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Patricia Smith

    • About Me:

      I’m part-researcher part-science communicator. I live in Henley-on-Thames and until recently spent half my day rowing 🚣🏻‍♀️ and half doing science 🔬. I love hiking, skiing and a good flat white.

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • How does my work involve computers?:

      Almost all of my work involves computers in some way. Since I don’t currently work in the wet lab, I spend my time coding, analysing the 3D imaging data we get from our microscopes, and processing all the classifications related to that data from our citizen scientists.

    • My Work:

      I work with citizen science and AI to help accelerate biological image analysis. AI is getting better, but the human eye is still the best tool to identify structures inside cells and tissues. That’s why we need your help with our research!

    • Read more

      We ask the public to help us with our research by proofreading (checking and correcting) the outputs from AI models trained to segment (colour in) different structures in 3D images of cells and tissues, taken by powerful electron microscopes.

      Humans have amazing pattern-recognition skills. AI is catching up in many areas – computers in self-driving cars can easily identify road hazards, pedestrians, and other cars in real time. But the AI models we have aren’t that good at analysing images taken by electron microscopes.

      The bottleneck in our research is how quickly and easily we can process the huge volumes of imaging data coming out of our microscopes. If we can speed up this step, by automating the process using AI, we will be able to analyse much more data, and answer much more complicated biological questions.

       

    • My Typical Day:

      I always start my day with a good coffee, then might lift weights or bike before starting my work. If I am working from home, I’ll be working on my computer for most of the day: coding, analysing data, and interacting with our citizen scientists.

    CV

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        trying my best

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        definitely a scientist - but I didn't think I would end up researching what I do now

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        I was pretty mean to my teachers when I was bored - but somehow got away with it!

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        I'd probably be working with regenerative medicine/biotechnology (closer to what I studied at uni)

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        I've been listening to 'I Quit' by Haim pretty much nonstop since it released

        What's your favourite food?

        Sushi or ramen 🍣 🍜

        Tell us a joke.

        "not a fan" - windmill

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