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I underwent an eight-week HotStart Studentship with the supervision of Dr Dawn Thompson, in a pharmacology research laboratory. Throughout my placement I developed invaluable laboratory experience, primarily through investigating GPCR signalling mechanisms. I carried out techniques such as Bacterial Transformation, Molecular Cloning, Mammalian Cell Cultures, Transfections, Drug Response Assays and…

For my HotStart Placement, I spent eight weeks working under the supervision of Dr Dawn Thompson, alongside India D’Orsi, on a lab-based project investigating cellular signalling responses linked to the prostaglandin f (FP) receptor and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K).

The FP receptor is a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) which is activated…

This summer, I had the opportunity to do a nine-week placement in the research laboratory of Professor Anne Donaldson and Dr Shin-ichiro Hiraga at the Institute of Medical Sciences in Aberdeen. I had become interested in DNA replication and repair while doing additional reading for my Genetics degree, and I…

Hi, my name is Kalanah, and I am a third-year Pharmacology student at the University of Aberdeen. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work on a Hotstart research project at the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) at the University of Aberdeen, investigating the effects of alcohol and caffeine…

This summer, I had the opportunity to complete an 8-week research project with Professor Lynda Erskine, funded by a School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition Hotstart scholarship. The project looked at the development of the anterior eye using chicken embryos. During development, the ciliary body plays an essential role…

This July, I had the opportunity to present my research at the 2026 Annual Meeting of The Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) at ICC Belfast — one of the largest bowel surgery meetings in the UK and Ireland. My talk asked a question that matters to…

This year, I had the opportunity to present my first-author research at the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) 2026 Congress in Basel, Switzerland. As a fourth-year medical student at the University of Aberdeen, presenting at an international conference was a memorable experience and an excellent…

This year I was awarded the opportunity to attend the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Conference after being selected as the University of Aberdeen's representative. As someone with a strong interest in paediatrics, stemming from growing up in a large family, I was excited to meet doctors across the UK to learn more…

This May, I had the opportunity to present two pieces of research at the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) Annual Conference in Brighton. I delivered one of the pieces as an oral presentation and the other as a talking poster.

Do we need to close the…

I was delighted to be invited to lead a workshop at this year’s National Medical Student Widening Participation (NMSWP) Conference, held in Glasgow on 24th April 2026. My workshop focused on strategies for preparing for medical school finals while maintaining mental wellbeing, an area I am particularly passionate about!

My session…