Case studies : Research scientist: Amrit Kaur

Amrit graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in biochemistry in 2006. She now works as a research scientist for The Binding Site.

Through word of mouth I heard of The Binding Site, an institution that specialises in immunodiagnostic assays. I enquired about any job opportunities but there were not any suitable at that time. So I emailed the personnel department my CV which they held on record. I was contacted two weeks later as there was a job which I had been selected for and after attending an interview I got it.

My subject of study was quite relevant to the role as many of the concepts behind biochemistry modules were required for the job. I was asked many scientific questions which related back to my subject of study including theory behind my final year project.

I am currently managing three projects while supervising two other members of staff. We normally meet weekly to discuss workloads and targets for project completion. During project development, 75% of my time is spent doing lab work while the remaining 25% is spent writing up experiments. During project validation (tests required for an FDA submission) I usually spend 50% of my time on lab work, 25% of my time writing up and the remaining 25% researching the next project. Monthly meetings to discuss and present results and research also take place with various managers of different departments.

There is a lot of mathematics involved in my job, so I am grateful that my degree had such a large proportion of this. Data handling and presenting data is another useful skill I learnt while studying. However, there is only a small part of the factual science from my degree (mainly protein purification and some aspects of immunology) which I use in my current job role.

I thoroughly enjoy the research aspect of my job and it is quite similar to the work I did for my final year project. I also enjoy supervising staff members as there is a team of people to work within. The laboratory work is also enjoyable, particularly seeing practical results from the research you have done.

The challenging parts of the jobs are adhering to time lines and finishing projects by a specific time point. Depending on the nature of the project you are working on, the development stage could take anywhere between two months and two years.

For those who would like to get into this career, I would suggest they do a placement year in a lab or do a laboratory project for their final year project. If you don’t like lab work then this isn’t the job for you! Also, a lot of the experiments don’t go to plan and sometimes you can spend weeks feeling like you haven’t achieved anything, however, when you solve the problem it’s worth it! If lab work is not something students want in their job, they should consider other roles such as those in quality assurance, regulatory affairs and technical services, which still require scientific knowledge but do not involve lab work.