And So We Begin...

So, a little bit about myself, hopefully I can inspire a few people to never settle! I guess the classic route for people doing a PhD in molecular biology would be to have done some science based A-levels, went straight to university and achieved high grades until some lecturers saw potential in you and suggested PhD applications. Well that's not me, and I put a lot of my current feelings of impostor syndrome down to this fact, I'm so grateful where I'm at currently and I'm hoping this gratitude sees me through a lot of the pitfalls during this studentship. I did well at school and came to a crossroads where I could push myself, and do do A-levels in Biology and Chemistry or the route I took, which was certainly a more appealing option, to do a BTEC in Animal Care. It was a great two years that I spent cleaning out animals....can't say I learnt too much useful and a career in research was at the back of my mind. During this I did work experience at West Midland Safari Park and I thought that might be the career for me so I applied to go to university and study Zoology. I don't remember really having a set in stone career path...just that I wanted to go to university and animal studies were interesting. Unfortunately as a naive 18 year old finally set free of home I found nights out a bit more appealing than lectures. The subject wasn't engaging me yet I still chose the most challenging module choices as I scraped into second year, such is my way. I do like to challenge myself....on paper. Then came employment, I had to get a job to afford to stay with this interesting new guy I had met and as a job in a pet shop had paid me £5 a day I found the appeal of an actual payslip too appealing and my minimal studies dropped further. A resit of second year still ended in failure and I still am haunted by that phone call to my mother saying her studious daughter had failed miserably. So I resigned myself to my retail job, miserable yet in a happy relationship, got married a few years on and attempted to settle into retail by working my way up as supervisor. I thought that was it, but after another tearful day at work my husband asked me what I wanted to do, career wise. My response: 'I want to wear a lab coat to work each day'. Seriously. But I looked further into what I had enjoyed in my past life, and those complex modules I had chosen in Immunology and Microbiology, regardless of my failings, secured me back at University to study Biochemistry. I found out towards the end of my degree that only people with high Biology and Chemistry A levels were being accepted nowadays and because we were the first Biochemistry intake they were lax. My first bit of luck. My degree was extremely challenging having not studied anything in 7 years and competing with people that had just finished an A level in Biology. I remember not even knowing which DNA pairs went together! I also had to work full-time alongside playing catch up as it was the only way to afford the tuition fees and keep hubby happy as we wanted to buy a house. Second year was a low point, I was happy for all these opportunities but I was exhausted and a horrific spell of depression creeped in. But I did it, so close to a first (1 mark!) but I graduated with a 2:1, and looking back to have achieved this with everything was just amazing. Then last year I began my Masters in Molecular and Cellular Biology (which I passed 2 weeks ago). I've gained a lot of lab experience and research with bacteria and human tissue has kind of made me realize I don't really care about the organism, my passion lies in proteins! The structure, the interactions, anything really. Which is why I'm embarking on a project based on plants...it's proteins so I know I can give it 100%, I've gained a new perspective on learning, I don't think I'm clever enough to save the world with my science but I can certainly add to the knowledge pool.

In a third year undergraduate plant physiology module I remember turning to my friend and saying 'oh crap, I think I like plants', to which she looked at me aghast.