Science teacher, Minas Mina teaches Biology at Levels 3, 4 and 5 and has done so for the past ten years at CONEL’s Enfield Centre.
A man of letters, Minas has a BSc in Physics and Physiology from Kings College London, and progressed straight to a PhD there where he specialised in research relating to cystic fibrosis. But this was by no means an easy feat. Minas worked day and night in restaurants and hotels to finance himself and recounts that he once fell asleep standing up while waiting for a train at Victoria.
His studies in the early eighties looked at how the movement of electrolytes in the body are affected by cystic fibrosis fluids. A decade later, the mutated gene leading to cystic fibrosis was discovered by scientists in Canada and it is believed that the disease affects mainly chlorodions, an element Minas discovered was being distributed throughout the body in his research doctorate.
Minas worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Imperial College for 5 years after completing his PhD, studying electrophysiology, primarily, the effects of currents and electromagnetic fields on the growth of cells, specifically in plants.
Minas also worked for seven years for the Open University as a demonstrator for Biochemistry and Physiology experiments at summer schools.
This year, Dr Mina returned to study at Queen Mary College to update his professional practice with the latest thinking in scientific research and teaching practice.
He said of the experience: “I jumped at the chance to go back to university to establish relationships with Queen Mary that could help our students, such as, guest lecturing and collaboration.
I wanted to find out what medical university students are doing at the moment and I observed and attended lectures with students.”
Dr Mina is planning to introduce partnering Queen Mary medical students with CONEL’s science learners to carry out experiments, helping to bridge the gap between college and university as many CONEL students choose to go into biomedicine.
Dr Mina concluded: “There are good opportunities for shared facilities and contacts, as some of the medical scientists have agreed to guest lecture at CONEL, as well as offer our students visits to the Queen Mary medical school.
The future is bright for Science studies at CONEL, it’s a great environment and we do an excellent job in training our students to analyse and present their findings in clear and engaging reports. I am sure we are producing many brilliant scientists at CONEL.”