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From Experience to Advice: 4th year Biochemistry students share summer placement insights with 3rd year peers

The Biochemistry & Biotechnology Society hosted a placement information seminar on Wednesday, October 23rd.
Fourth-year Biochemistry students Emily Carvalho, Iris Carvalho, Emmet Fogarty, Andrew Healy, Josh Kelly, Ruth Madden, Rebecca Murphy, Eimear O’Connor, Lia Teahan O’Connor, Alex Stotskyy, and Daire Sweeney shared their experiences from their summer placements.
Emily Carvalho was a recipient of a Breakthrough Cancer Research Scholarship. Emily’s research was supervised by Dr Kellie Dean and focused on high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HDGSOC). The aim of Emily’s project was to study a transcription factor, ZEB1 and investigate this protein’s relationship with a specific group of RNA called long non-coding RNA.
Iris Carvalho attained a place on the Amgen Scholars Programme Cambridge and Iris discussed her project, which investigated how post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, affect the co-translational localization of Bicd2 mRNA to the centrosome at specific stages of the cell cycle. Iris also discussed the Amgen symposium and the extracurricular events she and the other Amgen Scholars attended, which she thoroughly enjoyed.
Emmet Fogarty secured an internship, as an Upstream Laboratory Intern at Regeneron, Limerick. Emmet shared how warmly he was welcomed and that his transition to a team member was seamless. In addition, to the laboratory work, Emmet really enjoyed the weekly intern networking events, the Director Meet-and-Greets and working as part of the Intern Continuous Improvement team.
Andrew Healy secured an Amgen Scholarship and conducted a research project supervised by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hartl at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, LMU. Andrew investigated the role of LONP1 in mitochondrial protein import and α-Synuclein aggregation. Andrew also shared the valuable advice he received from experts on presentation skills and experiment design/analysis. Additionally, he enjoyed the social aspects of the program and collaborating with other Amgen Scholars at LMU.
Josh Kelly secured a scholarship to work with Prof. Justin McCarthy and his research group. Josh presented his research on SARS-CoV-2 spike protein motifs and detailed the research skills he acquired, including mammalian cell culture. Additionally, Josh motivated students to network with staff and pursue various opportunities.
Ruth Madden was a recipient of a Biotherapeutics Development and Supply (BTDS) Work Placement Award and she completed her placement at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (JJIM), Ringaskiddy. Ruth worked with a global team, responsible for sourcing, scheduling, manufacturing execution, and the delivery of a clinical portfolio, during the Early Development stage. Additionally, Ruth was part of a student team tasked with developing content for early talents. Ruth’s specific responsibilities included increasing the visibility of student and graduate programmes and creating a health and well-being page for new employees.
Rebecca Murphy completed a three-months placement in the Carbery group, Ballineen, Co. Cork. Carbery is a dairy, and nutrition company which produces a variety of products including cheddar and mozzarella cheese, whey protein and alcohol. Rebecca worked in the microbiology quality control laboratory and enjoyed improving lab operations and conducting quality control tests.
Eimear O’Connor secured a placement in Amneal Cashel, Co. Tipperary. Amneal is a pharmaceutical company that specializes in the manufacturing of generic drugs and Eimear worked in the QC/ARD Micro lab and was trained in general laboratory practices, contamination control, environmental monitoring, biosafety awareness training, and operation of laboratory equipment and spill response procedures.
Lia Teahan O’Connor was the recipient of a Biochemical Society Summer Vacation Studentship. Lia’s research project was entitled “Expanding the Yeast Modular Cloning (MoClo) Toolkit for Optimizing Heterologous, Protein Secretion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae" and Lia’s research was supervised by Dr Paul Young.
Alex Stotskyy secured a Pharmacovigilance Internship with the Health Product Regulatory Authority (HPRA) and he worked as part of the Pharmacovigilance Risk Communication and Assessment (PvRCA) team in the Human Products Monitoring Department. Alex worked on two projects; ‘Management of Drives’ and ‘Query Optimisation’. Alex also joined the Social Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Alex had the opportunity to network with individuals from the Veterinary Science and Medical Devices departments, gaining insights into their respective fields.
Daire Sweeney secured placement at DePuy Synthes, Cork. Daire worked as a Co-op Engineer within the New product Introduction (NPI) knees team. Daire discussed how he attained hand-on experience in the orthopaedic development process and practical exposure to the high powered workflow of the NPI team. Daire really enjoyed the teamworking element of his role.
Dr. Sinéad Kerins expressed her sincere gratitude to Alex, Andrew, Daire, Eimear, Emily, Emmet, Iris, Josh, Lia, Rebecca, and Ruth for their exceptional presentations on their summer work placements. She noted that their detailed information and advice will be incredibly valuable to the 3rd-year students, as they prepare to apply for their own placements.