Helena Seth-Smith

Curriculum Vitae

Full name:
Helena Margaret Brabazon Seth-Smith

Contact address:
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton, Cambridgeshire
CB10 1SA, UK

E-mail address

Employment

Jan 09- Staff Scientist, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Pathogen Genomics
Oct 02-Jan 09 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Pathogen Sequencing Unit, comparative genomics group
Oct 98-Jun 08 Supervisor, University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall & Sidney Sussex, Biology of Cells, and Cell and Developmental Biology (previously Molecular Cell Biology)
May 06-Jun 08 Tripos Exam Assessor, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Biology, Biology of Cells
Jun 03-Jul 05 Marking Reviewer, OCR exam board, A-level chemistry
Jun 97-Aug 97 Research Post, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Laboratory of Cell Regulation
Jun 96-Sep 96 Research Post, University of Cambridge, Institute of Biotechnology

Education

1998-2002 Ph. D. University of Cambridge, Institute of Biotechnology
"Microbial degradation of the explosive RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine)" [Thesis pdf]
1995-1998 B.A. (M.A.) University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall
Natural Science Tripos specialising in Genetics (2.1)

Current and Recent Projects

• developing novel methods to enable genome sequencing of Chlamydia trachomatis directly from clinical samples, resulting in a large scale genomic epidemiology project; current success based on a protocol devised using immunomagnetic separation and whole genome amplification; Conference: Hinxton 2011; Visited: Health Protection Agency Colindale UK 2011, Microbiology Services Division, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK 2010
• obtaining, sequencing and analysing strains of Chlamydia trachomatis through collaborations; sequencing, tracking, analysing and contributing to interpretation of results; Visited: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Orebro University Hospital, Sweden 2011, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa 2011, Department of Molecular Microbiology, University of Southampton, UK 2011
• gene-by-gene analysis of the genomes of strains of Salmonella as part of a large scale comparison, including high-throughput mutation techniques, aiming to explain the evolutionary history and disease profiles of Salmonella subtypes; Visited: University of Cambridge Veterinary School UK 2010
• performed genomic sequencing and analysis on new variant strain of Chlamydia trachomatis from Sweden, which had become 'invisible' to diagnosis due to a key mutation in the diagnostic target; Project leader: Nicholas Thomson; Conferences: Salzburg 2010, Redondo Beach 2011
• identified, sequenced and analysed a novel family of mobile elements within bacterial family Enterobacteriaceae; performed mutation and functional analysis; focused on Salmonella Pathogenicity Island SPI-7 and the impact of these Integrative and Conjugative Elements on bacterial evolution; Project leader: Nicholas Thomson; Conferences: St Malo 2008, Aix-en-Provence 2009, Montreal 2010
• investigated use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model organism for Salmonella infections using fluorescently labelled strains; Project leader: Nicholas Thomson; Visited: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield 2009, VU Medisch Centrum Netherlands 2010

Responsibilities, Organisational and Peer-Review Roles

• Instructor at Wellcome Trust Overseas Workshop (2012-)
• Demonstrator at Artemis teaching courses at the University of Cambridge (2010-)
• Scientific editor for Journal of Infection in Developing Coutries (2010-)
• Reviewer of scientific manuscripts and grant proposals
• Interviewer of candidates for research assistant and summer student positions
• Scientific Health and Safety Subgroup member, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (2008-)
• Supervisor and mentor of PhD students, research assistants and summer students (2002-)
• Health and Safety Local Coordinator of a containment level 2 laboratory; previously Area Safety Supervisor (2003-)
• Radiation Protection Supervisor (RPS) (2006-)
• Reviewing grant proposals, interviewing job candidates
• Tutoring undergraduates: explaining and consolidating lecture, setting and marking work (1998-2008)

Skills

Laboratory techniques and the flexibility to pick others up quickly:

• Molecular biology techniques including bacterial library construction and screening, cloning and mutagenesis in laboratory and environmental isolates, heterologous protein expression, sequencing, immunomagnetic separation, whole genome amplification
• Microbiological techniques including isolation and identification of environmental micro-organisms, tissue culture, fluorescence microscopy, containment level 2 training
• Metabolite analysis using HPLC, ion chromatography (Dionex), TLC and spectrophotometric assays

Informatics (UNIX, PC and Macintosh):

• Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access, Endnote
• Graphic packages: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, GIMP
• Genome finishing applications: including GAP (Genome Assembly Program)
• Annotation software: Artemis and Artemis Comparison Tool (ACT)
• Data analysis software: Gap4, Sequencher, Cricketgraph and molecular biology search engines
• HTML and web page construction: Seth-Smith family website

Continuing professional development

Risk Assessment training (2012)
Local Coordinator Health and Safety training (2011)
Tomorrow's Giants, Royal Society and Nature conference (2010)
Global Innovations Lab workshop (2010)
Achieving as a Professional in Science Engineering & Technology Workshops (2009)
Project Management Skills (2008)
NESTA Crucible - encouraging young scientists in innovation (2007)
Presentation Skills (2005)
Supervisory Skills (2005)

Grants Awarded

Cassey, P., Russell, D., Cooper, H., Seth-Smith, H., Zaccai, N. "Evolution of eggshell matrices in wild birds". Awarded by NESTA, 2008.
Zaccai, N., Seth-Smith, H., Fivelman, Q., Sitsapesan, R., Warhurst, D. "Drug resistance in malaria, virulence in Salmonella: are ion channels involved?". Awarded by NESTA, 2008.

Publications and Presentations

Interests

Scientific communication including:

• Attending NESTA Crucible - encouraging young scientists in innovation (2007) and SGM Communicating Microbiology Workshop, Reading (2004)
• Career presentations at secondary schools (2005-)
• Articles in charity newsletter (2007), SGM brochure (2006), CERNet (2000), Varsity student newspaper (1998)
• Documentation of day in science for World Wide Day of Science (2007)

Last updated: January 2012
Helena Seth-Smith, Cambridge, England
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