We welcomed Dr. Natalie Kenny – Director of BioGrad – to give a talk on Medical Research as part of the Nicholls Lecture Series
By Luke Crocker, Lower Sixth student
Dr. Kenny began by talking about her company BioGrad. It is a laboratory and clinical training centre situated at Liverpool Science Park and gives students interested in careers in medicine, science and patent law real experience of working in a lab. Students from 21 countries come each year to receive excellent tutoring from world-class scientists, and her company greatly contributes to the ‘knowledge economy’ of the local area.
Dr. Kenny then explained why she had chosen to work in medical research – she had been inspired by the film Medicine Man and set her mind on working in the jungle. Her dream placement came up when she went to Peru, conducting research on neurological parasites, and her job has taken her as far as Antarctica and the Andes. This highlighted the vast opportunity the field offers for travelling.
After investigating glial scars and tapeworms, Dr. Kenny worked for Pfizer in drug discovery, and she explained how this would be an excellent career for those of us who enjoy designing experiments. She stressed the range of jobs in this business, from engineering to software developing. She noted how a drug developed to ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis also was found to be useful in the treatment of leukaemia.
Dr. Kenny concluded her talk by explaining the background to her company. Founded in 2014, BioGrad employs world class scientists (one of whom developed the 15-minute test for ebola), surgeons and engineers. She highlighted the importance of cognitive diversity in labs to create new ideas for drugs, and the vast range of careers in BioGrad conveys this. Her company works with the University of Liverpool and helps both pupils gain work experience and graduates find employment – every graduate sent to them has been offered a job.
The lecture was both informative and inspiring, and many pupils will be taking advantage of the range of courses offered at BioGrad.