Getting to grips with year 2&3 biology!

I propelled into Week 2 focussing on updating my video and audio editing skills. After these had been brought up to scratch and a few new tricks learnt, I spent the rest of the week focusing on updating slides which will be used for the ‘Genome to Proteome’ distance learning material, primarily on ‘Measurement of  RNA expression using quantitative PCR’.

The slides were brought to life by adding more information and pictures, along with a PCR animation I put in. Many concepts were hard to grasp and some extra reading was marvellously handy.

I met with Dr Andrew Bicknell, who wrote the original slides. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss where the materials could be improved / updated for an online delivery.

I wrote a little synopsis of the materials so far, here it goes:

‘Gene expression can be monitored by the presence of mRNA. To monitor this, amplification of the gene is necessary. There are various techniques with different sensitivities and selectivities, which can be used for amplification. Real time PCR is based on the use of reverse transcriptase to allow normal PCR to take place’.

On the social side of my UROP placement, Tee initiated a discussion with Ted to look at my CV. They suggested improvements, which was much appreciated!

Sam Holton

Hate early mornings!

Sorry for how formal the blog it is going on a much more formal blog as well!

To introduce myself, I am Sam Holton, a first year student in Biological Sciences. I am undertaking a UROP placement for the next 6 weeks with Dr Kim Watson and her team. My day-to-day supervisor is Dr Teeroumanee Nadan (Tee) and I am also working closely with another UROP student, Laura Cotton.

My responsibility in this project is to screen materials for the ‘Genome to Proteome’ module and contribute to a blended framework for distance learning.

I started work at 9 sharp on a cloudy Monday on July 2^nd. No need to say I was a bit nervous and not fully knowing what to expect. However, my first day was amazing, the atmosphere in the office was great. Both individual and team works were fruitful.

Other placement students sharing office with me include Ora White (UROP placement, 2^ndyear student) and Thaddeus Ugoagu (Ted) (summer work, 3^rd year student). Ora is currently working on structural determination of MOMP with close supervision of Frank Atanu; Ted is another of  Tee’s student and is working on an internationalisation project.

On my first day, after a health and safety talk and a building induction, I was analysing materials from the ‘South East university biopharma skills’ consortium project and ‘Learning through graduates’ internship biopharma project. Teaching and learning methods learnt through these two projects will be applied to our own project, and these include what skills graduates lack, how to best deliver materials and what industries expect from graduates.

The rest of the week was really wonderful. Laura and I were analysing relevant materials that could be applied to our project. I started reviewing the material (mostly PowerPoints) that could be converted into interactive video. The complexity of the materials was to no barriers, and a visit to the campus library came in very handy.

I have also had the opportunity to have social gatherings with Tee and other research students, and it was exciting to hear people talk with such passion about biology and discuss various areas of it. Looking forward for more of these!

Technology-wise, I played with several packages and equipment new to me and quickly grasped the concepts of video and audio editing. Software tested included Audacity, Camtesia Studio, Adobe, Movie Maker. We even recorded sounds and videos (a sunny weather would have been welcomed for this video shooting). Equipment used included camcorder, voice recorder, smart boards, tablet and stylus.

Good start all round, now need to proceed and produce something really interactive for  online learning !

Sam Holton