Working life: Prof Tom Cotter, UCC

7am

After porridge and a shower, I drive to town, park in the city centre and walk to UCC via the English Market, where I set aside fish for collection on the journey home.

9am

I meet with my research team at UCC. We work on how cells die in the body as part of the biological process known as apoptosis. It can be very exciting to have six people in a room discussing something nobody else in the world knows anything about because we are the first to discover it.

At the meeting, we discuss results and problems from the previous week and work on our agenda for the week ahead.

11am

I go through emails and have my second and final cup of tea of the day.

12 noon

I head to the lecture theatre to deliver a biochemistry lecture to 400 students, but not before going through my notes to make sure everything is fresh. The hope is to keep them engaged for the full hour, so I need to be focussed.

1pm

Lunch is spent going over research papers to keep abreast of new developments. For the past few years, our team has been carrying out research on a strain of mice that go blind. We look at why specific eye cells die, leading invariably to blindness, and whether we can stop them dying.

We have shown you can slow down onset of blindness in laboratory animals by essentially putting them on a form of the contraceptive pill.

2pm

I meet with undergraduates who want to chat about the course.

4pm

I’m organising an international conference in Cork which 200 scientists will attend next June so work on the programme is demanding right now.

5.30pm

On the way home I collect the fish, which I usually cook.

8pm

Evenings involve reading and listening to radio before heading to bed at 10.30pm, where sleep is instant.

Tom Cotter is professor of biochemistry at UCC. The only academic in UCC awarded the Boyle Medal for excellence in scientific research, he is speaking today at the Retina 2015 Fighting Blindness international conference at Croke Park, which brings together world experts researching sight loss.