Summer student placements - an undergraduate's view

I am an undergraduate about to go into my third of four years studying Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, and I knew I wanted to do a lab placement over the summer of my second year, ideally close to home.

I had visited the Babraham Institute on the Schools’ Day as a Year 12 student from Hills Road Sixth Form College, and really enjoyed the activities and atmosphere, so I decided to contact a group leader whose research I thought sounded especially interesting about the possibility of doing a project in his lab this summer.

For my six week placement I have been working in Oliver Florey's lab, expressing a biosensor for a particular phospholipid in cell membranes, to then study using fluorescence microscopy. I feel like I have grown a lot in confidence in working independently in the lab, as well as a having gained a really useful insight into life in academic research

Everyone has been very friendly and more than happy to answer my questions and talk to me about their work, so I would really encourage anyone thinking about applying to a lab at the Babraham Institute to go for it. It’s a lovely environment to be in, both the campus itself and the research-related and community events going on. The Institute is also very geared up to accommodating students, from sixth formers to undergraduates like me and also PhD students.