Karen Heathcote

I am responsible for developing and maintaining all communication channels for the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. I manage external and internal communications for the Institute, including website maintenance, content creation, and social media strategy. I also support researchers to share their scientific work to a broad audience and organise a calendar of public engagement events

Before starting this role, I completed a PhD as part of the GSK-Crick Chemical Biology Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Oxford. My project was supervised by Emily Flashman and Peter Ratcliffe in Oxford, and by Jacob Bush at GSK. During my PhD, I investigated the oxygen sensing role of an iron-dependent enzyme called cysteamine dioxygenase (or ADO). 

Alongside my studies, I worked with the Department of Chemistry communications and outreach teams. As an Outreach Ambassador, I managed the Chemistry Outreach social media and helped to run outreach workshops for school children from Early Years to KS5. I also worked as a science writer for the department magazine, the Periodic.