Profile
Quentin Leclerc
My CV
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Education:
– Ecole élémentaire Saint-Lazare, France (primary school)
– British School of Alexandria, Egypt (primary school)
– College Pierre et Marie Curie, France (secondary school)
– Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye, France (secondary school)
– Imperial College London, UK (university)
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Qualifications:
– International GCSE (France). Helped me build confidence in my English skills, and was a useful qualification to prove I could speak the language.
– French Baccalauréat with International Option (France). This is the French equivalent of the A Levels. Thanks to the International Option, I was able to come to university in the UK!
– BSc in Microbiology (Imperial College London). During this, I became interested in infectious diseases. I also realised I didn’t want to spend my entire life in the lab, and that’s where I discovered epidemiology.
– MSc in Epidemiology (Imperial College London). This really convinced me that epidemiology was what I wanted to do every day as a job. I discovered this incredible world where biology and mathematics can work together to solve problems, and have been addicted to it since then!
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Current Job:
I am currently in the 3rd year of my PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health
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About Me:
I’m a French PhD student in London, loving the city and the people, but sometimes missing the French food! I use biology and mathematics to understand how bacteria share DNA with each other
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I’m from France, but moved to London six years ago to go to university. I loved it so much that I’m still here now! That said, I admit that I miss French food sometimes, especially bread (I know it’s a cliché, but we really do love baguettes). Fortunately, I often go back there to see my girlfriend and family.
When I’m not working in the lab or on my computer, I play quite a lot of video games. I also enjoy watching movies, so can’t wait to go back to the cinemas once they re-open!
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Bacteria are very, very small living things that exist everywhere. There are many different types of bacteria. If you zoomed in a lot, here is what they might look like:
Rod-shaped bacteria and cocci, human microbiome, human pathogenic bacteria, 3D illustration.
© iStock/Dr_MicrobeBacteria are often our friends. For example, we have bacteria in our stomach which help us to digest our food. But unfortunately, they can sometimes make us sick. When that happens, we can take antibiotics to remove these bacteria and get better.The problem is that these bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics. In that case, antibiotics cannot remove bacteria anymore, which can make us more sick. We can try to stop this, but bacteria are smart, and they talk to each other. If one bacteria knows how to be resistant to an antibiotic, it can share this information with other bacteria. This means that they can all become resistant after some time!In my work, I try to understand how bacteria share the information on how to be resistant to antibiotics. For this, I work in the lab, where I grow bacteria and count them every hour. This allows me to see by how much the number of resistant bacteria increases with time. Then, using mathematics, I can figure out how fast bacteria must be talking to each other for resistance to be increasing like this.If I can better understand how bacteria are sharing information with each other, then I can try to stop it. This would prevent bacteria becoming more resistant to antibiotics. And, if bacteria can’t do that anymore, this should make it easier for us to remove them when they cause problems! -
My Typical Day:
I start the day by going to the lab to see how my bacteria have grown. I then work on my computer to analyse this information. I spend the rest of the day reading new work from other scientists, preparing my own presentations, and writing articles to share my results!
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At the moment, I’m mostly working from home, so this is what my desk looks like:
Yes, I have a small LEGO car there! It helps me to keep my hands busy when I’m trying to think about something
But, under normal circumstances, this is what my day looks like:
I work better in the morning, so I wake up around 6.30am, and arrive at the lab around 8am. There, I check the change in the number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. I then prepare new experiments depending on what information I need. This keeps me busy all morning.
After lunch, I work at my computer. I spend a lot of time using mathematics to help me understand what my bacteria are really doing. To make this easier, I work using computer programs, which will solve the mathematics for me. Because I have to solve this thousands of times, it would take a really long time if I did all the calculations myself. Computer programs and code are essential to make my work faster!
An important part of the work of a scientist is to share our results with each other. So, I spend the rest of the day reading new work by other scientists who also look at bacteria. I also write my own presentations and articles, to explain my experiments and my results.
Oh, and sometimes I have particularly exciting days too! Like a bit more than a year ago, when I went to the UK Parliament to talk about some of my work:
Me talking about my work at the UK Parliament last year!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would love to create video live streams where I could answer scientific questions from people who are not scientists (or find the answers if I don’t know!). This would be a great opportunity to discuss science and learn together!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Tries to make bacteria behave
What did you want to be after you left school?
I wanted to be an architect when I was younger, but I couldn't draw! Fortunately, my current work doesn't require artistic skills
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I always found it hard to pay attention and participate when the topic didn't interest me, so I wasn't the most popular with my History and Geography teachers...
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Damso (Belgian rapper, for some reason it helps me concentrate)
What's your favourite food?
I could lie and say something really fancy and complicated, but the truth is, sometimes all you want after a long day is a good, juicy burger
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To always be surrounded by friends I can count on, always have the opportunity to work on something that I am truly passionate about, and a thousand billion pounds (might as well aim high, that would definitely be enough to fund my research!)
Tell us a joke.
A priest, a minister, and a rabbit walk into a clinic. The nurse asks the rabbit: "What's your blood type?". The rabbit replies: "I think I might be a type-O !"
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