Hello readers. I’m Katy and I am here today to introduce myself as a new writer for the KI Researcher and Careers blog. I come from the lusciously green (yet inevitably wet) land of the Celts, otherwise known as Wales. For those who do not know where that is exactly (and believe me, there will be a few!), it’s the bit sticking out of the east side of England. It’s well known for its sheep-to-human ratio, and only as of last year for its football prowess. But now Sweden is my home, where I am conducting a postdoc at the Center for Molecular Medicine at the Karolinska University site.
I’m an immunologist by trade, but spend my days questioning how the body can suddenly recognise itself as foreign and start attacking itself. The complexity of autoimmunity completely frustrates me, whilst at the same time endlessly fascinates me. Did you know that having a parasitic infection may actually help protect people with autoimmune diseases? The “hygiene hypothesis” states that certain microbes can help fine-tune our immunoregulatory circuits, and are thereby being considered as a potential therapeutic mechanism to modulate overactive immune systems. Pretty cool huh?!
As to what you may expect from me on here? Well, I’d like to explore the link between industry and academia, and how this may be of interest for us early career scientists. It’s a pretty hot topic already, and I feel that it is no longer a case of “industry or academia” but rather that the two are evolving to be intertwined. I’d also like to write about my research, and about some general careers advice if I’m feeling inspired.
Goodbye for now!
