Gabriella Assante

"How closely do I feel the personality types match with me? Well, I really think that I'm 100% an influencer, a manager and a quality controller during my very dynamic working life. I clearly think outside of the box and I'm very good with explaining to my team what I'm doing, why I'm doing something and where I'm heading to as a very INFLUENCER. This because I think that being surrounded by people who exactly know what is going on make a team stronger. I'm very motivated, a very good organiser Scientist and truly open minded but more than anything else, transmitting my motivation and my passion to my peers or to my boss or to whoever I'm talking to about my job, i think it's something that describes me very well as a proper MANAGER personality. Last but not least, I'm a typical Quality Controller with a very deep sense of justice, an innate sense of curiosity and a person who loves challenges and change the normal and traditional way things as always been done at work as much as in my private life. "

"I'm a Liver Scientist and this means that I work with cell culture derived from the Liver which I use to conduct all my experiments and this is called in vitro study because I basically reproduces in my plate exactly what happens in the body. On the other hands, I also work with the Human Liver coming from patients who give their consent for using their liver in Science and Research. These patients have health conditions such as a tumor, and they need a resection, well even the smallest part of their liver resections is fundamental to start the in Vivo experiment. Bear in mind that the cell experiments are essential and I can use the human liver only after I have reached my results and convalidate it with the cells. In my specific case, I study the Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and the influence of the fatty diet on the Liver. Long story short: a wrong lifestyle and the fatty diet bring to an accumulation of lipids (fat) into the Hepatocytes (Liver Cells), if this is not reversed on time, the disease can progress to a worse one like the Non Alcoholic Steatohepatitis where the lipid accumulation is followed by a very strong inflammation, necrosis (dead cells), cirrhosis and it can lead to the Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Tumor). Which are the causes behind this waterfall and what do I do everyday? Well, all this process is due to the effect of the fatty diet on the DNA where the genetic expression changes and it brings to the DNA Damage which is the key factor for the progression of the disease. Considering that most of the time the diagnosis happens at very late stage for the lack of non-invasive diagnostic methods, I try my best everyday, to find out how we can prevent this progression to a more sever form of the disease and which epigenetic mechanism are involved into and how I can correct it."

"When I was in the High School, science was not my best field, I was very good with writings and with human subjects instead, but my dream as always been helping people with my job, improving their health condition, discovering something which could have been essential for their disease. Being a doctor and saving the life of the patients face to face, I guess it's amazing, but understanding what happens in their bodies and how you can prevent it, it's even more exciting. Well, as I said in my description, challenging is an essential part of my character, so I decided to embark on Science and I really think that it has been the best choice of my life even though it required many efforts. When I started to study Biology in my home town (Naples, Italy), I found it very difficult considering my school background, but giving up has never been an option in my life. So, I decided to move to another city where Biology University was the best in all the country and I have completed there, in Parma, both BSc and MSc (Biology and Biomedical Application) with two years of lab/hospital included while I was overwhelmed with exams and thesis.Besides, I decided for an experience abroad and I moved to the Quadram Institute in Norwich to work on the same disease that I work now on. I have then rejected many position which were not my kind on Science and not exactly what I wanted.Now, here I am: Working on the disease that I wanted in a very amazing setting, in London which is one of my favourite cities in the world."

"This may could be a big nonsense hobby for a scientist, but I'm very passionate about style, skincare, clothes and interior design but spending time with the people who I love is for me the best way I spend my spare time even if sometime is difficult considering that my family is far away from me.On the other hands, I'm very independent so saving time only for my self is essential for me, so in these moments I go for a walk, I read a nice book, I volunteer, or I just stay in cooking delicious meal and watching a movie. "

"Describing a typical day of a scientist is not very easy because I think that it's really depends on the stage of the experiments and of the projects, some days could be busier than others. Generally, the first thing that I do as soon as I step into the office, it's checking on the emails and have a quick chat with my colleagues. I think that serene human relationships are fundamental in a work place. After this I plan my day, or if it's Monday, I plan the entire week then, in this way I can focus better by having. plan and everything can be done quicker and better. If I have to work with cells, I change the media every two/three days (it's as giving them fresh nutrients and in this way they can grow up healthy), and I move them in a plot with the different drug treatments for 4 days. After this period called incubation, I start my assay. During these 4 days, I plan other experiments with the liver, basing on the patient's surgeries, or with other samples that I have in the freezer. Then I spend time on my computer, analysing large data sets or looking up for some literature on PubMed related to my projects. In the meanwhile, I have to fit some meetings into the schedule with the head of the lab or with the rest of the Institute for any collaborations or for the Health and Safety. "

"High school: Grammar/Human Subject school like old and historical Latin and Greek BSc: BiologyMSc: Biology and Biomedical Application While I'm working full-time I'm studying other subjects like epidemiology and Clinical Data Management. "