George Nicholson

I have just completed my degree in biochemistry from the University of Bath, receiving a 2:1 and would love to continue in the world of bioscience. I have skills that make me valuable to a team working in a lab setting. I have excellent record keeping and communication skills, allowing me to plan and carry out experiments, particularly when they occur simultaneously, requiring me to prioritise and be flexible. I hope to acquirelabexperiencetohoneinandrefinetheareasofbioscience thatI am passionate about, allowing me to go on and potentially carry out a PhD.

Research laboratory project student | Department of life sciences, University of Bath (January 2023 – June 2023)

• A five-month period working independently in a lab in research involved in the BioPROTAC approah to the treatment of cancer leading to aproject report.

• Provided extensive experience in molecular Biology DNA cloning techniques, such as site directed mutagenesis and domain swapping, involving the use of PCR, DNA extraction, purification, and quantification.

• Experience in IPTG induced protein expression, preparing soluble and insoluble protein samples and visualising that on a coomassie blue stained gel.

• Experience in primer design and visualising genetic data in software such as SnapGene.

• Beyond lab technique experience, it provided the ability contextualise data and results, to ascertain their meaning in the wider field, where critical thinking involving extensive literature research was essential.

• Performance in this has been quoted as: “It was a pleasure having George in the lab and to witness how he improved his laboratory skills and confidence in the lab.”

Work experience | Nuffield laboratory of ophthalmology (23rd – 27th July 2018)

A week working with a PhD student in research involved in light dependent signalling in the brain, looking at novel opsin photopigments, specifically looking at how these could potentially restore vision in patients suffering with retinitis pigmentosa.

Provided an introduction to molecular biology lab techniques and the general nature of how a lab is run, where participation in lab meetings took place.

Performance in this has been quoted as: “George was one of the most passionate and able work experience students we’ve had at the NLO – what is most impressive is his ability to synthesise knowledge”.

Teaching Lab experience | Department of life sciences, University of Bath (September 2020 – June 2023)

Throughout my university career I have gained experience through weekly lab based practical sessions teaching me the basics of bioscience based lab techniques.

Further experience in DNA cloning followed by protein expression and purification.

Experience in design of enzyme kinetic based assays to test the efficacy of different enzymes.

Identifying unknown cancer treatments through their effect on cancer cell lines through measuring cell viability in an MTT assay.

Performance in these practical session and associated coursework have always been at a 1st or 2:1 level.

Bioinformatic/data-handling experience | Department of life sciences, University of Bath (September 2020 – June 2023)

Throughout my university career I have gained experience in bioinformatics and general data handling as a component of my practical lab-based experience.

Experience in neurobiochemistry, measuring the activity of an enzyme in the brain, this involved converting raw optical density data to a more presentable measure of activity and generating a chart. Further, the effect on the activity of this enzyme by different drugs was tested through normalising the data to generate IC50 values of the drugs. This allowed for the development of skills in software like Excel and GraphPad Prism for non-linear regression. leading to extensive data management skills for in work around the lab.

Extensive experience in bioinformatics, including a project characterising the structural aspects of the 20 Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. Sequence alignment tools were used to generate a cladogram to classify the 20 proteins, where sequences were acquired from online databases. CATH codes denoting protein structural features, were acquired from online protein databases to further classify these 20 proteins. This has provided skills in database searching and organisation of data, where the CATH codes were ordered in their position within the protein.

Experience in statistical analysis in a cancer therapeutic project, involved testing the cell viability of cancer cells treated with different drugs. A two- way Anova statistical test was performed on this data using SPSS. Demonstrating skills in statistics using SPSS.

2020-2023 | University of Bath | BSc (hons) Biochemistry | Bath, UK | 2:1