Congratulations to Hannah's friend Christopher Rivett who is studying medicine at Imperial College and has been helping Professor Christoph Tang.
Christopher says: "Having had a lecture from the head researcher, Professor Tang into bacterial pathogens, I decided to see if there was anyway I could help with their research project. Initially I thought that I would be able to help in a small capacity such as washing up test-tubes or making tea. However, after a meeting with Professor Tang he mentioned that he would do his best to see if I can help by doing some research.
As it so happened he has managed to arrange that I do some PCR, and gel electrophoresis into meningitis. PCR is a method of amplifying DNA, and gel electrophoresis a method of separating different lengths of DNA.
My first task was to see if a certain sequence was present in two strains of meningitis, as these lacked a protein that made them more resistant.
Professor Tang has told me this small project might not have been done if he did not have a volunteer as the rest of the research team are so busy.
Hopefully I will continue to be an active member of the research team in the weeks and months to come. I intend to keep you as up to date, as and when I can."
