I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is back! Between the 6th and 17th November, students from nearly 100 schools will be putting their questions to 38 scientists across 7 different zones.

For the latest news and announcements about the event, find us on Twitter, @imascientist, and follow the hashtag, #IASUK.

Let’s meet the scientists and schools taking part…

Cells Zone

Supported by Wellcome

The Scientists

Tom Speight | PhD Student, The University of Edinburgh

I use a camera on the end of a fibre to look deep inside our lungs and track how good our own cells are eating dangerous bugs we can breathe, and stop us from getting sick.

Paul McKeegan | Postdoctoral researcher, the University of Leeds

I am interested in finding out how the diet of the egg cell and early embryo affects health and disease from the first week as a tiny embryo to adult life.

Natasha Myhill | PhD Student, Cellular Therapeutics Ltd., University of Manchester

I am investigating how to use a patient’s own cells to kill their cancer

Ildiko Somorjai | Lecturer, University of St Andrews

I would like to know why some animals have superpowers and can grow back new body parts (even their heads!), and we cannot.

Ester Gil Vazquez | PhD Student, Wellcome Trust Center for Human Genetics (Oxford)

I study the messages that cells send to each other and how they work together to make us healthy.

Eoin McKinney | Postdoctoral researcher, University of Cambridge, Department of Medicine

Our immune system is supposed to attack and stop infections – I try to work out why it sometimes goes wrong and attacks the body by mistake.

The Schools

• Bexleyheath Academy, Kent
• Bingley Grammar School, West Yorkshire
• Colton Hills Community School, West Midlands
• Craigmount High School, Edinburgh
• IntoUniversity, Bristol
• Little Lever School, Greater Manchester
• Macclesfield College, Cheshire
• Outwood Academy Newbold, Derbyshire
• Rosebery School, Surrey
• Sandymoor, Cheshire
• St Paul’s School, Barcelona, Spain
• The Dukeries Academy, Nottinghamshire
• The Oxford Academy, Oxfordshire
• Ursuline High School Wimbledon, London

Gravity Zone

Funded by Institute of Physics

The Scientists

Scott Melville | PhD Student, Imperial College London

I spend my days using a combination of computers and mathematics (and colourful swear words) to try and understand how the very small (quantum mechanics) is related to the very big (gravity) – finding connections between atoms, planets, stars, black holes

Ryan Cutter | PhD Student, University of Warwick

I look for the explosions caused by black holes and neutron stars colliding.

Maggie Lieu | Postdoctoral researcher, European Space Agency

My research is to map out the dark Universe, to help us understand Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Hannah Middleton | PhD Student, University of Birmingham

I am using tiny ripples in spacetime, called gravitational waves to learn about black holes.

Daniel Williams | PhD Student, University of Glasgow

I help to look for gravitational waves, which are ripples in space and time which are made when black holes crash into each other, and when stars explode as supernovae.

The Schools

• All Saints Catholic College Specialist in Humanities, West Yorkshire
• Caroline Chisholm School, Northamptonshire
• Castle Hall Academy Trust, West Yorkshire
• Ernest Bevin College, London
• Heathfield Community College, East Sussex
• Hounsdown School, Hampshire
• Mallaig High School, Mallaig
• Somervale School Specialist Media Arts College, Somerset
• South Bank Engineering UTC, London
• St Bede’s RC Primary School, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear
• St Bridget’s Primary School & Nursery Class, Glasgow
• St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Church of England School, London
• The Sir Robert Woodard Academy, West Sussex
• Victoria Primary School, Edinburgh

Microbiology Zone

Part-funded by the Society for Applied Microbiology and supported by Wellcome

The Scientists

Lea Carlesso | PhD Student, Rothamsted research – North Wyke

My research work aims to understand how small bugs in the soil can help farmers to produce our food.

Emma Stevenson | Postdoctoral researcher, University of Exeter

I am trying to figure out how bacteria make decisions

Christopher Richardson | Neogen

A scientist at war with bacteria!

Ashley Otter | PhD Student, Royal Veterinary College

Understanding the DNA of tuberculosis, the biggest killer of humans by a microbe

Ananthi Ramachandran | PhD Student, University of Leicester

I am looking at using viruses that attack bacteria as a potential alternative to antibiotics to treat those pesky drug resistant bugs

Aaron Brown | PhD Student, University of Leeds

I’m feeding grass to bacteria, capturing their smelly farts to generate electricity.

The Schools

• Furness Academy, Cumbria
• Grace Academy Solihull, West Midlands
• Harris Invictus Academy, Croydon
• Hylands School, Essex
• John F Kennedy Catholic School, Hertfordshire
• Lowestoft Sixth Form College, Suffolk
• New College Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
• Saint Peter’s Catholic Voluntary Academy, Middlesbrough
• Stranraer Academy, Stranraer
• Swanmead Community School, Somerset
• The Boulevard Academy, Kingston-Upon-Hull
• The Crypt School, Gloucestershire
• The de Ferrers Academy, Staffordshire
• Westcliff High School for Boys Academy, Essex

Stress Zone

Funded by The Physiological Society

The Scientists

Livia Carvalho | Lecturer, William Harvey Research Institute

My work involves understanding how stress gets under our skin and makes us sick.

Laura Ginesi | Lecturer, University of East Anglia – school of health sciences, faculty of medicine

I explain how bodies work and work out what is going wrong when people get sick.

