Write of passage
John Tregoning, Professor of Vaccine Immunology here at Imperial, reflects on his Felix days before his new book release.
No one ever leaves Imperial. Depending on your arc in the Imperial journey, this may be some news that you do, or do not want to hear. I first turned left off Exhibition Road 25 years ago, entering what was then Biochemistry (now the Sir Ernst Chain building) to start my PhD. A quarter of a century later, I am still here. But it’s not like I have been completely unadventurous, I have moved one entire building over into the SAF – brand new when I started, but now like me it is beginning to look a bit tired in places.
This passage of time, the rolling seasons of new student intakes has contributed to me thinking about ageing and what I might be able to do about it. I captured these thoughts in my new book Live Forever? A Curious Scientist’s Guide to Ageing, Wellness and Death. In it I explore how our organs work and how they go wrong. It follows a narrative arc of increasing desperation as I realise that there isn’t much I can do about it and that death is, like Thanos, inevitable (a niche nerd joke I feel I can get away with in Felix). To understand more about our bodies, I interviewed about half the Faculty of Medicine including David Nutt, Gary Frost, Gary Foster, Bill Wisden, Nick Oliver, James Kinross who imparted their wisdom about their fields of drugs, food, air, sleep, diabetes, and poo.
Live Forever? is John’s second book, following his first book Infectious which was released in September 2022. Prof John S. Tregoning
My writing journey began at Imperial, in these hallowed pages. This reflects one of the surprising things about my scientific career, how central writing has been to it. I got into science because I was good at sums; I thought on starting my degree that grammar and punctuation were things of the past. Then I got set my first essay and it quickly became clear that a large chunk of science is writing. You need to communicate your ideas with others. This can be in the form of work you have done (papers) and work you want to do (grants).
That I would be back, writing in Felix about a book is not something I anticipated all those years ago, at the end of the 20th century. But if writing is something you enjoy, go for it. For me, science writing spilled over into a more creative thing. I started a blog, which then turned into a weekly diary in Nature and ultimately into books. This building of a portfolio has been vital: as they say show don’t tell. If people like how you write, they will ask you to do more of it. Practising the craft, getting the words on the page is all vital.
One of the lessons I learnt researching my book was that whilst we can’t avoid ageing, we can make the most of the time we have. So, get out there, make friends, do the things you love, embrace all the Imperial has to offer and live (at Imperial) forever.
Prof John Tegoning’s latest book, Live Forever?, arrived in bookstores on Thursday 9th January 2025.
