura, and address a lot of the times in my life where things did deviate, such as not getting into medical school on A-Level results day, not getting a PhD, having to move during a pandemic for a job where I didn’t know anyone, all of these points were scary times, but things got better and everything has made me into the person I am today.

Education

Education: University of Lincoln, BSc (hons) Biomedical Sciences, University of Lincoln MSc Molecular Biology and Biochemistry by Research, title “Investigating HSP90 as the molecular switch for cancer cell metastasis”

Research: All of my research experience is on the Research page of my website 

Get in touch with Laura:

Social handles: Instagram: @techingonscience Twitter: @techingonsci

Website/blog: https://laurajtaylor96.wixsite.com/mysite