Testimonials

"There is so much more out there than just wet lab projects... whatever happens on PTY it will be useful to you."

NHS clinical trials - London, UK

I completed my PTY in London working in clinical trials in the NHS. My work was split between doing database research on diabetic nephropathy and seeing patients for their trial visits (including admin and laboratory work).

I would encourage everyone to consider doing a PTY because it really opened my eyes to what working in research is like and I gained a ton of skills which have helped me immensely during final year and when applying for graduate-entry medicine. I know that many people interested in medicine want to just do the three-year BSc and move on but my experience from PTY has been invaluable to the application process and has prepared me so much for beginning medical school and working in a healthcare environment. There is so much more out there than just wet lab projects and if you are proactive enough, you’re bound to find something that you enjoy and make it work for you! Remember – the great thing about PTY is that you become a full-fledged member of a research team, not a student, and you experience everything that an employee would – this means that by the end of your placement, you’re going to have a pretty good idea if this kind of work is for your or not. And if it’s not, then great because you can just move on and do something else! That’s why whatever happens on your PTY, it will be useful to you.

"This helped me make more informed decisions about postgraduate studies and future career path."

Lab project (neuroscience) - Medical University of Vienna, Austria

During my PTY I worked at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. My project was in the field of neurophysiology, with a mix of wet lab and behavioural experiments. Moving to a different country for a year turned out to be the best experience in my life! While I enjoyed living in a beautiful city of Vienna and travelling around Europe (thanks to Austria’s central location), I have also learnt numerous transferrable skills that helped me in my further studies. For instance, PTY gave me a kick-start for the Final Year Project as I had already obtained various lab skills. Also, having written the PTY Project Report helped me massively when it came to data analysis and Final Year Project write-up. In depth knowledge of my research area allowed me to grasp related final year lecture content quicker, as well as share my extensive knowledge with peers in SSGL sessions. Finally, while I enjoyed working on my own project during the PTY, it made me realise that scientific research is not something I would do as a career. This helped me to make more informed decisions about my postgraduate studies and future career path. It is worth noting that many of my coursemates who also undertook PTY realised they would love to have a career in scientific research. Overall, I highly recommend PTY for developing transferable skills, enhancing your understanding of science and, in case of a placement abroad, exploring new places and making lifelong friendships!

"Both time management and reading efficiency has been useful in my final year of university."

Lab project (neuroscience) - University of Exeter, UK

My PTY involved designing and executing a research project investigating the effect of dietary nitrate on cognitive function in young adults. The project was held at the University of Exeter. Due to the nature of my PTY, I had a lot of responsibility in organising meetings with my supervisors and meeting deadlines to ensure that I could move on to the next stage of my project in good time i.e. devising cognitive tests. This helped me to understand how to manage my time most effectively and I used resources such as GANTT chants to help me stay on track and where I was in the bigger picture of the project. Additionally, in order to design a project that ‘filled a gap’ in the current field of literature, I had to read many papers to understand the current research. This was initially difficult but over the year I learned how to look for the key parts of the paper to ensure my reading was efficient and effective. Both time management and reading efficiency has been useful in my final year of university. For example, because a dissertation is an ongoing project I created a timetable that made sure I factor in time between dissertation writing to focus on my other modules but also to set aside time for myself. This year was the first year that I have not spent every evening working and it has been extremely beneficial. It has allowed me to have a better sleep pattern, wake up earlier and have time to socialise in the evening.

"... taught me resilience, dedication and how to use my own initiative to solve problems."

Lab/computational project (neuroscience) - University of Exeter, UK

I undertook an internal wet-lab project studying the role of astrocyte cells in neuroinflammation. This involved cell culturing and cellular and biochemical assays, from Western blotting and immunocytochemistry, to flow cytometry and metabolism analysis. The focus of my project was to knock out a protein using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, involving various computational and wet-lab work and collaboration with other researchers. This strengthened my research skillset, and I could apply many of these techniques in my final year project. Most importantly, I learned that even the most well-planned experiments often do not go to plan, for example because some variables were different that day and created variation in the data set. Having to repeat experiments several times to get results taught me resilience, dedication, and how to use my own initiative to solve problems. These have proven to be useful skills for coping with other challenges in my life, as they have helped me adapt and grow instead of setting me back.

"It really felt like the work I was doing was worthwhile, and could directly benefit patients."

Clinical trial - University of Oxford, UK

My PTY was a mostly lab-based project in the University of Oxford's Transplantation Research and Immunology Group. My project was part of a clinical trial examining whether a novel regulatory T cell therapy could prevent autoimmune rejection in kidney transplant patients. It was really interesting to be working directly on a clinical trial looking at a new treatment - I was in charge of analysing blood samples from these patients to see how the treatment was affecting their immune system. It really felt like the work I was doing was worthwhile, and could directly benefit patients.

My PTY year was immensely helpful in developing my academic, professional, and interpersonal skills. I came out of it with a very strong grasp on the immune system, which has benefited me enormously in final year. I also was lucky enough to have 2 short review articles I wrote during this year published, which looks great on any CV. Through the many lab meetings and conferences I attended, I had many opportunities to present to other scientists - while this was pretty nerve-wracking at first, it has definitely improved my presentation skills a lot, which is important really for any profession.

"I finished my PTY being published on 3 papers - amazing for my CV."

Lab project (sport science) - University of Birmingham, UK

I spent my PTY at Uni of Birmingham last year. I decided to stay in the UK as it saved money, and I was excited by being in one of the leading labs for sport science. My project was human lab based, "Pre-sleep casein ingestion does not influence next morning appetite or metabolism in older individuals". My usual day involved getting into the lab for 7am, perform metabolic measurements on older people (65+) and then give them a breakfast, measure how much they ate, take some bloods them spin them. I was finished around 11am most days; my PTY was very chill compared to some because I was working with a masters student. I got my PTY by asking Sarah Jackman for contacts at UoB. I would highly recommend using your lecturers contacts. Final year would not have gone as smoothly as it has without my PTY. I learnt how to recruit participants (sometimes via large presentations which built my confidence), present data in meetings, write scientifically and create a scientific poster. This was invaluable practice before it counts towards a big chunk of your degree in your dissertation. I am in a much better position than a lot of people on my course with the knowledge I have from PTY. Having the contacts at a different lab is also very useful, and I finished my PTY being published on 3 papers - amazing for my CV. I know from my PTY I do not want to go into research, but I would advise anyone to do it for the help it gives your final year, and for the experience you will have by the end of it.

"Alongside the placement I was able to: learn a new language, participate in masters modules, meet lots of new people from all over the world and experience a whole new culture."

Lab project (neuroscience) - Otto von Guericke University, Germany

I did a lab project for my PTY, looking at the areas of the brain activated during prospective memory, using EEG and then analysing and processing this data. I did this at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany. The experience was incredible, I worked alongside a great group of neuroscientists in a really well known university for Neuroscience. I used equipment that Exeter University doesn't have access to, had access to programs, and members of staff who were experts in so many neuroscience related fields. Alongside the placement I was able to: learn a new language, participant in masters modules, meet lots of new people from all over the world, and experience a whole new culture. This adaptability is essential for the workplace so I know it will serve me well when applying for jobs. The writing of the PTY report also helped hugely when writing my dissertation in final year!

Please get in touch to share your experience! Contact information is available on the About Us page.