Welcome to the Abcam blog

Q. What sparked your passion for science?

It sounds a bit clichéd but it was an inspirational woman science teacher. She put me forward as a participant in a Youth Science fortnight in the UK. This was based in London, involved a series of talks given by academics, visits to drug companies as well as entertainments and a free travel card. I was 16 and had a great time. I met some really nice people with similar interests and enthusiasms.

Q. What were your motivations to organize a conference on Immune Tolerance and Autoimmune Disease?

I have organized conferences on this topic before but this was the first opportunity to organize a short conference in Cambridge. It seemed like a good idea.

Q. Where do you see things going? What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in this field?

I think that imaging techniques will continue to develop through interactions between physicists, engineers and biologists. This will further enable the tracking and study of inflammation in vivo at higher resolutions.

Q. How did you first connect with Abcam and come to chair this conference?

I had been in conversations with Kieran Matharu from Abcam and he mentioned that there might be a possibility of organizing a conference.

Q. What makes this meeting stand apart from other related meetings?

The format of interspersing short talks from participants between the invited talks is not so common. It is a smaller meeting and therefore has more of a workshop feel which would enable the participants to talk more readily with invited speakers.

Q. Who do you think would be most interested in this meeting?

I hope that it will interest a range of people including younger and more established scientists and clinicians. I also hope that it will attract interest from individuals working in biomedical research companies.