Profile
Simon Cork
My CV
-
Education:
University of Durham
-
Qualifications:
BSc (Hons), PhD
-
Work History:
University College London (UCL) and Imperial College London
-
Current Job:
Research Fellow
-
About Me:
A northerner without the accent
-
Read more
I live in London with my wife (who is also a scientist) and 1 year old son (who is not yet a scientist, but very curious about the world). When I am not in the lab, I spend most of my time entertaining my son and in the few moments of alone time I get (usually on my commute to work) I enjoy listening to jazz music and podcasts
-
Read more
I investigate the parts of the brain that cause us to feel hungry and full. When we eat, we release a lot of chemicals from our belly that tell our brain we have eaten and we should stop (this should stop us from over eating and putting on too much weight). However in some people, these chemicals either don’t get released very much, or our brain ignores them. This causes some people to put on more weight than others. I’m investigating why this happens, and whether we can design drugs to reverse it.
-
My Typical Day:
Drop son off at nursery, get to my office, have breakfast while replying to emails, chat with people in my team. I may either then do some experiments or write about experiments I’ve already done or want to do.
-
Read more
I drop my son off at nursery first thing, then get the train into work. Once in my office, I tend to have some breakfast (as I don’t usually get time to do this before leaving home!) and respond to some emails. I then talk with people who work on the same projects as me to see what results they have from experiments we’re doing, and what experiments need to be done. Depending on the day, I then either do some experiments myself, or do some writing, either so I can tell other scientists about our results, or so I can apply for money to do more experiments.
-
What I'd do with the prize money:
I would use the money to arrange students to visit our labs
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
scientist, husband, dad
What did you want to be after you left school?
Scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No, I was a good boy
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Cannonball Adderley
What's your favourite food?
Pizza! Although my wife makes a very nice lasagne
Tell us a joke.
Why can't you trust atoms? They make up everything
-