Work experience: lab opportunities and career pathway chats!

Over the last three days we had the pleasure of being introduced to the MMM team and the work they do. After understanding a bit more about lab safety, the pathways that lead to a role in microbiology, as well as how the lab performs sustainable practices, we were able to do our own hands-on experiments. We had the opportunity to amplify bacterial DNA using PCR to determine whether it carried a resistant gene to antibiotics. This gave us an introduction into how to use specialised lab machinery such as the NextGen PCR thermal cycler which replicated the DNA at high speeds.

We gained insight into some of the infectious diseases that MMM study, such as HIV and Tuberculosis. After speaking with Philip about a career in medicine, we were intrigued to hear that the threat of HIV could be eradicated if the correct actions were taken globally. He explained that with the combination of three anti-retroviral drugs levels of HIV drop by tenfold every month, leading to almost undetectable levels that it is no longer contagious. We also talked to Phil, a computational biologist at MMM. He told us about the many careers he took on before working in this field, such as working as a physicist and banker. This demonstrated that there is no direct path you need to take when pursuing specific scientific roles. He also showed us a simulation of TB cells and how mutations can alter the binding site for the antibiotics.

We got to work with agar plates when we swabbed high-contact points around the department to test for bacterial presence. We were shocked to see the quantity of Bacillus and Staphylococcus that grew on the sink and coffee machine. Thankfully the toilet door handles were relatively clean! Eloise and Cat also helped us do agar art with some of the colonies we grew. Using these samples we were able to gram stain in the OUH lab to identify the bacterial growth more accurately, as well as use a microscope to observe their specific shapes.