astronomy

Sheena Cruickshank

Sheena Cruickshank is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sheena Cruickshank rather than just read about it. In short: Sheena Margaret Cruickshank is a British immunologist and Professor in Biomedical Sciences and Public Engagement at the University of Manchester. She researches how immune responses of the gut are started as a result of infection and/or inflammation.

Key takeaways

Sheena Cruickshank belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sheena Cruickshank to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sheena Cruickshank from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sheena Margaret Cruickshank is a British immunologist and Professor in Biomedical Sciences and Public Engagement at the University of Manchester. She researches how immune responses of the gut are started as a result of infection and/or inflammation. Cruickshank is a science communicator.

Education Cruickshank completed a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry & Immunology at Strathclyde University. She earned a PhD in immunology in 1998 from the University of Leeds for research investigating the effects of pleiotropic cytokines on liver cells.

Research and career Since 2007 Cruickshank has worked in the Department of Immunology at the University of Manchester. She uses in vitro and in vivo approaches to characterise crosstalk between immune cells, commensal bacteria, pathogens and epithelial cells. These experiments make use of infectious models, including Toxoplasma gondii and Trichuris muris, to understand immunity regulation in the skin and gut. By identifying how the skin and gut recognise and respond to the microbiome, they are starting to understand how it affects cell function. Cruickshank won the Northwest BioNow award for her test for the management and assessment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. BBC Radio 4 broadcast in 2018 in the series The Life Scientific Sheena Cruickshank's reflections on her life and career. Her brother was passionate about science and particularly marine biology which inspired her to have an interest in science from an early age. His subsequent illness with cancer and death at a young age was a series of events that helped shape her curiosity about the immune system and why diseases happen.

Public engagement In 2009, Cruickshank co-created the Worm Wagon, "an interactive program that merges art and science activities to promote awareness of parasitic worm infection". She later created the Wiggling Rangoli, exploring parasites and how parasitic infections impacts people around the world. Cruickshank created the citizen science app Britain Breathing, which teaches the impacts of air pollution. The app maps the incidence of allergies and asthma, and uses data to explore why allergies are increasing and the role of air pollution in allergy development. She is a trustee of and the Public Engagement Secretary for the British Society for Immunology. She has appeared on the BBC and CNN. Cruickshank is interested in ways to empower migrant communities with science using English classes. She acts as academic lead for public engagement at the University of Manchester where she has developed their public engagement strategy and is working to enhance public engagement support and development at the University of Manchester. She blogs about the University of Manchester public engagement.

Awards and honours In 2013 she won Royal Society of Biology Communicator of the Year and the Manchester International Women’s Day Award in Women & Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. She was a finalist in the 2014 NCCPE Engage and 2016 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Innovator competitions. In 2014 she spoke at QEDcon, a two day skepticism and pop-science conference. In 2016 she introduced Manchester's Science in the City festival. She was a keynote speaker at the 2017 Bluedot Festival. She spoke at New Scientist Live 2017. Cruickshank was a 2017 Cosmic Superhero, a photographic exhibition at Conway Hall Ethical Society. She spoke about the microbiome at TEDx Manchester in Bridgewater Hall, her talk was called Eat Yourself Healthy. She won the 2017 Better World and Making a Difference Award for Social Responsibility Award. She is a 2017-18 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellow.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sheena Cruickshank

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sheena Cruickshank claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sheena Cruickshank before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sheena Cruickshank ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sheena Cruickshank

In research: Sheena Cruickshank appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sheena Cruickshank in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sheena Cruickshank is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academics of Manchester Metropolitan University, Alumni of the University of Leeds, British immunologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sheena Cruickshank outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sheena Cruickshank in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sheena Cruickshank means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sheena Cruickshank out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sheena Cruickshank in simple terms?

Why does Sheena Cruickshank matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sheena Cruickshank?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sheena Cruickshank.