Undergraduate experiences of summer internships

Anqi Deng

Project-Investigating the impact of diet and immune modulation on parasite resistance in wild mice

Funded-William G Hill Legacy

My summer project was about investigating how diet and immune function influence parasite resistance in wild mice from the Isle of May through wild mice blood smear analysis. My project project analysed peripheral immune cell composition using blood smears.

The lab was warm and friendly, and we even went on a field trip to the Isle of May to see the field lab setup. It was both a valuable experience and a beautiful view. The workflow in my lab was excellent, with no pressure to push for results. 

My supervisor told me that what I accomplished went far beyond their expectations. They emphasized that every step of progress was meaningful. It will also help me when choosing my future career or area of study, as it gave me first-hand insight into what doing science really looks like. 

Esther Cai

Project-Immune regulation in the wild-a casual machine learning approach 

Funded-Chancellors Fellow Fund

I completed a bioinformatics internship where I investigated immune regulation in wild and lab mice. Through this project we aimed to gain a deeper insight into immune systems existing within complex environments, to better reflect immunity in humans and improve research translatability.  

I enjoyed how my summer internship was very cross-disciplinary, where I engaged with supervisors spanning immunology and ecology, bioinformatics and mathematics. This internship gave me an opportunity to be at the centre of interdisciplinary, collaborative research, offering me a wider perspective on a variety of different fields of research and how research can be conducted. 

The experience that I have gained has allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of what a career in research involves, further strengthened my interest in conducting research and given me the skills and confidence to pursue this path in the future.

Emily Bennie

Project-Mapping the casual mutations in classic barley mutants

Funded-William G Hill Legacy

I am interested in plant development and molecular plant science, particularly in research that can be used to improve crop yields and increase food security. Since this project focuses on genetics and barley grain shape and may contribute to crop yield improvements in the future, it was highly appealing to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of my internship but one of my favourite parts was dissecting barley meristems. The internship has given me a valuable insight into what a career in research could look like and has allowed me to experience firsthand both the rewarding moments and the frustrating moments of such a career. 

This summer experience has also confirmed to me that a career in research is what I want to aim for after graduation and I am so grateful I was lucky enough to be accepted on to this internship.

Seol Dobson-Allam

Project-Functional analysis of arsenic operons in bacillus subtilis for biosensor development 

Funded-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

I wanted a chance to learn how to be a research scientist on the day to day and a chance to use the many things I have been taught over the three years I have spent in Edinburgh. After discussing the project with the lab lead, I was interested academically in the problem of characterising genes, and how they interact with each other. 

I have had so much time to practice in the lab and using bioinformatics software. In the lab especially, I have become so much more confident in the everyday lab tasks. I feel that I now have a much larger toolbox of skills available for my next research opportunity.

I enjoyed that I could focus for a long time on a single problem. This allows a lot more reading around the topic, and the final product is better quality. I also greatly appreciated the scientific discussions with one of my supervisors, who were always happy to talk me through difficult concepts, or allow me the space to figure things out on my own.