Kirsty the Scientist

This week I have really felt like part of a community. Maybe it's been the number of social events recently, or the fact that I'm now getting to know everyone really well, but it is an absolutely lovely experience to feel like part of this team of researchers at all different stages of their careers and lives. And it makes the workplace such an enjoyable place to be - no matter how much work we're cramming into a day! In other news, I've been getting some really promising results so far (although I'll only be detecting and analysing this week's experiment results next Monday as I was looking at a longer timecourse this week). So I'm actually starting to look forward to writing up some results and discussion on what I've found out so far! As I'm now about halfway through my project, aiming to get some writing done this weekend and next week and to make sure I take some of the pressure off the end of the project! I also got a surprise twitter sh...

The institute I'm working in has recently appointed a new director, a lovely Dutch genetics professor. This afternoon, he made everyone's Thursday by inviting us all to an institute-wide social event (at 4pm and with free drinks - it drew quite a crowd!). The event was a low-key way to introduce himself to the new research groups (including my group) and welcome them to the institute, and got everyone chatting about what they were working on and getting to know each other.  When the director joined our conversation, we were talking about careers - about how so many PhD students leave science and some of the pros and cons about working in science and research. And this got everyone talking about how they got where they are now. It's really thought-provoking listening to other people's career stories. I feel like there is a lot of societal pressure on young people in the UK to have career plans all figured out; to have a clear idea of where they are going to impress e...

A quiet Friday today, setting up all the computers in the new office space and giving them a quick clean. It was really nice to start to see the office coming together - it's just round the corner from the lab so it will now be so much easier to be productive whilst waiting for parts of experiments to finish.  We were also waiting today for the cells and our booking in the tissue culture lab to split the cells into 4 batches, giving the cells lots of room to grow over the weekend. 

Today was mostly a organisation day - working out the action plan for next week so we can squeeze in a full experiment and actually get some results for my project by the end of this week!  We also checked on the cells under the microscope to check they were growing OK and to change the culture medium (or cell food!) to a fresh batch. I could see the cells stuck to the base of the cell culture flask in their classic fibrous shape: (looks a bit like an eye) 

Because the lab has not moved yet (the lab I'm working in is relocating), this week will be a reading/writing week; so today I've been to see both of my professors/supervisors to make sure I'm on the right page with the aim of my project. I've been given another bunch of papers to read - in addition to the 6 papers I read over Christmas!  Over the next couple of days, I need to put together ~1000 word introduction draft, describing previous research that has lead to this point and why we're bothering looking into this subject in the first place.  Wish me luck! 

Hello! Welcome to the blog! As of today, 9 th January 2017, I’m a third year BSc Biomedical Sciences student at Newcastle University (in the UK, not Australia!) and about to start my laboratory project – a three month research dissertation. For me, this will be my first experience working in a professional lab with a research team on my own original project – hugely different from the teaching labs we have had throughout my degree. Don’t get me wrong, I have fond memories of our crammed lab benches, waiting for gels to run or reagents to settle or stain, having chats about our life at uni and making friends through our shared experiences. But I’m pretty sure this isn’t how it works in the real world! But why the blog? Well, so many previous students and lecturers have reminded us - almost incessantly - how quickly this time will fly by. Mostly as a reminder to keep up to date with work, as always, it can be so easy to fall behind. But I’m not sure if a career in ...