Inspiring the Scientists of the future
Over the Summer Sygnature Discovery Protein Science and Structural Biology Department has been busy working with young people in the local community to give an insight into the role of a scientist and what we do as part of a drug discovery CRO.
We began by attending a Careers Inspiration event at Tytherington School for Year 10 students alongside a wide range of employees from other professions. The format was similar to that of a speed dating event! We were able to share our experience of our role as scientists to the whole cohort of Year 10 students, answering their questions and giving them an insight into life beyond school if they follow a science pathway.
In June and July we provided week long hands-on work experience to Year 12 students. Students were able to sample work across the eukayotic lab, microbial lab, protein lab, x-ray crystallography lab and mass spectrometry lab. Work involved sterile technique with eukaryotic and bacteria cells, counting cells, transfecting eukaryotic cells, transforming bacteria, streaking agar plates, expressing proteins in cells, running SDS PAGE gels, growing crystals and mass spectrometry. One student commented at the end of the week “Thank you so much for an incredible work experience week! I’ve learnt so much and it has given me a lot of guidance in what university courses I’m looking to take and what career I would like to go into.”
This Summer we welcomed Annie Smedley to the Protein Science Department on a 12-week Summer internship working across both the Cell Science Team and Membrane Protein Team. Asking Annie how she is finding the intern she stated “ I’m very much enjoying my three-month summer placement at Sygnature between my first and second year of university, gaining valuable hands-on experience in cell science and protein purification. I’ve learned from experienced scientists while also managing my own projects, developing independence and confidence in the lab. This placement has strengthened my technical skills, including Cryo-EM, and expanded my interest in areas like membrane protein biochemistry, helping shape my future career direction.”
In May we hosted a visit from a group of Year 12 students studying A level Biology and Chemistry at Poynton High School. The visit began with an overview of the business and how making proteins and solving their structures is important in drug discovery. Then came the exciting part of any site visit with a tour by some of our scientists of real-life working laboratories, providing an enriching experience to complement their studies.
In July we continued to inspire the next generation of scientists with some Year 10 outreach at All Hallows Catholic College in Macclesfield, where we attempted to take a small part of our work in the lab at Sygnature Discovery into a classroom environment. The students had the opportunity to make lysosome crystals, using a pipette to handle volumes of liquid 1/1000th of a mL and used model kits to represent atoms in a 3D representation of a drug.
