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The machine I use is a mass spectrometer, which I use to weigh molecules very precisely. It can measure differences as small as 1/1000 of the mass of an atom! I use it to tell me which protein molecules are active in mashed up cells and how much of each protein there is.

This might sound quite specific, but it enables me to look at lots of different things, like for example how brain proteins change in a brain cancer, how viruses hijack immune system cells and make us ill, and how tiny planctonic algae manage to survive in the open ocean with very little food about – that’s just three of the projects I’ve worked on recently.

Here’s a picture of me with a mass spectrometer – but it didn’t feel like smiling for the photo.

I cycle to the university, which is just 5 minutes from my flat, check whether the mass spectrometer has been behaving in the lab (I usually let it run my samples over night), check emails in the office, join a team meeting where I might present recent results, show a research student how to prepare samples in the lab – this bit can take a while, pop down to the common room for lunch with friends, meet over a cup of tea with a collaborator to discuss their experiment, analyse some results from the mass spectrometer, search the internet to find what is already known about the proteins I discovered, set up the mass spectrometer so it’s ready for the student’s samples, switch on remote control desktop, cycle home, cook dinner, have friends round and play music, quickly check all’s running smoothly in the lab on my laptop just before bedtime