2024 - BACR Student Impact Awardee

As I approach my final year of PhD studies, I often reminisce of my non-linear journey here. By the end of primary school, I was a fully equipped “scientist” with my children’s microscope in one hand (which, was used to gawk at unwilling creepy-crawlies from the garden) and my human anatomy encyclopaedia in the other. Little did I know that I would become a “real-life scientist” one day, something I never thought I could achieve. Therefore, I am thrilled to be awarded with the prestigious BACR Student Impact Award and I am honoured to reflect and share my journey here.

Although extremely supportive, my parents had no experience with higher education and as I grew older, I quickly learnt that a love for science doesn’t necessarily equate to academic success. An unmotivated A-level experience muted my enthusiasm which became increasingly lost inside monotonous book chapters and I began to deem myself far from “university material”. However, after delving into a gap-year, work experience and various internships I met the people that re-ignited my spark, not for the love of science (which never left), but for my own self-belief. They taught me that that higher education allows you to follow your interests, to find your niche and then, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, I found myself being awarded a first-class degree in biochemistry alongside an award given to the top two highest-scoring students. Yes, I sat the exams and completed the coursework, but without the people I met along the way, I’m not sure that I would have ever felt confident enough to pursue this journey. It wasn’t because I couldn’t do it, it was just that I didn’t feel like I could. This is why, I feel so passionate about sharing my journey with the younger generation to inspire that a career in science, or higher education is achievable – no matter who you are. But also, for my peers whom may be reading this, that your position as a scientific researcher is pivotal for the younger generation, it’s so important that we provide opportunities and share our stories to inspire future scientists, and each other.

My PhD journey begins at The University of Kent, under the South Coast Biosciences (SoCoBio) Doctoral Training Partnership Programme, but our laboratory has since moved to The University of Southampton at the General Hospital. Under the supervision of Assoc Prof. Tim Fenton, my project focuses on APOBEC3A, a cytidine deaminase which has been implicated as a major source of C>T and C>G mutations in carcinoma. We aim to understand how APOBEC3A is regulated in healthy cells, to understand how it becomes deregulated in cancer. We have currently got a pre-print in review, whereby I am second author and I am hopeful of contributing my PhD findings in a first-author paper soon.

It was at Kent, that I also began my outreach journey amidst the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Upon completion of student ambassador training and determined to get involved with outreach, I produced and presented online workshops, including “a day in the life of research scientists”, “choosing GCSE options” and “confidence and beginnings in bioscience”. As students began repopulating campus, demonstrating for undergraduate laboratory practicals, marking coursework and secondary school visits became regular roles, from year 7 induction to science workshops to sixth form bacterial cloning projects. My efforts became recognised and I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to develop a brand new online summer school, titled “Breaking Barriers” with the Outreach and Widening Participation team at Kent. Breaking Barriers provides a safe space for disadvantaged Year 10 and 12 students to challenge their personal, academic and systemic boundaries alongside increasing aspirations for higher education, as there should be no barriers preventing student ambition. Months of creating resources, designing activities and producing home packages was more than worth witnessing the change in student self-belief, evidenced by the programme’s continuation for a third successful year and positive effect on participants’ confidence in applying to and succeeding in higher education (TASO, 2022). Our team also presented the impact of Breaking Barriers at the Network for Evaluating and Researching University Participation Interventions (NERUPI) convention. 

After moving to Southampton, I continued ambassador and outreach roles, including involvement in a 10-week “Books & Stories” programme, which increases literacy confidence for year 6 students at local primary schools. As I have matured into my PhD role, I have also been a PhD buddy and supervised work experience, undergraduate medicine and MSc genomics students. Alongside my studies, it has also been a privilege to have travelled worldwide, to visit and present to our collaborating group in Florence, to spend six-months at the University of Sussex conducting Circular Chromatin Conformation Capture (4C) and to attend my first international conference, Deaminet in California, supported by a £500 travel grant awarded by the Biochemical Society. 

I also spent one-month visiting biotechnology institutions in Thailand, to engage with the industrial side of research. Within the Virology and Cell Technology Laboratory (AVCT) at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), I recombinantly produced and purified viral proteins to be used in a multi-pathogen detection kit. Additionally, I spent a week at the Bioprocess Research and Innovation Center (BRIC) at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) to work on cell cultivation analytics for bioprocessing improvement. Following completion of my placement, it was an honour to be re-invited back to Thailand to present a poster for a press conference and showcase at the Ministry of Higher Education. However, I knew that if I was to return to Thailand, I needed to give knowledge to the community - just as they did for me. After the green-light from the KMUTT principal and a £500 award from the SoCoBio Flexible Supplement Fund, I designed and delivered two 3-hour workshops for 15–16 year-old science-engineering students. The workshop detailed higher education in the UK, routes within academia and an end focus on biotechnology advancements in Thailand. Students designed their own biotechnology companies and analysed SDS-PAGE and Western Blots to determine the “culprit” that had spread a viral zombie outbreak in London. With students whom would “strongly consider” a future career in science increasing from 25.0% to 59.7% following the workshop.

   
King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi (KMUTT) in Bangkok, Thailand
Science-Engineering Classroom

I hope to continue sharing my journey, I would not be accepting this award if it wasn’t for the miraculous minds, women in STEM and endless support from students, early career researchers and beyond along the way. I love being able to share shards of wisdom to inspire the future generation and hopefully this will encourage others to do the same. Once again, thank you to the BACR for presenting me with the Student Impact Award.

A never ending thank you to the “people”, Vicky at The Francis Crick Institute, Dr. Curling at the University of Kent, Mark and Natalie from the Medway Council Public Health Intelligence Team, Giedre at AbBaltis, Gemma and Alex from University of Kent Outreach Team, Peera from BIOTEC, Noon and Jintana from KMUTT and of course, Tim and my fantastic colleagues in the Fenton Group. To my family and James - thank you for supporting me endlessly.
 

« Back