Kristi Sawyer | PhD Student, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London

I am trying to find out how a mother’s mood while she is pregnant can affect how the child develops.

Georgina Hazell | Postdoctoral researcher, University of Bristol

I cut up adrenal glands to work out how they release stress hormone – and how this is different in men and women

Chris Tyler | Lecturer, Roehampton University

Lecturing sport and exercise physiology while continuing my research in to exercise in hot environments.

The Schools

• Alexandra Park School, London
• Allestree Woodlands School, Derbyshire
• Aquinas College, Cheshire
• Bay House School, Hampshire
• Brayton Academy, North Yorkshire
• Dalry Primary School, Ayrshire
• Halewood Academy, Knowsley
• Hillcrest School, West Midlands
• Madley Brook Community Primary School, Oxfordshire
• Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy, West Midlands
• Prendergast Vale School, London
• Smithycroft Secondary School, Glasgow
• St Dominic’s Grammar School for Girls, Belfast
• Wyvern Academy, County Durham

Uranium Zone

Supported by Wellcome

The Scientists

Sajid Javed | QIAGEN Manchester

I work in personalised medicine where I design genetic tests which will help doctors decide if their patients will get better if they are given certain drugs.

Katherine Byrne | Home Office

I use maths to make things work better, at the moment, looking at how to make sure people get their passports and UK visas on time

Jayne Ede | Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

I use chemistry to develop ways of destroying chemical weapons and protecting people from their effects

Duncan McNicholl | PhD Student, Queen’s Medical Research Institute

I’m finding new ways to take pictures of people’s insides.

Anu Antony | PhD Student, Newcastle University

Storing energy from solar panels and reusing it when needed

The Schools

• Corfe Hills School, Dorset
• Cross and Passion College, Ballycastle
• Ethos College, Huddersfield
• Foreland Fields School, Kent
• Kingsley Academy, Middlesex
• Norton College, North Yorkshire
• Rainham Mark Grammar School, Kent
• Reepham High School and College, Norfolk
• Ryburn Valley High School, West Yorkshire
• Shimna Integrated College, Newcastle
• Silverdale School, South Yorkshire
• Sir John Lawes School, Hertfordshire
• Swindon Academy, Wiltshire
• Wilsthorpe Community School, Nottinghamshire

Neptunium Zone

Supported by Wellcome

The Scientists

Yo Yehudi | Cambridge University

I’m like a roadie, but for science – I sit behind the scenes and write programs and websites to help biologists do their work!

Theo Wilson | Owlstone Medical

We’re a UK company developing a breathalyser for disease that could change the way illnesses are diagnosed and treated by doctors.

Oli Wilson | PhD Student, University of Reading

I’m making a fossil pollen time machine. I’m working on a vanishing forest in Brazil, trying to work out what happened in its past and predict whether it’ll survive in the future.

Nina Jordan | Postdoctoral researcher, University of Leicester, UK

I study volcanoes and their past activity to learn more about what eruptions are like, as the more we know about a volcano’s past the better we can predict its future

Kerrianne Harrington | PhD Student, University of Bath

I make long, bendy and strong glass structures that are as thin as human hair in order to manipulate light.

Edward Bracey | Postdoctoral researcher, UCL Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour

Nothing you see is real, only a messed up model of reality your brain creates – I try to understand how it makes that model and why it messes up.

The Schools

• Beaumont School, Hertfordshire
• Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College, London
• Fakenham Academy, Norfolk
• Ferndown Middle School, Dorset
• Gordano School, Bristol
• Levenmouth Academy, Leven
• Lycée général et technologique Simone Veil, Valbonne, France
• Prendergast Vale School, London
• Priory School, Hampshire
• Rainham Mark Grammar School, Kent
• South Wirral High School, Merseyside
• St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School, London
• Sussex Downs College, East Sussex

Plutonium Zone

Supported by Wellcome

The Scientists

Simonne Weeks | Nuffield Health

As a blood scientist I’m interested in finding out what makes you want to donate your blood or organs?

Senga Robertson-Albertyn | PhD Student, University of Dundee

I spend my days elbow deep in a sandbox trying to understand what jobs bacteria do to help plants grow so we can work out how to grow enough food for everyone in the future..

Pete Gwynne | PhD Student, The University of Edinburgh

We try to kill germs using lasers

James Cole | Lecturer, University of Brighton

I’m an archaeologist who studies the fossils and stone tools of our human ancestors in order to understand how humans evolved and interacted with the changing climates of the past.

Jake Langham | Postdoctoral researcher, University of Bristol

I write supercomputer programs that use maths to solve lots of different science problems.

The Schools

• Bethany Church of England Junior School, Dorset
• Brookland Junior School, London
• Cardinal Winning, Glasgow
• Cold Harbour Church of England School, Buckinghamshire
• Doonfoot Primary School, Ayrshire
• Fairford Church of England Primary School, Gloucestershire
• Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, London
• Horniman Primary School, London
• Jeavons Wood Primary School, Cambridgeshire
• Langside Primary School, Glasgow
• Llanyrafon Primary School, Torfaen
• Smarden Primary School, Kent
• St Andrew’s CofE Primary School and Nursery, Hertfordshire
• St Leonard’s CofE Primary School, Shropshire
• St Mary’s Primary School, Largs