Catch up with last year’s Lab Heroes Awards winner Kimberley Evans
Lab Heroes is back for 2018 and we’ve had some fantastic nominations already! But what difference could winning these awards make to your lab hero, and your lab?
We caught up with last year’s Lab Heroes AwardsTM winner Kimberley Evans who works in the Karadottir Lab at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge. We chatted about what she’s been up to over the last year, what difference winning our Lab Heroes Award made to her and her lab, and why she thinks you should nominate your lab heroes this year.
Hi Kim! Great to catch up! We can’t believe it’s been a year since our first awards already, what have you been up to?
The year has flown by and I've been supporting several different projects in the lab, as well as helping to plan our move to a new building -- though it feels like the bulk of the year has been spent writing! I'm looking forward to having a more lab based project in this new academic year.
What are you working on right now?
I'm just starting a new project looking at the role of neuronal activity in myelin plasticity.
How did winning last year's Lab Heroes AwardTM make a difference to you and your lab?
The award really helped us to move forward with some pilot experiments using Hello Bio reagents without having to worry about costs. We've done some long term administration work which is just starting to yield results which is great. We also tested a lot of other reagents and it was great not having the risk of wasting any money doing so.
Personally, the award has made me feel very appreciated in the lab and having the travel grant has opened up the opportunity to go to a much bigger conference than I would usually attend.
That’s brilliant news! What did you use your $1000 travel grant for?
I've used my travel grant to go to the SFN in San Diego this November. I'm looking forward to some great talks and poster presentations (and the warm Californian climate!)
Why should people nominate their Lab Heroes this year?
There really is no reason not to. The prize fund would be a huge benefit for your lab and your 'hero' gets to feel appreciated. It's literally a win-win situation!
Why do you think it's important for life scientists to support and acknowledge each other's work and commitment to their industry?
Every scientist has days where nothing works and it can be very demoralising, we're all in this together so why not support one another? We can achieve more working together and we all work together best when our work and support is acknowledged and appreciated.
A culture of gratitude and collaboration in the lab allows us all to learn from each other and improve our science, and increasingly life science is incredibly interdisciplinary making this culture even more important.
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Do you work with a Lab Hero like Kim?
Whether they inspire you in your work, are always on hand to help out in the lab, go the extra mile in their work, are exceptionally supportive of their colleagues, or have a big personality that makes your lab a brilliant place to work, now is your opportunity acknowledge them.
Nominate a scientist you work with from now until 30th November 2018, and put your lab and the wonderful scientists who work in it in the spotlight.
And once you have nominated your lab hero, keep an eye on our Lab Heroes Nominees gallery page - your nominees will appear here!
Read more from last year’s Lab Heroes winner and runners-up:
- Interview with Lab Heroes Awards 2017 winner Kimberley Evans
- Interview with Lab Heroes Awards 2017 runner up Vanessa Charrier
- Interview with Lab Heroes Awards 2017 runner up Pinggan Li
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