Cameron Spencer, a student at the High School of Dundee, spent 4 weeks between his 5th and 6th years, gaining laboratory experience in the College of Life Sciences Media Kitchen, Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT) and MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit (MRC PPU) sponsored by a Nuffield Foundation Science Bursary. In the DSTT, Cameron worked with Lesley Piper and others in the teams who generate highly specialized reagents to accelerate the development of new drug treatments for major diseases. In the PPU, Hilary Smith put Cameron through his paces in an experiment to identify signaling events that are activated when macrophages in the immune system are challenged by bacterial infection. In his own words, Cameron learned that 'Although it is the research that has gone on within research laboratories that makes the front pages of newspapers, the structure of a research institute is much more complex, with different layers that form together to build up a working chain that helps sustain the working order within such an institute. From making media in the media kitchen to learning how to use experimental results to draw conclusions, I thoroughly enjoyed my whole experience and from what I have gained during the time I was doing the project, I feel that this is an environment that I could work in.'