Geographically, Liana Hardy has travelled little more than a mile from her A-Levels to her PhD in the Department of Biochemistry, but the journey has been a circuitous one which included ironing bow ties for University of Cambridge students.

Liana grew up in St Ives, north of Cambridge, and commuted to Hills Road Sixth Form College on the guided bus, and then by bike, for two years. She also had a summer job at University outfitters Ryder and Amies, owned by her uncle’s family for generations.

Now she lives in west Cambridge, and commutes to the Department of Biochemistry by bike for her PhD which is funded by Cancer Research UK, and is a graduate student of Gonville & Caius College, a short walk past Great St Mary’s Church from the shop where she once worked. She also toured collegiate Cambridge with her father, who works in security for the University.

Everyone is very motivated to make their mark and the people is what makes Cambridge a great place

“When I was 16 I was ironing bow ties for Cambridge graduates; at this point Cambridge was so far out of my reach,” she says.

“I had good grades, but I didn’t have enough. I had a peek into what Cambridge was like – working at the shop and seeing the colleges with my dad – and spent a lot of my childhood going to Cambridge museums.

“Then to get here, being on the other side of this perspective was quite interesting. I was cautious that as someone who grew up in Cambridge but didn’t go to Cambridge I wouldn’t fit in.

“But when I met my housemates, colleagues and new friends, I realised I was a match. Everyone is very motivated to make their mark and the people, for me, is what makes Cambridge a great place. It’s inspiring.”

Liana is a first-generation university student – coming from “a family of military, chefs, full-time mums, NHS workers – mainly nurses and healthcare assistants” – and attended the Royal Veterinary College in London for her undergraduate degree in Bio-veterinary Science. The plan was to go on to be a vet.

She almost had the grades, but learned “too late” at Hills Road that she was behind in terms of the placements and practical experience which are required to undertake such a course. “I’ve worked part-time since I was 13 – I didn’t have the time,” she says.

She subsequently realised “that I was much more interested in cells than sheep”, so she switched her career focus to science. Following graduation, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Royal Veterinary School, working on canine breast cancer, for two years, before embarking on her four-year PhD funded by Cancer Research UK. The first year was two 15-week placements alongside graduate training, disrupted by Covid, and now she has started her PhD in earnest.

“As a scientist, I find cancer absolutely fascinating as a subject to study; the biological processes exploited by cancer cells are very dynamic and we still have a lot to learn,” adds Liana, whose sister is an oncology nurse, so she is aware of the human effect of cancer.

Liana paid tribute to her sister, NHS worker Katie, in the window of her Harvey Road house

“My research is the very basic cancer cell biology. My PhD is simply to look at the function of a novel protein found in our studies of DNA damage and cell growth, and whether this protein is important in cancer. We know it’s mutated in several different cancers, but no-one knows what it does. It’s different to every other protein we know about.

“The process this protein and it’s interactors are involved in is not very well studied, and we’re hoping to develop new knowledge of this process and its role in cancer development. Potentially – a long way down the line – this could be a process we could target in cancer therapy.

“A lot of the huge breakthroughs we’ve had in cancer research have come from early research, looking at things on a molecular level. And that’s what I do – and hopefully it will have an impact some day.”

Liana hopes to continue academic work and enjoys teaching – she is currently teaching A-Level students in Caius’ link area of Norfolk. She is also enjoying College life.

“My grandad, uncle and cousin have all worked in college kitchens, my uncle even worked at Caius, so I’d heard about Hall, but I’d never actually gone,” Liana adds.

“Being able to go and wear a gown and sit in Hall was quite fun! I’m so glad I had the courage to come back and study here.”