Lucy’s Third Year Blog

Well hello again, and hello for the final time!

I’m very sad to say that this is my last blog; so much has happened this year and it’s absolutely flown by! Despite all the horror stories that you hear about the stress of third year, it’s actually been my favourite yet, for both my course and for my life in Manchester. I’ve met so many great new people since September, and I’m absolutely gutted that most of them will be graduating and leaving Manchester in a couple of months. Not me though – I’m sticking around for my Masters project!

The last ever night together with the senior ambassador family, featuring our beloved Professor Liz Sheffield

I’ve spent a big portion of this year carefully planning my big research project, so it’s crazy to think that I’ll actually be starting it in just a few months. I’ve settled on one of the two projects that I planned (not an easy choice when you really want to do both); I’ll be looking at “the effect of interleukin 27 on the metabolic profile of CD4⁺ T cells during Plasmodium yoelii infection”. Sound exciting? No? It sounds pretty awful actually doesn’t it? Let me explain.

A T cell-fie with my favourite immune cell

In simple terms, I’m going to try to find out how one of the many signalling molecules in your immune system (IL-27) controls your immune response against malaria infection (caused by Plasmodium parasites). We know that this signalling molecule can down regulate the aggressive immune response (involving T cells) that your body mounts against malaria, but we don’t know how it does it. Everyone has heard of how devastating and deadly malaria is, yet the fatal damage caused by malaria is actually due to the way your immune system responds to the parasite. When infected with the malaria parasite, your body must mount an aggressive inflammatory response in order to clear the parasite from your blood. However, if this response is not switched off, it can cause fatal self-harm to your own tissues. If we can try to work out how the body can switch off this response, we might be able to better treat malaria in the future, reducing the associated mortality and morbidity caused by it. Sound better? I hope so! I cannot wait to get going with my project and spend a whole year carrying out in-depth and worthwhile research, focussing on something that I’m fascinated by. If parasites aren’t your thing, don’t worry; the faculty has hundreds of different labs working on pretty much any field of Biology you can think of, and with the MSci programme, you can choose which of these you’d like to work in!

In my last blog I told you about the MSci Experimental Skills Module. This was a really intense month of lab and field work as part of a small group, followed by a lab report, a group scientific poster and a poster presentation. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t stressful. It was a lot of work in a very short space of time and we were working right up until exams, but it gave us a great chance to develop our essential research skills for next year. I’ve received some really positive and encouraging feedback on my work, so at least it was all worth it! I even managed to talk about microscopic nematodes (I swear I can relate ANYTHING to parasitology). Have a look at my previous blog if you’d like to know more about the project.

My last piece of coursework for third year featuring one of my many thousands of microscopic nematodes!

Right now though, I’m writing this blog to distract myself from the fact I’m halfway through my 5 essay and problem-based exams! I really like the units that I’ve chosen this year, so I’m at least finding the revision interesting. Nevertheless, I think we can all agree that exams are horrible. Although, I can find some solace in the fact that these are my LAST EVER EXAMS! Even though I have one year left at university, my fourth and final year just involves an enormous write up at the end, but no exams. I sat my first two exams this week and I think they went okay. By the time this has been posted, I’ll have finished my exams; now that’s a beautiful thought. If you have any exams at the moment, I wish you the best of luck! Don’t stress too much – it’ll be over before you know it!

I might have had 4 coursework deadlines and 5 exams in the past 6 weeks, but don’t think for one second that that’s stopped me from having fun! Oh no, we can’t have that! This month I jumped out of a plane with my housemate, raising over £1000 for charity – and I didn’t die! Sadly, I didn’t manage to get any action shots with my face flapping around as I plummeted towards the earth. I’d rather you didn’t see that anyway. I’ve also recently been to two music gigs in Manchester, one at the Manchester Academy at the Students’ Union to watch Kygo, and one at the Manchester Arena to see Busted (yes, I’m a loser but my 9 year old self just couldn’t pass on the opportunity); both were amazing! I’ve had a couple of BBQs; one with the senior ambassador and admissions team at Professor Liz Sheffield’s house, and the second in 28 degree heat with my housemates, my best friend, and her puppy (yes, 28 degrees in Manchester).

Celebrating NOT dying in a skydiving accident AND raising £1000 in the process!

I took a trip to the year 3000, and then to see Kygo

Not to mention, there’s plenty going on after exams. All of the final/third years sit the same final exam, so we all finish together. It’s a morning exam so we’ve decided to head into town afterwards and have a big brunch with lots of prosecco, then we’re heading to my friend’s to carry on the celebrations, and then back into town again. We’re definitely going to need it! The week after that we have the Life Sciences ball at the Midland Hotel; it’s themed “The Oscar’s”, so I’ve bought a ridiculously extravagant dress for it. Then, the day after that it’s Pangea, a huge festival held at the Students’ Union at the end of each semester, which is attended by thousands. Every Pangaea has a different fancy dress theme; the theme this time in “Carnival”, so I’ll be spending lots of time in the run up covered in glue, sequins and feathers whilst I try to make myself an outfit that the girls of Rio de Janeiro would be proud of. Although, I’ll probably end up looking more like a sparkly peacock that’s been in a fight. The week after that I’ll be jetting off to Barcelona for even more fun with my oldest course friends. Exams don’t seem quite so bad when you’ve got all that to look forward to.

