First MRC PPU remote summer studentship completed


While SLS summer school students in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit usually expect to gain wet lab experience and benefit from working alongside PhD students and postdoctoral researchers on the bench, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on this year’s programme as access to the labs was restricted and placements cancelled. However, some students have completed remote projects, including Neringa Pratuseviciute, a 4th Year BSc(Hons) Neuroscience student from the University of Dundee. Before the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions came into place, Neringa had been looking forward to her summer placement in Esther Sammler’s lab. However, as she was unable to come to the lab, she opted for a remote data analysis project. Esther commented that ‘timing was perfect as Neringa contributed to an important project by performing a complex independent and blinded re-analysis of data derived from human biosamples’. I was impressed how quickly Neringa was able to work independently and how surprisingly easy it was to work closely together via remote videoconferencing’. Inspired by her project and with restrictions easing and people having returned to the lab, Neringa has decided to not only continue working with Esther’s group during the summer but to also do her honours project with her. Neringa commented that ‘During these unprecedented times I was delighted to be granted the opportunity to undergo a remote summer placement with Esther and work on a translational Parkinson’s disease project where I was introduced to large data sets and shown the incredible work that goes into researching this disease. I am now excited to continue my work in a research lab alongside Esther and her team, gain hands-on experience and broaden my scientific knowledge even further.

Further details of the SLS Virtual Summer School can be found here: https://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/news/2020/sep/2/virtual-summer-school-success-life-sciences

Principal Investigator