Widening Participation

In2science Placement Program 2019

Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (WCHN)

"We had a great time hosting Patrick, Joana, Maleeha, Sue-Marie, Courtney and Kamran and were sad to say goodbye"

On their last day, students each gave a 5 minute presentation on their time here, and gave their feedback on the placement. Their feedback was really positive, for example:

“I wish the placement was longer!”, “I don’t think I could have had a better experience” “I think anyone could benefit from the placement whether or not you want to study neuroscience”.

Volysnki Lab (Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy)

Arij was in the lab for two weeks, under the supervision of Helen Langley. Several scientists from the department kindly agreed to demonstrate their experiments, so Arij was able to see some electrophysiology, live cell imaging, confocal microscopy and tissue culture. As well as observing experiments, the Lab prepared an immunocytochemistry experiment to visualise astrocytes (glial cells) in mouse primary neocortical cultures. Under supervision, Arij fixed and stained these cultures, imaged them using the Lab's confocal microscope, and analysed the images and applied colour schemes for fluorescence intensity.

The Lab also arranged a supervised visit to the animal unit as well as to the Francis Crick Institute

"I enjoyed each day of my placement at UCL Institute of Neurology. I learnt various new things and met a bunch of inspiring people. The placement was a great opportunity to discover how a real science lab is. Overall, it was an amazing experience." Arij

Department for Neuromuscular Diseases

The Department hosted 9 A level students for their work experience during the summer break. The week of work experience was hosted jointly by labs headed by Professors Linda Greensmith and Gipi Schiavo and organized by dr Bernadett Kalmar. This year we had a pleasure to host a lively and diverse group of 9 students who came to us through different routes; some through UCL’s in2 science programme, some through colleagues, friends or recommendations from A level teachers across London and beyond. This year we had students commuting from as far as Peterborough and Windsor to attend our sessions- so our students and staff tried to make sure students spend their time with us well, enjoy their learning and most importantly learn a lot about biomedical sciences.

Our laboratories are so called “wet labs” eg, we conduct experiments using live cells and tissues to find out causes of neuromuscular diseases, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and other motor neuron diseases and try to find possible cures for them. Several members of the Greensmith and Schiavo labs, Charlotte Spicer, Verna Sarajärvi, James Dick Alexandra Kourgiantaki, David Villarroel Campos, Sunaina  and Ellie Rhymes, as well as staff from biological services  Karina Wauters and  Michael Brooks took some time off from their busy work schedule to teach students and talk to them about their projects and work. 

During the week, students had to opportunity to learn about the scientific questions we are interested in and the methods we use to find the answers. As part of their learning, students had their own experiment throughout the week: they learned about how to keep human skin cells in a dish and how to stain these cells to see their structural characteristics. For this, students had to keep their cells alive, feed them, fix them and then conduct a 2 day protocol to stain them. In the end, all students had their own lovely, colourful cells and image of they could take home as a proof of their work.

As science is not only about being alone in a lab but more about team work, students also had the opportunity to meet scientists, PhD, MSc students and postdocs and clinicians for a Q and A session to be able to ask them about their career choices, motivations or any aspect they are interested in.

Our students this year had been excellent company, really refreshing to see such enthusiastic and intelligent youngsters keen to learn and explore and become scientists or medical doctors themselves. It appears students also enjoyed their visit to us as in their anonymized feedback students said they most enjoyed the following activities: visit to Biological Services (animal house); doing their own experiments;  learning about anatomy and physiology as well as having the opportunity for discussion with scientists and clinicians about current scientific problems.

One of the students wrote to us after their experience in an email:

“ I am writing to thank you so much for the week of lab work experience you gave me. I found it wonderfully exciting. My highlights were seeing first-hand the confocal microscope neurones, meeting the scientists and having in depth conversations with you about recent cutting edge challenges and technology. I am extremely grateful and I am now even more looking forward to applying for Biomedicine at university!”

  We wish all our students best of luck in their A levels and hope they will achieve their dreams to get into the university of their choice!

Image: Fibroblast cells stained for cytoskeletal proteins and mitochondria

Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences

Senior research fellow Dr Rina Bandopadhyay hosted a work placement for a disadvantaged student last summer