Profile
Zahra Rattray
My CV
-
Education:
Whalley Range High School for Girls in Manchester, UK where I studied for A levels in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Maths.
-
Qualifications:
Self-study: GCSEs Biology (C), Chemistry (A), Maths (A), English (C)
A levels: Physics (A), Chemistry (A), Biology (A) and Maths (A)
Undergraduate: Pharmacy (MPharm), First class degree
Postgraduate: Doctorate in Pharmacy (PhD)
-
Work History:
- 2004-2008 Pharmacy assistant: I worked in a number of local pharmacies, helping the pharmacists with preparing for prescriptions and giving patients advice on how to treat their illnesses.
2010-2016 Pharmacist: I work as a part-time pharmacist in Boots Pharmacy. I would provide patients with advice on how to take their medicines, check their prescriptions for clinical accuracy and help treat their minor illnesses.
2009-2013 Teaching assistant: When I was a PhD student, I would help teach the undergraduate students in lab classes, workshops and lectures. I helped teach on a range of topics including microbiology, chemistry and pharmacy practicals.
2013- Posdoctoral researcher: When I finished my PhD and became a doctor, I started doing some research with a company called MedImmune. I worked on proteins and turning them into medicines for patients. I was particularly interested in how we can make them safe for patients.
2014-2016 Senior scientist: I worked as a scientist at a large pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca. In this job, I worked with so many different scientists like engineers, chemists, and biologists. We worked together as a team to discover new drugs and turn them into medicines for patients. Most of the projects I worked on were for cancer, but one of them was for diabetes. The diabetes project I worked on, is now a medicine in the clinic used by patients across the world.
2016-2018 Postdoctoral researcher: I decided I really wanted to work in a university, so moved to the USA and started a research position at Yale University in Connecticut. At Yale, I worked to discover new medicines for cancer. I was interested in finding a new treatment for brain cancer, as many patients don’t survive for long. I worked on the chemistry and biology of this medicine, and it is now being investigated in patient clinical trials.
2018-present Lecturer: I now work at Strathclyde University where I have my own laboratory and some amazing students across various career levels working with me. We are interested in understanding how nanosized particles can be used to treat difficult cancers.
-
About Me:
I am a pharmacist scientist with an interest in finding cures for brain tumours and breast cancer. I live in Glasgow with my husband, son and pet cat.
-
Read more
I live in Glasgow with my husband, Nik – also a scientist, our 10 month old son- Tobi, and our pet cat Alba!
I am originally from Manchester and am new to Scotland. I really enjoy exploring the Scottish countryside with my family- only if cats could join in!! When the weather is too bad for exploring, I enjoy crocheting, cooking food from all over the world, and drawing. Of course, this is with music playing in the background- Tobi and I love singing along to the Rolling Stones and Clean Bandit.
-
My pronouns are:
She/Her
-
My Work:
My lab is interested in understanding how cancer cells go rogue, and using this information to develop new chemotherapy medicines. We use antibodies and nanoparticles to target the weakness of tumour cancer cells.
-
Read more
I work with an amazing team of students and researchers within my group. My lab is interested in understanding how cancer cells go rogue, and using this information to develop new chemotherapy medicines. I have a personal interest in cancer research because my nan died from a brain tumour, my sister is a leukaemia survivor and my dad is suffering from lymphoma. Finding cures for cancer is a team effort and needs loads of people from different backgrounds.
I am a pharmacist by training and have worked in the pharmaceutical industry to develop new cancer treatments. This job gave me the inspiration to continue my research in academia looking for new targets for treatment.
My lab was established in September 2018, and when not studying the biology of tumours, we try to use antibodies and nanoparticles to target the weakness of tumour cancer cells. We have some really cool tools that can measure the size of proteins and nanoparticles. These can help us design new medicines that will be better at killing tumour cells.
-
My Typical Day:
I wake up early in the morning, we eat breakfast and drop my baby off at nursery.
When I get to work, I check my emails and reply to them. I then pop into the lab and check on my students to see if they are okay. We talk about their experiments, what they did over the weekend and plan their work.
Sometimes the rest of the day will involve me teaching students various courses on the degree or meeting new doctors that I can work with on my research.
No day is the same for me, and I really enjoy this.
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Determined; Smiley; Hard-working
What did you want to be after you left school?
I didn't know- I really enjoyed science!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I once got into trouble for not wearing my uniform to school!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I love most music, but most memorable is a Franz Ferdinand gig I went to!
What's your favourite food?
Pizza
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To become a professor, to discover a cure for cancer and to have some llamas!
Tell us a joke.
A Pharmacist Joke-- What do Scottish people take for fungal groin infections? 'Sporranox!'
-