Calista

Calista completed her MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial, before joining EEE as a PhD student.

I actually decided to do a PhD at the last minute. Initially, I wanted to work in industry after finishing my studies as I was offered a position in the company where I completed my Year-in-Industry. As I was finishing my final year project I realised how much I had enjoyed researching about cancer diagnostics and I could picture myself doing it for the next 4 years.

Most of all, I love working together with everyone in the Pantelis group. My supervisors, Pantelis and Melina, are leading experts in their field and I have much to learn from their work. They have been nothing but supportive of all our research and it certainly reflects in the work environment. All my seniors were extremely friendly and kind; they are brilliant researchers who I look up to and are always ready to lend a hand when I need help.

With fully funded tuition fees and additional stipends, I am relieved to be able to focus completely on my research. The travel conference budget has also helped me attend two conferences this year, where I gained exposure to the latest innovations and networked with many outstanding people. 

I’m very grateful and honoured to have received the Maria Petrou Scholarship, which was established to support women in engineering achieve their goals in research.

My mum has always been a strong and independent role model for me, and I admire her work ethic and perseverance, especially how she manages her time between her business and family responsibilities. Similarly, there are many exceptional women in STEM who have made significant contributions to the community, often while juggling personal or family matters, and yet their efforts still go under-appreciated, or they may not reach their full potential.

What is your research about?

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the world that affects millions of people each year. Current methods for cancer diagnosis and monitoring involve expensive equipment that are operated by skilled technicians. As most cancer cases are predicted to arise in low-middle income countries, where access to proper hospital resources is limited, there is a critical need to develop cancer diagnostic tests that are more suitable for point-of-care use.

My research is about developing methods for cancer detection on a chip, to allow diagnostic testing to be conducted in a lab-free environment. The Pantelis group has developed a lab-on-chip device using ISFET arrays to sense pH changes during the detection of cancer mutations. My work also involves making the readout of the device more user-friendly, for example by implementing signal processing techniques and machine learning to easily identify positive and negative samples. 

Can you tell us the best (and worst) things about doing a PhD?

For me, the best part about doing a PhD is experimenting in the lab, just trying out different things while finding the best solution to a problem. Because most of our group works on interdisciplinary projects, we often collaborate with each other and discuss our findings and problems. It’s simply amazing being together in a room with such gifted minds and we’re all just bouncing ideas off each other.

I think the worst part, but also an important aspect of any research, is the reading and writing stage. It’s challenging (and quite boring frankly!) to write about your research and results in a way that can be easily understood by the reader, and often feedback from reviewers can be quite harsh. But it’s a great way to stop and think about all the experiments that you’ve done and reflect on the meaning of your data, like what has worked well and what is still lacking in your research. And the only way to get better is through practice! A great piece of advice given to me by one of my seniors was to keep applying to conferences, that way you’re writing papers and working towards deadlines, which keeps you motivated in your research.

What's a typical day like as PhD student?

I think I can describe my typical day as a PhD student in two ways. Some days are ‘lab days’, which you can probably guess means that I am working in the different labs running experiments. I might start off the morning with preparing samples and keeping track of reagent stock in the molecular lab. After lunch, I would assemble chips and run my reactions. Finally, I would check the results through quantification (checking concentrations in the samples) before going home.

Usually, if I have meetings scheduled or have GTA work to do, I have a ‘desk day’. In the morning, I might read a paper, make some figures for a presentation, or go through emails and Teams. Then, I would spend the majority of the day working on the code for signal processing. I could try implementing new techniques or fix errors with the program.

We often eat lunch and have coffee breaks together as a group as a way to relax and bond with each other. Over the summer, we also had a sports hour every week to keep ourselves healthy!

What has been your proudest achievement to date?

Being awarded the best MEng final year project.

What are you plans after you finish your PhD?

I don’t have any solid plans yet, but I would like to work in research and development for a biomedical device company, hopefully something closely related to my current area of research. I’m sure that many new and exciting opportunities will present themselves throughout my PhD, so I’ll go where the wind takes me.

What's your best piece of advice for anyone thinking about taking on a PhD?

I believe that the work environment will heavily impact the quality of your research. When looking for PhD opportunities, try to find out more about the people you will be working with, it’s good to apply for undergraduate research experiences with groups you are interested in. And don’t be afraid of failure and trying new things. Personally, I learn the most and the fastest from experiments that have not worked. So, if you are planning to apply for a PhD, don’t hesitate and go for it!