Réka Nagy

"My most closely matching personality types are Developer; Influencer and Quality Controller, and I feel like the qualities listed within these describe me reasonably well - but I also see myself fitting under a few of the other personality types! I love to use my skills to solve problems, and I am never afraid to ask questions to figure out the nitty-gritty details. I try to be very diligent and thorough in my work. I also know, however, that not everybody is a genetics expert, so I use my communication skills to make sure that I clearly convey key messages to my audience without getting bogged down by boring detail. I also look out for the wellbeing of others, and I'm often the first to offer help to new colleagues. "

"I use my knowledge and expertise in genetics to figure out which genes might affect diseases such as diabetes. My company then uses this information to create drugs that change how those genes work, in order to treat the disease. My day to day work involves analysing a lot of data, and using by knowledge of genetics and biology to figure out what the results of these analyses actually mean. While this involves a lot of detailed work, I also make sure to clearly communicate the most important results of this analysis to others within the company, so they can use their own expertise to act on this information."

"I've always loved biology and medicine. While growing up, I watched a lot of documentaries on these topics and initially wanted to be a surgeon! However, I realised that I strongly dislike needles and cuts, so that scuppered that plan. Luckily, we were learning about genetics in school and I was fascinated by the fact that our cells have their own cookbooks (DNA) that tell the cell what to cook, and which ingredients to use. I studied Molecular Genetics at uni and wanted to work in a lab right up until the point where I actually tried it out for three months and felt that it really wasn't for me. I stayed at university to do my doctorate, and switched to a computational role - working with data and learning to code in the process. I also got involved in a lot of outreach events such as science festivals. I've been applying my skills at different companies since 2018 and I feel like I've found my happy place with what I do."

"My favourite pastime is playing video games! I particularly like story-driven role-playing games (RPGs) as I get really immersed in the world and the characters. I also like playing board games with my friends, though I am sometimes a sore loser. I also listen to a lot of music, mainly rock and metal, but my tastes span lots of genres such as electronic music, movie and game soundtracks, and the occasional Ed Sheeran. I like to stay active but I really dislike running or going to the gym - instead, I walk whenever I can, I do yoga, and I love various kinds of exercise that you might see in a circus - such as hanging from an aerial hoop or silks."

"My typical day starts with a cup of tea and a quick check for e-mails and messages to see if someone urgently needs something from me. I like to prioritise these requests since I don't want to keep people waiting around for long. If I received such a request, I will analyse some data by writing a bit of code to crunch the numbers for me. I then spent some time putting my key findings into a presentation, making sure I give enough information to answer the question I'm being asked, but not overload my slides with too much information. I either e-mail this back to my colleague, or ask to have a short chat and walk them through my results. Whenever I have a bit of downtime, I like to proactively seek out things that I could improve, thereby making life easier for my colleagues. For example, if I notice that we often need to do the same routine analysis, I might write some code to automate parts of it, or I might create an app that lets people do the job a lot faster. Since my work involves working with a lot of data, I also like to make sure that these data are of good quality, and are ready for analysis. This is a really important, but often understated thing, because we usually find that 'running the analysis' itself takes maybe 10% of the time, but finding the right data and making sure those data are organised in an analysis-ready way is the most time-consuming step!"

"I have an undergraduate degree (BSc) in Biology, with Honours in Molecular Genetics, and a postgraduate degree (PhD) in Statistical Genetics.After finishing my university studies, I knew that the life of a professor wasn't for me. This is because I wanted to work on something more applied, rather than theoretical. For this reason, my first job was with Genomics plc, who are a company that specialises in human genetic data analysis. In this role, I got to apply many of the skills that I picked up at uni, and learn a lot of new things as well, such as working as part of a truly interdisciplinary team. I stayed there for 4.5 years, and I moved on to Novo Nordisk in June 2022, where I apply my knowledge of genetics to help find new ways to treat conditions such as diabetes or obesity."