Profile
David Walker-Sünderhauf
Unfortunately I'm not available until 7th May - but very excited to get started and catch up on questions then! :)
My CV
-
Education:
Helmholtz-Gymnasium Heidelberg (Germany), University of Aberdeen (Scotland), University of Exeter (Cornwall)
-
Qualifications:
BSc (Hons) Immunology, MbyRes Biological Sciences.
-
Work History:
Part-time: Iceland Foods, Wetherspoons. Full-time: /
-
Current Job:
PhD student
-
About Me:
I like exploring Cornwall, and love Star Wars.
-
Read more
I live in Cornwall with my wife. On a day off, before the lockdown, we loved exploring Cornwall together and now we are desperate to get a dog (any will do!). I’m from Germany originally, but have lived in Scotland for several years and am now in Cornwall.
I’m a huge Star Wars fan! I also enjoy eating and exploring new foods.
-
Read more
Antibiotic Resistance is a huge problem – it means bacterial infections can’t be treated with drugs anymore. I use a biotechnology called CRISPR (which cuts DNA) to remove these ‘bad’ genes causing problems from bacteria, which means they can be killed with antibiotics again.
Day-to-day, this means I grow bacteria in liquid, plate them out, and also do “molecular cloning”, a way of copy-pasting DNA to make it do what I want.
More info: DNA is a long string packed full of information like a recipe book, telling a living being what it is. For example, your own DNA contains the ‘recipe’ for all your different organs, and might say that you have brown hair and blue eyes.
Bacteria resistant to antibiotics have an extra piece of DNA telling them how to defend themselves against antibiotics. This means that bacterial infections with these “antibiotic resistance genes” cannot be treated with common drugs anymore.
In my research, I am using CRISPR, which is a biotechnology that can cut DNA, to find and remove only these ‘bad’ antibiotic resistance genes, which means we will be able to treat these bacterial infections again.
-
My Typical Day:
Emails – Lab work – Lunch – Coffee – Reading/Writing
-
Read more
While it is true that not every day is the same, they do all usually consist of similar elements. I start off with replying to some emails and making myself a to-do list, then often head off into the lab (see “my work”). Alternatively, I work at my desk, for example figuring out what to do or visualising and playing around with gene sequences.
After lunch, getting back some energy with coffee is very important, and then I either continue with lab/desk work or do some scientific reading or writing.
Often, a meeting is thrown in somewhere as well.
-
What I'd do with the prize money:
Donate to Cornwall Science Community for use towards outreach science activities.
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Enthusiastic, Optimistic, Curious
What did you want to be after you left school?
I had absolutely no idea
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Just sometimes
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Green Day (went to see them live in London three years ago!)
What's your favourite food?
Curry (can't beat a good homemade one!)
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
A dog, a house, a nice holiday.
Tell us a joke.
What do you call a man with a seagull on his head? Cliff.
-