Tell me about your experience on the internship programme
I applied for the internship following a talk that was given by previous interns at the beginning of my second year. I thought it would be great to get hands-on experience in the lab. I had the opportunity to work with nanopore sequencing, which is a new technique. It is expensive to run, so I felt lucky to be involved and have the opportunity to learn about techniques that wouldn’t be available in teaching labs. Obviously, I had some supervision, but it was lovely to be trusted to do that. I learned a lot about the process of the science and what you have to consider when experiments don’t exactly go to plan, as well as how to troubleshoot. I was lucky enough to work with human cell cultures, growing and working with them for experiments – we don’t get this in the teaching labs, but some part 2 labs will look for experience handling human cells, so you need to know what you’re doing with them. This was very valuable experience for me, which is part of the reason I selected that particular lab. I also sat in on and was able to contribute to some lab meetings with lab team members and the PI. It was interesting to see the collaborative process behind publication - even if members are working on different projects, they all contribute to share experience and knowledge.
I’m debating whether I want to go into research, and the internship has given me a better idea of the real day-to-day of research. I’m really excited now for my part 2 project – the internship experience has given me more direction on where I want to take that project.
What impact has the internship had on your studies?
A lot of the material I’m currently learning in my studies is similar to what I was dealing with in the lab. I was able to apply the theory learned in my lectures and use it in the lab during the internship, allowing me to cement that knowledge. It can be difficult to envisage the practical application of the theory, so it’s much easier to understand when actually applying it day to day. Using it in practice will definitely help with my exams.
What was your key takeaway?
Research isn’t straightforward. Knowing where to look for direction when things go wrong is really important, and you shouldn’t get disheartened if that does happen. Identify your mistakes, and correct them to get the experiment to work. I now also understand the value of writing accurate, concise and detailed protocols. It is vital for the replication of experiments and helps greatly with troubleshooting. I will translate this experience of documentation to my studies. I can also use the confidence I gained during the internship to ask more insightful questions in teaching labs to further my knowledge.
Would you recommend the internship to others?
Definitely. It’s a great opportunity to be able to get funding to do something you really enjoy. It allows you to spend a long period of time working with amazing people in a lab and to work on a project you find interesting and stimulating.
I would like to thank everyone who donated – it’s a wonderful experience to give students.
So, finally, tell us about your project
I enjoyed working on two projects during my internship, supervised by two lovely members of the lab. The first project was investigating centromere boundaries using DiMeLo sequencing techniques, and the second was looking at transcriptional memory in human HeLa cells.
