I use very fine forceps and a tungsten needle (a dissection tool) under a microscope. It’s vital to be accurate and my eyes often get tired from squinting all day.

I’ll take a break at lunchtime. We all eat together in the common room and I’ll usually have a salmon salad. We’re currently an all-female team, but that’s rare. Although equal numbers of men and women take biology at undergraduate and PhD level, women are still massively under-represented in the workplace. Only 30% of group leaders in my department are female, which is considered high, and there are even less in the top jobs. I think it’s partly because women may want families, but I don’t have any children – it simply hasn’t happened for me.

But there is also a lack of female role models high up in science. I’m funded by Cancer Research UK and have recently become involved in their new Women Of Influence initiative, to try and tackle the problem. They hope to raise £1million to support the work of young female scientists and also provide them with mentors from a network of powerful senior businesswomen.

In the afternoons I might work on a grant application, which can take weeks to complete. Research fellows receive a temporary salary from a charity or the government but must apply for additional funds to hire staff and conduct new experiments. I have to come up with original research avenues – but everyone is competing for a share of a very tight budget.

I’ve written 10 published papers but my greatest discovery was about how dormant brain stem cells awaken – it could be used to improve the effects of chemotherapy. My findings were published in Nature in 2011, which was so exciting. I’ll usually leave the lab around 8pm and meet friends for dinner at a nearby pub. I might pop back afterwards to check on an experiment, but usually I’ll head home and watch Miranda, before going to bed around 11pm."

For more information on Cancer Research UK’s Women of Influence initiative visit cruk.org/woi

Work Life: Dr Rita Sousa-Nunes, Career Development Fellow, Cancer Research UK