Ask Your Mentor - Dr Julie Simpson

Ask Your Mentor Podcast, from Dementia Researcher, in association with Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK). Mentees interviewing their mentors, talking careers, lessons learned and what they’ve discovered, that could help you forge a successful career in dementia research. In this podcast experienced postdoc researcher Dr Aisling McFall, Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Glasgow interviews her mentor Dr Julie Simpson, Senior Lecturer at The University of Sheffield. Aisling works on a group of receptors called muscarinic receptors which are the target of one of the most commonly used drugs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically, she studies the M1 muscarinic receptor because this subtype is highly expressed in the brain and has been shown to be involved in cognition. The overall aim being to design better drugs for Alzheimer’s disease with fewer side effects. Julie's main research interests are identifying and understanding neuroinflammatory contributions to ageing and dementia, particularly age-associated white matter pathology. Her research primarily focusses on the detailed immunohistological characterisation and gene expression profiling of specific cell populations in the ageing brain. Full biographies on all our guests and a transcript can be found on our website ⁠https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk⁠ Find our more about Alzheimer's Research UK and how they support early career researchers on their website: ⁠https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/research/for-researchers/ecr/supporting-your-career/⁠ Like what you hear? Please review, like, and share our podcast - and don't forget to subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode – and if you prefer watch rather than watch, you’ll find a video version of this podcast at https://youtu.be/oLM3Cp3vFr8 (this also includes captions for anyone who is unable to listen). This podcast is brought to you by University College London / UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in association with Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer's Research UK, Alzheimer's Society and Race Against Dementia who we thank for their ongoing support.

00:00 Intro Credits 00:17 Introductions 02:31 Walk Julie's CV and Career 32:51 Speedy Career Tips 34:04 Tips for dealing with busy collaborators 35:10 How importance is science communications 36:14 How to balance home and work life 39:49 Finding inspiration 41:20 How to approach grant writing 44:30 Recap on the main takeaways 45:56 Mentoring 50:52 Thankyou's and round-up