Welcome to our Teamsembl blog series, where we chat with folks from the Ensembl team to get a peek into what they do. This month, we got to know Suzanna Dickson, a visiting PhD student with the Ensembl Non-Vertebrates team. Check out what Suzanna has been up to during her placement and hear about her experiences working with us!

What’s your PhD research about and why is it important?

I research circadian rhythms and plant-microbe symbiosis, mostly in model legumes, but also in barley and other grasses. Legume-bacteria symbiosis is important in agriculture because the bacteria provide the plant with fixed nitrogen (an essential nutrient), increasing crop yield and massively reducing the amount of fertiliser needed. It turns out that the plant’s circadian clock has a big influence on its symbiotic interactions, so we study this to work out how to improve beneficial symbiosis in future crops.

How long is your placement at Ensembl and what are you working on?

I’m here for three months, working with the Ensembl Outreach team. The team has a lot of different responsibilities, among other things, they run courses teaching people how to use Ensembl, respond to help requests from users, and keep this blog. My main job is assisting with Ensembl’s parts of H3ABioNet’s Introduction to Bioinformatics Training 2025 course, an online course teaching bioinformatics to over 1,500 students and researchers across Africa. I’m also writing training materials for the new website, Ensembl Beta, and creating content for our social media platforms.

What surprised you the most about Ensembl when you started working here?

The breadth of what Ensembl does. I thought I was pretty familiar with Ensembl, but the website has so many features that I wasn’t aware of. There is a huge amount of data, and all the Ensembl teams do so much to make it available to researchers.

What is your favourite thing about working at EMBL-EBI?

It’s hard to pick one! It’s really nice here. The campus is beautiful. I like how collaborative and helpful the work culture is. Everyone seems very happy to help each other, and the teams work well together on lots of different projects.

What is your favourite way to relax and unwind after a long day at work?

I love riding my bike. Pedalling away with the wind in my hair is a special kind of freedom. Unless it’s pouring with rain, then it’s terrible.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

I’d like to go to the bottom of the deep oceans. I want to know what the weird fish are up to.