About Eu-Sol
Find out more about this project.
An introduction to the aims of EU-SOL and how we plan to achieve them. Plus read about the organisations and people working on this project.
Dr. Eugenia Enfissi
Photographer: Unknown. Copyright free
Organisation: Royal Holloway University of London
Job title: Post-doctoral research assistant
What do you do?
At Royal Holloway our main contribution to the EU-Sol project is within Work Package 2 and involves the screening of the available tomato collections for valuable phytonutrients such as lycopene, beta-carotene, vitamin E and flavonoids. For me as a post-doc in the lab this means I get to travel to the countries where the crops are grown to harvest the tomatoes and then fly them back to London where they are chopped up and freeze-dried. The job of analysing the samples is a slow process due to the number of samples involved. Approximately two thirds of my time is spent in the lab doing practical work and then the rest of my time is spent at a computer analysing the data. In addition to our role in Work Package 2 we are also involved in the Bioinformatics Work Package, WP6. Here our focus is on developing new automated ways of processing the large data sets we are generating from or work in WP2.
How did you get involved in the project?
I got involved in the EU-Sol project because I was already working at Royal Holloway as a post-doc on another tomato project and staying on to do this project meant I could continue my work on tomatoes and their health-related traits which is of particular interest to me. I believe that prevention is better than cure and that a lot of health problems would be avoided if people ate better diets. High nutritional quality fruits and vegetables are key to this which is one reason why the project is of particular interest to me. Science as a whole has always been of interest to me as I have what my primary school teacher tactfully referred to as “an enquiring mind” and I think it was a case of basic childhood curiosity naturally leading to a life in science.
Pieces of me
What do you currently have on your bedside table?
I don’t have a bedside table because I no longer need an alarm clock with a toddler in the house.
What brings you back to the real world at the end of the day?
Playing with my son.
you weren’t yourself which person (historical or otherwise) would you most like to be?
I’d be my cat as she doesn’t seem to have a care in the world and gets to lie around in the sun all day.
What’s the best bit of advice you’ve ever received?
If you want something go out there and make it happen – no one else is going to do it for you.
What’s one exciting thing that has happened to you in the course of your work?
Traveling to other countries and meeting different people is always interesting if not exciting.
What would be your one desert island luxury?
Assuming a hammock , sunglasses and hat are not luxuries then I’d like a huge freezer full of ice cream (complete with electricity supply of course).
What’s one thing about science you wish the public understood better?
Unlike its portrayal in the movies and on TV science takes time, often years!
A friend has just invited themselves to dinner, what will they be getting?
Pasta or a risotto, quick, easy and always delicious.
