Medicines Manufacturing Careers Outreach Week
23 July 2024
‘A’ level students from across 3 schools have just completed an intensive 3-day lab placement at the UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering under the wing of RESILIENCE Outreach lead Dr Bernice Wright. The students enjoyed learning about mammalian cell culture and key analytics for evaluating cell phenotype, viability, and cellular products.
During the course of the week the students investigated the phenotype and proliferation of induced pluripotent stem cells produced by Biochemical Engineering PhD student Hee Wook Kim by performing immunocytochemistry to a protocol developed by Dr Rana Khalife.
According to Bernice Wright,
“The data analysis tutorial that followed this session was super fun! We engaged in a lively discussion focussed on how to structure and write a scientific report – the students were keen to pursue this exercise.”
The students used the basic image processing programme ImageJ to determine a measure of fluorescence levels from stained iPSC, then went on to assess the protein content of the mesenchymal stem cell secretome (secreted soluble proteins and extracellular vesicle proteins) by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver nitrate staining. They were able to troubleshoot this technique when the initial gel did not run correctly (courtesy of a mistake on Dr Wright’s part!). They understood that to achieve well-resolved protein bands, the proteins should be distributed evenly in the gel wells to be organised in the stacking gel before separation in the resolving gel.
Some Exposure to Bioscience at Scale
The working trip to UCL’s Department of Biochemical Engineering also included a visit to the pilot plant, where VaxHub Senior Outreach and Public Engagement Manager Dr Stephen Morris led a tour of the impressive upstream and downstream processing facilities housed there. The students were joined on the pilot plant tour by UCL’s RESILIENCE upstream and downstream processing technicians, Ivano Colao and Jahafar Nazar (part of the RESILIENCE STEM education outreach team at UCL).
The placement visit, which was delivered in partnership with UCL, Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hubs (Vax-Hub) and The Priory School (Hitchin), Queens Park Community School (London) and Colfe's School (London), received some super positive feedback from the students which really highlighted their interest in laboratory work.
A brilliant three days! I learnt so much and really enjoyed the experience. (Keely)
It was really nice to get some hands-on experience in a lab setting and learn about the science behind the experiments. (Zoe)
I loved that we carried out our own research with your support and mentorship. (Ruby)
Thank you for an amazing opportunity to learn more about biochemical engineering. I really appreciated your patience and passion. (Janani)
If you are an educator in this field and would like to know more about how RESILIENCE can switch your students onto STEM and the exciting possibilities of a career in medicines manufacturing