Evyn Wassell

I am a Medical Sciences (Human Genomics) with Professional Training year due to graduate this academic year.
 

   To ensure knowledge of modern practices, as part of my undergraduate degree I arranged a professional training year in a working research lab which gave me the opportunity to hone my laboratory techniques including confocal microscopy, western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Through this placement I became experienced enough to alter protocols to fit the requirements for varying antibodies and tissue types with minimal support from my supervisor demonstrating confidence to work independently and iteratively. An example of this would be building a key step into my immunohistochemistry protocols of checking all tissue samples were complete with no or minimal holes or tears. This was to ensure a fair comparison of overall nerve structure and immune cell number. I applied this same consistency and attention to my confocal microscopy to ensure there was no bias and all genotypes were fairly represented. To further ensure all images and data were consistent and high quality a small sample was reviewed by my supervisor to ensure consistency. 

   Being solely responsible for the management and analysis of all data generated throughout my project, I consolidated my skills in both Excel and GraphPad Prism 9 to enable enhanced data analysis through the successful organisation and visualisation of my data. This allowed me to develop key insights into the data and provide meaningful and useful interpretation of my results within the context of current available literature. 

   Throughout my undergraduate degree I have pushed to be at the forefront of clinical and scientific research and developed strong critical analysis and appraisal skills through workshops and the completion of a wide range of coursework centred on critical assessment of current scientific literature, attaining a 1st or 2:1 in all assessments of this type to date.

   My undergraduate degree has also had a major focus on developing collaborative and communication skills through structured small group learning where education is student-led and relies on the group working collaboratively to collate and communicatr findings to one another.