Tabitha Broadbelt
Name:
Tabitha Broadbelt
Job title:
PhD student
Place of work / study:
The University of Edinburgh [1]
Area of Research:
Behavioural Neuroscience, Learning and Memory. Specifically looking at mechanisms of learning modulation in a mouse model of amyloid pathology.
How is your work funded?
Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Masonic Charitable Foundation Award
Tell us a little about yourself:
I studied Neuroscience at the University of Bristol where I did an MSci with a year in industry. During that year in industry, I worked at Janssen Pharmaceutica in the in vivo department implementing an electrophysiological technique to test potential dementia drugs. I’ve stayed in dementia research but moved into behavioural models when I joined Dr Szu-Han Wang’s group to do my PhD at the University of Edinburgh. I’m now in my third year so we’ll see what comes next!
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I gave a presentation to my class in primary school on the human brain and that’s what started my passion for Neuroscience, I very nearly did it on blood so could have been a whole different career!
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
Partly because I’m interested in understanding how memory works and that is a key symptom in dementia; but also because the research has real world impact on such a horrible disease.
What single piece of advice would you give to an early career researcher?
Be friendly to everyone: lab techs, fellow student, porters… you never know when you might need help with something and anyway it’s always nice to have a friend.
What book are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
I’m reading The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang [2], it’s the perfect bit of escapism at the end of a long day and so interesting to read a fantasy book that’s based on Chinese history.