Lauren: Newcastle University

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My project at the University of Newcastle researches Rheumatoid Arthritis and how we can monitor the immune response over the course of treatment.

I have been involved in conducting a clinical trial for a type of therapy called ‘cellular dendritic cell therapy’ which aims to make the immune system more tolerant of its own peptides and reduce the inflammatory response - a kind of autoimmune immunisation. As a treatment it is currently still in the research and clinical trial phase.

The clinical trial aspect has been the most enjoyable aspect of my project as well as being the most challenging. I was involved in a multi-disciplinary team ranging from doctors, nurses, GMP staff and the lab team, all of whom played a vital role in coordinating the effort of generating cellular therapy from patients, delivering the therapy to patients and assessing samples in the lab before and after therapy. We would receive blood and lymph node samples from patients and isolate immune cells for various functional assays.

Being involved in such a cutting-edge area of research has been incredibly insightful, however the data analysis for this is challenging as patient data is messy at times and hard to interpret.

I think my application to DiMeN was strengthened by extracurriculars outside of my degree. I had a lot of experience in communication, outreach and teaching, through tutoring, running science clubs and organising museum outreach science events for children. I think this showed that I was passionate about science but also highlighted my skills as a good communicator.