World-changing science careers at Diamond Light Source

Halina Mikolajek - Research Scientist and Crystallisation Facility Manager What’s your professional background and how did you come to work at Diamond? After my degree in biochemistry with physiology, I did a PhD in structural biology at the University of Southampton. My PhD was funded by the British Heart Foundation and focused on studying proteins involved in heart disease using X-ray crystallography. Following my PhD, I took up a couple of postdoctoral research, where I dipped my toes into nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as well as biophysics. I decided I enjoyed X-ray crystallography the most and applied for a role as Senior Support Scientist and Crystallisation Facility Manager at Diamond Light Source, which is where I am currently based. What do you do here and how does your experience help? As the Crystallisation Facility Manager, I maintain and run the state-of-the-art Crystallisation Facility, which is located in the Research Complex at Harwell adjacent to Diamond. This facility is used by local as well as international academic and industrial scientists, who I support and train to move as many projects as possible forward. Recently I have progressed to Research Scientist, which allows me to dedicate more time towards my own research into cutting edge technologies and research projects. Having gained lots of experience on a variety of projects over the years, being very methodical and logical has been key to projects making progress and generating data to answer the question the scientist has. What’s your favourite thing about working at Diamond? I enjoy being at the forefront of research technologies and having access to a wide range of cutting-edge instruments and state of the art facilities. I love the variety of my job and no day is the same. It’s a collaborative environment and I find it truly interesting and rewarding being involved in lots of different projects and seeing them progress. What advice would you give someone wanting to get involved in your field? Dip into different fields and gain as much experience as possible. Don’t just look at the obvious academic route. Looking back on my career it would have been helpful to do a year in industry. If I had, I would have probably come to Diamond ten years earlier. Get a mentor early and focus on what you enjoy. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a good mentor to talk through problems and help you experience other ways and aspects of science. What makes Diamond different from other organisations that you could work for? Diamond is an interesting organisation at its sits at the interface between academia and industry. Although, we dedicate a large fraction of our time towards users, we can dedicate time to develop new technologies and are able to access a pool of knowledge from very diverse fields. Diamond has many different roles available, so an individual can work in a role that suits their current needs. For example, you may want to be more in a support role, then a lead role. Diamond allowed me to take time out from full time research and then get back into research when I was ready for it.