Laura Porro - Associate Professor, CDB

How did you arrive at CDB?   

I started at UCL in autumn of 2018 after being hired as a Lecturer to teach human anatomy to first- and second-year medical students. Although I had held fellowships and postdocs, and had done a lot of teaching and supervising before, this was my first permanent academic position!

What would you advise someone on choosing a career?

Of course, you need to pay the bills. But whatever you do for a career is something you’ll be doing for eight hours a day, five days a week, for decades. Make sure it’s something you enjoy, that excites you and that lets you apply your talents!

What are you mainly focused on now and for the future? 

In terms of research, my focus is investigating changes in anatomy and function of reptile skulls, both during development and growth and through evolutionary time. It’s a fantastic project because I get to work with a range of cool living (chameleons, crocodiles) and fossil (dinosaurs) reptiles. We are applying - and in some cases pioneering – amazing new techniques, such as using AI for processing imaging data.  We are discovering so many new things about these fascinating animals.  See my lab page for more information.

What do you do now to chill and get work-life balance?

Whenever things start feeling overwhelming at work – they sometimes do – I look at photos and videos of my four-year-old son to remind myself of the other part of my life. He has just started school and it is amazing to share this exciting new part of his life! I also love my garden and allotment and, despite the lack of rain, we have just had our best summer ever. I also love cooking all of the goodies from our allotment and enjoy experimenting with new recipes.

Would you recommend joining UCL CDB?

Yes, absolutely! It is a dynamic place with people working on diverse problems, organisms and across many different fields. Everyone is passionate about what they do and is keen to collaborate with people in other disciplines.