By Paola Colaço Osorio

This summer, six students joined research groups at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS). Watch the video to find out what they got up to.

The students’ projects range from investigating how the age of the mother affects behaviour of C. elegans progeny, to pinpointing a localisation signal on an RNA-degradation protein, to optimising a specific protocol for Crispr-Cas9 gene editing.

The studentships provide valuable insight into the realities of working as a research scientist. “I’m really getting to know what it’s like working in a lab, and the lab environment – you are sharing the lab space with other people who are working on similar things to you, which is great,” says Lidia Ripoll Sanchez, who is working on an optogenetics project with the Behavioural Genomics group. Her project involves activating neurons in genetically modified worms by shining light on them. “You are working independently, but also as part of a team.”

“The LMS is renowned for its research,’’ says Sean Jones, working with the Molecular Systems group. “I wanted to be part of a group that was really passionate about their work, knew their stuff and could teach me good skills for the future.”

The students say the placements have inspired them to go into research when they graduate. The summer project is a great way of working out if a career in research suits you, says Jo Cunningham. “I think I want to do a PhD in the future, so it’s great to get the most experience I can.”

They will present their work in a seminar at the institute in at the end of the eight weeks.

Applications for the 2018 summer studentships will open in Spring 2018, and are open to undergraduates in the middle years of their degree. See here for more details on how to apply.

Paola Colaço Osorio is the 2017 summer student in the Science Communications department.

It has been really interesting to learn about the different ways the department helps communicate the research of the Institute. Clearly communicating science to a range of audiences is important, and in particular I’ve enjoyed the challenge of accurately (and entertainingly!) conveying what the research groups here are doing to a non-specialist audience. I’ve also more generally really enjoyed getting a sense of how the whole research institute is run and organised, as well as having a go a things I’ve never tried before – such as filming and editing a video! The internship has really given me a better idea of the range of careers that are available in science.