Gabby Coe – Mushroom Project Manager
06 Nov 2026 - Peter Hurrell
“My role is somewhere between a project manager and an engineer,” explains Gabby Coe, project manager for the Mushroom instrument being designed as part of the second phase of Endeavour.
Mushroom will provide a major boost to ISIS capabilities. “It is a completely new instrument, building on a sliver of LET’s current capabilities. It does a little bit of what LET does but all the time. More users will be able to access the technique on Mushroom and it will give better results,” says Gabby.
A balancing act
Gabby joined the ISIS Design Division in November 2025. Before then, she worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Culham, “as a Systems Engineer working on decommissioning the JET reactor, writing requirements,” Gabby explains. “That set me up well for this job.”
During her Materials Science and Engineering degree at the University of Sheffield, Gabby focussed on nuclear waste materials and materials for nuclear fission and fusion, building on a long-standing interest in nuclear materials. Upon graduating Gabby took up a role in the defence industry, before she moved to Culham.
One of the challenges of Gabby’s current role is balancing scientific requirements with practical feasibility. Right now, Gabby and colleagues are working through a change process to add an extra detector to the Mushroom design, managing the financial, logistical, and timescale implications of the change.
The first elements
At the moment there isn’t much to see of Mushroom. A solitary plaque on the floor next to NIMROD, in ISIS Target Station 2, marks the eventual location of the Mushroom samples.
But that won’t last. During the long shutdown in 2027 the team will install the front-end shutter and chopper pit; the first physical elements of the new instrument to be installed. “Then we’ll be making sure we have everything in place and safe for other users by the end of the shutdown,” says Gabby.
Mushroom will include tried and tested components, such as the filters and collimator, in a new setting. Added to that will be new-to-ISIS components, such as the µRWell detectors developed by CERN. These use a similar principle to helium tube detectors but amplify the signal through a resistive layer deposited on a readout PCB.
Mushroom itself is in the concept design phase. That will be followed by detailed designs, which should begin by the end of 2026. Mushroom will be a particularly large instrument, so the plan is to prebuild as much as possible next to where it will be installed, rather than prebuilding in a separate building and moving the components across. The instrument is likely to be ready for users in the early 2030s.
Transferable skills
Gabby’s role has also equipped her with transferable skills, which she’s been busy applying in her personal life. “I got married a few weeks ago,” says Gabby. “And with my job I had to get the planning right!” Her project management skills were invaluable in helping her prepare for the big day and minimise last-minute stress.
