The 11th February 2024 marked the 9th UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
A significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines all over the world. Even though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in these fields.
Here, we celebrate some of Moredun’s women in STEM!
Saniya Crouch
Saniya Crouch is a PhD student focused on understanding an attenuated Toxoplasma strain. Both of Saniya’s parents were scientists, so she was drawn to science from a young age and distinctly remembers being fascinated by her collection of children’s science books and their descriptions of the workings of the human body and the devious strategies of pathogens. Growing up in India and Mexico enriched Saniya’s life with diverse experiences which shaped her worldview and made her incredibly adaptable in her approach to research.
Studying biology at university was a natural progression, allowing Saniya to delve deeper into the realms of human and pathogen biology, further fuelling her enthusiasm.
Saniya tells us:
“Leading the Nottingham University iGEM synthetic biology team was a defining moment in my journey. My supervisor, Maria, was my biggest inspiration as a young woman in science. Observing her fearlessly engage in scientific discussions during lab meetings with individuals much older and more experienced was incredibly empowering. Her unwavering belief in my abilities motivated me to pursue a PhD.”
Among all this, Saniya found time to complete a Master’s project on nanotechnology therapeutics targeting malaria at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, giving her invaluable insights into science within a different cultural and geographical context.
Saniya is enjoying the diversity of her PhD:
“The exposure to a range of new techniques from genome assembly to CRISPR and advanced microscopy, keep things exciting. I’m so lucky to have great supervisors who provide unwavering support and challenge me to grow.”
As if that weren’t quite enough to be getting on with, Saniya has combined her PhD with working as a venture analyst at Creator Fund, a venture capital fund investing in academic start-ups, providing her with the unique opportunity to engage with visionary entrepreneurs in science.
Tanith Harte
Tanith Harte is a neuroimmunologist working at Moredun Research Institute, currently researching the deadly but mysterious disease, equine grass sickness, but her background certainly isn’t in horses! Tanith knew that she wanted to study science from an early age and started her career with an apprenticeship at a company that designs testing equipment for diabetic patients. Clearly that went well, because Tanith was immediately offered a job with their competitor company! While this was a much smaller company, Tanith had a lot more freedom to design and perform her own experiments, and the company supported her through several college courses and when she decided to leave to study Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Strathclyde.
At this point, Tanith discovered a passion for immunology, much to the distaste of her microbiology lecturers!
Tanith says:
“The immune system is so incredibly complex and perfectly adapted, yet prone to miscalculations that result in autoimmune diseases like diabetes, and it even plays a role in Alzheimer’s. I was particularly hooked by this mystery, and this led me to start my PhD, which studied a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s disease using 40Hz light and how this modulated the immune cells in the brain.”
Although Tanith enjoyed her PhD, she knew that neuroscience wasn’t something she wanted to stay in long term but knew that she still had a passion for research.
“Having finished my PhD, I was ready to move to something different; enter Moredun! The Grass Sickness Fund was looking for a postdoc to help solve the mystery: this is a disease that has been studied by Moredun for around 100 years and we still don’t know what causes it! I’m 6 months in and loving learning a whole new field of research and new methods- as well as meeting lots of lovely people.”
UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science: https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day