A Visiting PhD’s Outlook: What an invaluable experience!

Being here at Insplorion has shown me how research can turn into a business and given me the chance to evaluate my skills in the context required for professional positions in industry.

I was funded by the EPSRC’s national productivity investment fund to commence this placement. I study at the University of Sheffield and my project utilises in-vitro models of biological membranes, to aid the understanding of biological processes where membrane geometry plays a key regulatory role.

My initial interest in Insplorion started from a seminar and demonstration of the equipment given at my university in 2016. It was shown how a biological process such as protein adsorption onto lipid bilayers could be monitored in real-time. Their instrumentation brings processes that occur at the nano-scale to life!

This opportunity has allowed me to access their unique technology to analyze and investigate lipid bilayer formation and surface chemistry fabrication. I am halfway through my visit and 2 weeks has passed so quickly! I will continue collecting data in the lab and making most of the time I have left here.

I relish the time I have spent at Insplorion and would like to thank everyone for making me feel welcome. They are an approachable and extremely helpful team.

I encourage more students to get in touch with the Insplorion team. Just send over an email, just like I did and you could find yourself here!

Take-away message:

“Networking is key in any field: travel when you can, communicate with people and ask questions, then watch the branches of your tree grow”

Sarina Chand

Making lipid vesicles in the lab: drying lipids under vacuum.