Spotlight Scientist

Spotlight on:

Eleanor Ralston

Eleanor is our Senior Genomics Scientist. She works on expanding our cell line quality control portfolio, in addition to the development and validation of NorthGene™ services.

Spotlight on:

Eleanor Ralston

Eleanor is our Senior Genomics Scientist. She works on expanding our cell line quality control portfolio, in addition to the development and validation of NorthGene™ services.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you to pursue a career in science?

My primary school focused on literature and the arts, and science lessons were so rare that we had to bring in a special teacher when they happened. But I really enjoyed those lessons and must’ve let my parents know, because one Christmas I received a book of simple science experiments for children. So, for me, science began as more of a hobby than a lesson. That early interest meant I approached science with a lot of enthusiasm in high school, especially in Biology and Physics.

Professionally, my career started at a small pharmaceutical testing company, at the nucleic acid extraction site. I worked my way up from assisting with the manufacture of molecular biology lab kit and quality control (QC) to performing extractions, covering for the senior development scientist and being seconded internally to other sites to consolidate our genomics technology.

It’s been a steady progression built on hands-on experience.

 

What is your current research focus or area of expertise?

My experience is in Genomics, working across a wide range of applications. Currently, I am primarily focusing on expanding our cell line QC portfolio, though I’m also involved in the development and validation of services provided by NorthGene™.

 

How does your work contribute to solving some of the major challenges in your field?

Contamination and misidentification of cell lines are serious issues. Since these lines are often used in medical research, drug production, and vaccine development, any errors can have big consequences. By ensuring we can detect these issues, we will provide a sense of confidence in the researchers and manufacturers.

What does a typical day look like for you in the laboratory?

There is no such thing as a typical day! However, if I am working on a development activity, I will begin with designing an experiment which I will then run. This can involve activities such as nucleic acid extraction, simple QC checks such as quantification and purity assessments, PCR amplification, purification of amplified product and various downstream methodologies such as qPCR or capillary electrophoresis.

Once that’s done, I analyse the data, assess the results and determine the next steps.

 

What advice would you give to young scientists or students interested in following a similar path?

Figure out how you learn best. If you’re a hands-on learner, consider a laboratory and associated technical activities apprenticeship. This allows you to get real practical experience in the industry whilst studying – I wasn’t aware that was an option when I was learning. Some university degrees also offer a year in the industry, which is helpful as it can be a shock transitioning from a purely academic setting to the more structured and results driven environment of a commercial laboratory.

I would also encourage people to look for companies that support ongoing development, whether that be for scientific training or other skills. Science is constantly evolving, so we need to keep learning to continue to make a valuable contribution and avoid stagnation.

 

If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be doing?

When I was little, I had a range of jobs I wanted to do such as a train driver. Later, I often thought computer programming might have been a good field for me to get into but having done this as part of one of my previous jobs, I am glad I chose science!

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