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Dr Ariana Gatt
Name:
Dr Ariana Gatt
Job Title:
Senior Research Fellow
Place of work / study:
University College London, Institute of Neurology
Area of Research:
Neurodegenerative disease / RNA binding proteins
How is your research funded:
Brain Fellowship & Alzheimer’s Society grants
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am originally from Malta and have been studying/working in the UK for 14 years now. I came originally to do an MSc in Molecular Biology and ended up staying. I did my PhD at King’s College London working on mitochondrial dysfunction in Drosophila and human postmortem tissue. I stayed on at King’s in a different lab and in my first postdoc years I looked at drug repurposing for Dementia. Since then I have been at UCL working closely with the Queen Square brain bank looking at changes in RNA-binding proteins in dementia brain tissue.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I got stung by jellyfish over 5 times last Summer.
Why did you choose to work in dementia research?
I’ve always been fascinated by how the brain works – and how it can change, particularly in conditions like dementia where changes are observed in so many facets of what makes a person. I’ve also grown up with close family members who had Dementia.
What single piece of advice would you give to an early career researcher?
To find a good mentor – and keep a decent lab book!
What book are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis – not usually one to read horror but I am enjoying it!
Favourite film of all time?
Anything by Luca Guadagnino
Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali
Jodi Parslow
