Before she began working in a laboratory, Rachel worked as a lifeguard. In 2002, she wanted a career change and started work as a Lab Technician at a food science lab in Banbury, before moving to Warwick University. Rachel later moved to the Research Complex at Harwell and joined ISIS in 2018.
Rachel currently works in our fourteen sample prep labs, where she has a variety of responsibilities. These include ensuring that the labs are prepared for users, managing samples and equipment, ordering consumables, and maintaining an overall clean environment for users to work in. She also performs daily checks on the gloveboxes. These are kept free of any water or air, instead filled with helium or argon, to create an inert environment for users to work with air-sensitive and water-sensitive materials.
Rachel works alongside our Health Physics team to make sure that equipment and samples which may have been irradiated are handled safely when being disposed of or taken off site. This can include storing active samples until they can be handled safely and even checking lab coats before sending them to the laundrette.
One additional material that Rachel stocks in each sample preparation lab is D2O, or 'heavy water'. D2O is used a lot at ISIS, as the different interaction between neutrons and hydrogen and deuterium means that selective deuteration can be used to build up a contrast picture of the system.
However, ISIS is looking to be more sustainable with its use of D2O, and Rachel is part of a new team who are exploring D2O recovery and recycling. They're currently developing techniques using a rotary evaporator. The project is only six months into development, but Rachel is excited to be part of it.
Outside of being a Senior Lab Technician, Rachel often takes part in triathlons and has been regularly competing since 2004. Later in the year she is going to Australia to take part in the World Age Group Championship. Another key passion of hers is Milford the duck, whose travels Rachel helps to share online. “He's an ISIS icon," she says.
Overall, Rachel says that it's really nice to support the facility, getting to work with so many users and being part of all the amazing research that they do. “I get to meet lots of different people, especially at ISIS as there are so many users from different countries."
