Aitana Sogorb Esteve

"My personality types are COORDINATOR, INFLUENCER and TRAINER and I really think are the best matches for me.

I am very organised and love to have things done in a proper way and on time. I love to work on a team and help the others to success in their projects I strongly believe that thinks done in group supporting each other are better than if you do it alone!

I have never thought of me as an influencer, or at least, the definition of that that we know nowadays, however I always try to enhance other people in my project and ideas and love to explain what I am doing so my colleagues can understand it and, over all, give me their feedback.

I am always there to listen and help and these are the main qualities as a trainer that I have. It is very important for me to understand projects, problems and challenges that others are addressing so I can help them.

All of these qualities are important to work in science, creating a good environment that will enrich you personally and professionally."

"I am postdoctoral researcher at University College London, position with a salary between £32-40k, and I am looking for molecules (called biomarkers) that can be found in our blood, urine, saliva or cerebrospinal fluid and can tell us what is happening to our brain and our body when we have a neurodegenerative disease, in the case of my research, frontotemporal dementia.

These biomarkers can be specific of a disease but they can also be specific of a process that is undergoing in our body and is common between different disease. The goal of my research is to find the specific ones of frontotemporal dementia and create a panel that will allow clinicians to precisely diagnose the disease and thus, give a specific treatment.

The biomarkers could be used as well to diagnose a disease before any symptom appears, so you provide an early treatment that will attenuate the progression and, even more, once you are giving a treatment, such biomarkers can tell you if it is working or not.

What I really enjoy about this job is that there is a lot to do and to find and, if I come up with something interesting at the end of the day, I will be helping patients and possibly improving their life quality."

"Starting from the very beginning, I studied a degree in Biological Sciences followed by a MSc in Neuroscience, both in a lovely city in the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

After finishing my master I spent one year working as a research assistant and looking for funding for my PhD in the same lab where I did my master's dissertation. During this year I continued with the research I started in my master with the hope to extend it to a PhD. I was not lucky enough to get a fellowship for my PhD but I was lucky enough to be funded by my supervisor to completed it and I joined a PhD program in Neuroscience the following year.

Three years after I successfully passed my viva and, after working for three months in the same lab to finish some projects I took two months off before moving to London, where I started my first postdoc at the UK Dementia Institute at UCL. This position was very challenging but it made me grow up professionally and personally a lot and allowed me to network at UCL and find out about the position in which I am now."

"I have most of my friends in my home town back in Spain so friends I have now in the UK don't know most of me.

I have always been a nervous person and have never liked to be with nothing to do. In parallel to my school and high school studies I graduated on the elemental and middle grades of professional music conservatory (10 years of study!) playing the clarinet and piano. But I hadn't had enough so during my degree and master I learnt to play Spanish and acoustic guitars and when I started my PhD I decided to start learning how to play the violoncello. I am an orchestra woman!

However, nowadays my passion is a bit diverted to sports and in concrete to rugby. In the last years of my PhD I decided to start training rugby at the university team (yes, PhD, cello and rugby, I haven't got enough hours in a day for all) and now I am playing in the local team here in London.

Both music and sports have provided me several skills like creativity or working in a team that have helped me a lot on my career."

"I use to arrive very early to the lab and first thing I do is to organise my day. I plan the experiments I have for the day and write the protocols I need (I like to write the step by step with tick boxes so I don't forget anything). It is quite quiet early in the lab so I love to do the laptop work at that time. Once everything is ready to start I like to play some music and start doing the lab work.

The lab work is very variable and depending on the day I have incubation steps in which I can grab a coffee or answer some mails or can't stop even to have lunch (but these days very once in a while).

Usually I have a lunch break to go out with my colleagues and eat something and we love to go outside if the weather is ok. Once I have my labwork done I need to sit down in front of my laptop and write any notes I have from the experiment or analyse the data obtained.

A couple of times a week we use to have lab meetings or seminars in which we listen or give talks about our results and the progress of our project.

Once the work is done for the day I go home or to the rugby training to finish the day."

"Degree in Biological Science (8.7/10)Master in Neuroscience (8/10)PhD in Neuroscience (Maximum qualification with special mention Cum Laude)"