Aurora Campagna studied the Applied Biomedical Science MSc and is now a PhD student at St George's. She tells us about how studying this course has helped her to pursue a PhD and what she most enjoys about working in the field of translational research.
"Gaining new knowledge in genetics, bioinformatics, personalised medicine techniques, and clinical trials has been helpful to understand what I most liked aobut this field and where I wanted to continue my career."
What is your current role?
I’m currently a PhD student at St George's, undertaking a research project aimed to investigate the role of a subset of non-conventional T lymphocytes, called gamma-delta T cells, in infiltrating and killing prostate cancer three-dimensional spheroids.
Which aspects of your degree have been particularly useful in your current role?
The MSc has been of great importance for continuing with my PhD. During my MSc I had the opportunity to considerably improve my scientific writing competency as well as my informatics and statistics skills. I also learned how to carry out a research project and how to work as a member of a research group. I’ve been using these skills from the first day of my PhD and I’ll certainly be utilising them for the whole duration of my project.
What did you enjoy most about studying this course and why would you recommend the course to others considering applying?
I think that this field is extremely interesting and lets you combine wet-lab work with clinical practice, giving a more polyhedric aspect to research.
What I enjoyed the most about studying it was the possibility of acquiring competency and being exposed to different branches of this incredible medicine field. Gaining new knowledge in genetics, bioinformatics, personalised medicine techniques, and clinical trials has been helpful to understand what I most liked about this field and where I wanted to continue with my career.
I strongly recommend undertaking this course for the variety of taught programs as well as research projects it offers. This course and my research project have shaped my interests and led me to get passionate about research and undertake a PhD on the same topic!