Well, that’s about all I have for you this time. Thank you to my loyal readers for taking the time to hear about my life this year (that’s if I even have any loyal readers?! I don’t know). I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings! Writing this blog has really made me realise more than ever just how amazing both the city of Manchester, and the University’s Faculty of Life Sciences are. I’m so proud to be a student here, and I can’t wait to see what my final year brings.

Ciao for now,

Lucy

Astynnia’s Second Year (International) Blog

Second year came and flew by real fast, beginning from the Experimental Design Module (EDM), January exams, Research Skills Module (RSM), dissertation and up to today with my revision for summer exams. I remember those stressful days when I was overwhelmed with preparation for my dissertation. The grade was announced 3 weeks ago and I am glad that everything went well, better than what I was expecting! So I’m very pleased with that, as it was a whole 10 credits (1/12^th of the year) in itself. This year has been so enjoyable and it’s gone so fast that I almost can’t believe that in less than a month, I will be flying back to Malaysia for the summer. I booked my flight tickets without telling my family because I wanted to give them a surprise, which is something that I am looking forward to. 🙂

My overall experience of 2^nd year has been amazing. The most valuable thing I have learnt is how to manage time effectively. With all the deadlines I’ve had to meet this year, it’s made me more organized and efficient at getting things done (well) on time! This is definitely an essential skill for undergraduate, and I believe this will come of great use to me in Final Year – when I hear things get real hectic!

I have also used this year as an opportunity to travel while I have been away from my home country. I have learnt so much about different cultures, and have created some great memories which I can look back over as making travel videos are my favourite post-vacation activity.

This year, I got to know more people and made more friends in Biomedical Sciences, which definitely made my life in Manchester more exciting on the social side of things. Although at the moment it’s all study, study, study, there are a lot of gatherings being arranged for before everyone parts for the summer holidays. Oh and the weather is finally picking up too, so there’s plenty to look forward to!

A catch up with my best buddy on a sunny day in Manchester last week

 

So much excitement during Kygo’s concert!

Catching up from my previous blog post, there has been so much going on! To make the most of my time in Manchester and all the brilliant music venues there are here, last month I went to a concert at Manchester Academy (which is right opposite the Stopford building, where most Life Sciences lectures and practical’s take place – ideal) to see a DJ called Kygo. The music and atmosphere was amazing. The music scene in Manchester is definitely something I will remember!

Also, as a lot of my friends are graduating this year, we had a formal dinner at The Living Room Restaurant in Deansgate. We had a great night there and it was very fancy! It’s always nice to get dressed up for a formal event every once in a while. The restaurant was elegant and modern which made for a lovely atmosphere. Oh and the food was delicious too!

 

At the Graduation Dinner

I also attended a sports event that we, as part of the International Society, organized at the Sugden Sports Centre and it was really fun! We had 6 station games and the ideas for the activities were modified from a Korean reality game show called Running Man such as “Flying Coins” and “Ping Pong ball Piggyback”. Then after the hectic and fun-filled day there, we moved on and ended it with a karaoke session! It was such a fun day!

Sport day at Sugden Centre

As second year comes to an end, it’s time for me to start thinking about what Final Year Project to do next year. There are a number of different options, and I’m not quite sure which one I want to do yet but I will have a good think about it once exams end. To help me make my decision and to learn more about the different options, I attended the business pitches by the final year Life Sciences students earlier this month. It was a presentation for their Enterprise Final Year Project and it gave me an idea about the business style enterprise project option which I find interesting. One of the topics that caught my attention was “Diagnostic test for Schizophrenia” as the team members designed a tool virtually to test for the disease.

But before all of that I have semester 2 exams to get through! I have mixed feelings about my upcoming exams but I’d say I am most confident about my ‘Parasitology’ exam. It’s been my favourite subject for me throughout the whole of 2^nd year as I love microbes! Plus there is no essay in the exam, only short answer questions! I also find my other modules ’Immunology’ and ‘Cell Metabolism and Metabolic Control’ interesting – revision isn’t all that bad when you’re genuinely intrigued by the things you are learning! The exam that I am the least confident about at the moment is ‘Clinical Drug Development’. It’s quite different from anything I’ve done before as it’s more pharmacology based rather than focusing on how cells, organs and systems function in the human body. However I am working hard so I’m still hoping for the best!

I know that final year is not going to be easy, but in the midst of busy schedule, I am looking forward to some more memorable experiences and taking advantage of all the fun things there are to do in Manchester. Even after 2 years of living here, there is still so much more to do! Academically, I am looking forward to doing the volunteering work with my friends as part of the Final Year ‘Leadership in Action’ module. It is always a good idea to do some community projects over the year as it will help me to take some time off from the books and get to know more people around the university. I think it will be good for my CV too!

Well that’s it then! Good luck in upcoming exams and I hope that you guys enjoyed reading my 2^nd year journey! 🙂

Astynnia.