Profile

Photo:

Vanessa Las Heras

My CV

  • Education:

    I am from Portugal, a country in the south of Europe. I studied in a very small school in Algarve, where I am from.
    I went to the Algarve University to study my first degree in Microbiology.
    After that I moved to Sweden, in the north of Europe, to study engineering.
    Five years ago I moved to Cork to study my doctorates degree in University College Cork, where I am now a researcher.

  • Qualifications:

    I have a Bachelor degree in Biotechnology, a Masters degree in Biotechnology Engineering and a Doctorates degree in Microbiology. It sounds very complicated, but it only means that I learned many different ways to study bacteria.

  • About Me:

    Football and food enthusiast. Also love to go to the beach and to play guitar. What I really like is to study bacteria, they are really interesting.

  • Read more

    I live in Cork with my boyfriend, how is a musician and a scientist, like me.

    I love to cook. My favorite dish is pizza and I really like to make my own from scratch, usually with pepperoni and extra cheese (but it cannot be spicy).

    I can name every episode of Family Guy, one of my favorite TV shows.

    My favorite football team is Benfica, from Portugal. I also like Liverpool a lot.

    My pronouns are she/her.

  • Read more

    I work with bacteria, very small organisms that we can only see using a microscope.

    We live with many bacteria in our skin and intestine. These good bacteria (or microbiota) help keeping us healthy by helping us during digestion and maintaining a strong immune system.

    Our interaction with a diverse and strong microbiota is essential to keep us safe from bad bacteria (or pathogens).

    My work allows us to understand how our diet protects the good bacteria in our intestine and we can adapt our diet to keep this pathogens away. This allows us to make the smart choices about what we eat and is very important for our health.

  • My Typical Day:

    I get up early in the morning to go for a ride in my bike, because it helps me keeping my energy up.
    Then I turn on my microscope and see how my bacteria are healthy, so I can start working with them. Usually I analyze how they respond when they are stressed, to see what I can do to help them grow stronger.

  • Read more

    Every day I work with the bacteria that live with us in our intestine. I feed them similar foods that they would find in our gut and see if they grow stronger or if they get stressed and stop growing.

    After that, I see if they are strong enough to fight against bad bacteria. This helps me understand which foods are better to help our good bacteria stay strong and therefore fight the bad bacteria away.

  • My Interview

    • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

      Curious, happy and active

      What did you want to be after you left school?

      A scientist

      Were you ever in trouble at school?

      Yes, a few times

      Who is your favourite singer or band?

      Queen

      What's your favourite food?

      Pizza

      If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

      Be rich, be able to flight and be as fast as Sonic

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