Lola Bell - Summer STEM Virtual Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

  In April SATRO took the unprecedented (and sad) decision to suspend the Research Programme for this year due to COVID-19. We asked all our providers for a 'day in the life of' summaries to give the students a flavour of the many types of roles that are available in the professional environments. 

Following SATRO's hard work to develop an online policy. In May, we reached out to our wonderful providers to propose a virtual solution and to get around any social distancing rules. The response was amazing. We asked for suitable titles that the students could research over the summer and devise a short essay and either a PP or a poster with their findings. 

All students have been asked to provide a weekly update on their experience - please see below to see what Lola has been up to so far! 

 Week One

"I have been researching a ‘Medicine’ question, which focuses on the role of ordinary items in being the next scientific breakthrough, as well as what it takes for these breakthroughs to happen. I chose this question as I am particularly interested in biochemistry and the molecular basis of disease and thought it would be interesting to research how objects could be manipulated for use in treatments. 

Initially, I have been looking at past discoveries, with a particular interest in the idea of repurposing existing organisms for medical uses, such as Crispr-cas9 stemming from the existing bacterial immune response against viruses or the discovery of Penicillin. This initial research on how these breakthroughs occur is going well, although when thinking of my own idea for a possible use of an existing item, I found it difficult. To help with this, I have been looking at practical problems in medicine that could be targeted with an ordinary object, such as more effective drug delivery systems. This led me to look at a whole variety of areas, from the use of jelly as a vehicle for drugs to  magnetic bacteria being able to deliver molecules to a specific area by an external magnetic control. I have enjoyed the experience so far and am excited to see where the project will take me next." 

- Lola Bell