Name:
Beth Sampher
Job:
Bioinformatics apprentice – Wellcome Sanger Institute
What do I do?
Bioinformatics is a combination of biology and computing. As an apprentice, I study part-time as well as having a job at the Sanger Institute, where I work on computer tools that help scientists with their experiments.
Me in 3 (Three words to describe me)
- Conscientious
- Friendly
- Reliable
Fascinating facts about me
I am a keen swimmer and have been swimming regularly as part of a club for over 10 years now! My favourite food is Italian food and I would love to visit Italy one day. I am also a dog- lover, although I don’t own one (yet!)
Skills I use in my job:
Problem solving – When my code isn’t working properly I have to use problem solving skills to get to the bottom of it (sometimes it turns out to be a really silly mistake!)
Organisation – I have to be very organised to manage studying and working at the same time
Communication – I use both written and verbal communication skills to communicate with a variety of people
Teamwork – In my team, we often work on our own tasks, but we still need to help and support each other in order to be as effective as possible
Can you crack the code?
A genome is a set of DNA instructions found in all living things- it is like a code made up of 4 letters- A, T, C and G. There are 3 billion DNA letters in our genome! Every three letters in the DNA sequence codes for 1 amino acid. Each Amino Acid is represented by a letter (shown in the table opposite).
Can you use your problem solving skills to decode the DNA sequence ? Use the table to help you.