Profile
Nikol Kaderabkova
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About Me:
I live in the Austin with my fussy cat Archie. I love the sun, working out and most of all super sweet coffee 🙂
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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My Work:
I work in a research group at The University of Texas at Austin. My works looks for new ways to stop bacteria surviving medical treatment, a process called antibiotic resistance.
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Antibiotic resistance is a broad description of methods that bacteria use to survive medical treatment. It is a big problem for our hospitals. Common ways that bacteria use to survive our treatment uses proteins to literally break down the antibiotic. For example, you may be given penicillin to treat a tooth infection. If the bacteria causing the illness can make a protein called beta-lactamase it will disable the penicillin antibiotic. This will allow the bacterium to continue causing trouble. This means your illness is not treated properly, it will last longer and you will have to go back to your doctor to get a different medicine to get better. My work looks at how a system called the DSB system helps cause antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
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My Typical Day:
In the morning, I feed my cat an early breakfast and go to my local gym. Full of energy from my workout, I arrive to work around 8 am, have a quick breakfast and catch up with my colleagues on our joint projects. I will usually work in the lab in the morning and complete my desk work in the afternoons. I spend my evenings reading, going for walks or meeting friends.
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I am a Postdosctoral Fellow which means I have gotten my PhD and I work on research projects that are interesting to me and our research group. Some projects are my own and I am mostly the only person working on them. Other projects are shared with my colleagues and require us to work together. I also help our PhD students with their projects and their learning. This makes working in a research lab a very varied experience.
No day is the same in our lab – some days there are lot of experiments to run or results to look at, other times I am helping students prepare their experiments or discuss their results. This means that sometime I am in the lab all day, and sometimes I will not even peek in the door 🙂
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Education:
The English College in Prague, Czech Republic (high school)
Heriot Watt University, Scotland, United Kingdom
Imperial College London, England, United Kingdom
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Qualifications:
International Baccalaureate (2013)
Master of Chemistry (2017)
PhD (2021)
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Work History:
Although I went straight from high school to university and from my first degree to my PhD I had jobs during my studies. I was a skiing instructor until I left home for university. I worked in human resources during part of my undergraduate and postgraduate study. I became a trampolining instructor and franchise owner during my PhD. I gave up all my fitness training when I moved to work in the US.
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Current Job:
Postdoctoral Fellow
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Employer:
The University of Texas at Austin
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Determined, Curious, Passionate
What's the best thing you've done in your career?
I studied chemistry for my first degree but decided to switch into a more biological field for my PhD. Being strong in two disciplines really opened up lot more opportunities for me.
What or who inspired you to follow your career?
I was inspired to do my Postdoc by my PhD supervisor.
What was your favorite subject at school?
Chemistry
What did you want to be after you left school?
I didn't really know. I went to study a subject I was good at and it all went from there.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
There wasn't much chance of getting into trouble at my school :D
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
That is hard to say. I am interested in medicine and healthy lifestyle so maybe something in those fields.
Who is your favorite singer or band?
I will listen to anything in my native language! It's my way to keep in touch with it.
What's your favorite food?
I love broccoli of all things! Soup, grilled, baked ... I love them all.
What is the most fun thing you've done?
I used to be a skiing instructor and on New Years Eve all the instructors would ski down an unlit slope with torches to create patterns for the town folk.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I wish I lived closer to my family as I can only visit once a year from the US. I wish to see my brother compete in his karate championships. I wish for my students to pass their PhD candidacy exams.
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My Comments