Lucy’s Third Year Blog

Well hello again,

You find me at one of the busiest and most hectic times of any undergraduate degree: the final stretch of third year. Most third years are currently finishing off their final year project before exams start. As an MSci student though, as ever, things are quite a bit different. The usual 40 credits you get for your literature review and final year project are replaced by three different modules on the MSci course, all of which equip you for your final year as a research student, and beyond.

The first was a 10 credit bioinformatics module which we completed in first semester, which turned out to be much less daunting than I’d expected – I actually did really well in it. The second is a 10 credit project proposal module which is stretched out across the whole year. For this, you have to complete quite a bit of work during the first week back after summer, then compose two different research project proposals (one per semester), one of which will become your final year MSci project. This unit has probably been mt favourite MSci unit, as you have total freedom to work with any of the researchers in the faculty and pursue a project in pretty much anything you can imagine. However, this freedom also comes with a lot of responsibility; you must organise the projects and find two supervisors to work with yourself, and carry out most of the work independently (with a little help from your supervisors, of course).

Finally, we also have a 20 credit experimental skills module. This is a really intense unit, condensed into just 4 weeks. You have to design an individual project, which is part of a wider group research project. My group are carrying out a baseline ecological survey of the green spaces on the university campus, and comparing the biodiversity of that to a local, poorly-maintained park in a residential area behind the university. This project is part of the university’s commitment to social responsibility and working with local communities. The data we produce will be submitted to Manchester City Council and used to inform the planning of the regeneration of the local park, and of the redevelopment and pedestrianisation of Brunswick Street on the university campus, to expand our green spaces. It’s quite exciting knowing that the data we collect will be put to good use. However, there’s a lot of work to be done in a relatively short space of time. This week has been spent doing site visits, and planning the project. We had to write and submit a 2 page experimental design, then we will begin collecting data.

Survey site on campus

I have about 9 days to collect around 50 soil samples from the two field sites, and analyse them in the lab. I’ll be looking at the different properties of the soil, such as: pH, moisture content, the presence of calcium carbonate. Then, I’ll be sieving and centrifuging the soil to separate the microscopic nematodes from within it, to measure the nematode abundance. I chose to look at nematodes because – if you’ve read my other blogs – you’ll know I have a thing for parasites, especially wormy ones! Even though these are free-living nematodes, I couldn’t help but make the tenuous link to parasitism. Anyway, once that’s all done I have to statistically analyse my data and write a 5 page lab report. Then, our group will get together to compile all of our data and collectively produce a professional (looking) A1 poster representing our results. This will then be at the centre of a 15 minute group presentation, in which we will all have to answer questions on the project. Sound like a lot? Yep. Oh, and that’s not even considering exams, which start about a week after all this finishes. Ahhh the life of a third year. It’s a good job I love what I do!

So I guess you’d think that – with all that work – I’ve become a solitary creature, found only in the darkest depths of the library. For the most part, you’d be right. However, I like to make sure I reward myself with a bit of fun. This week brought another Tuesday night at Bongo’s bingo at Albert hall (see my last blog if you’re wondering why on earth a 21 year old student would go to bingo), a night at the Albert’s Schloss bar with a live band, and a summertime themed house party for a friends birthday. I also took my sister to the Manchester Opera House to watch Chicago. It was such a good show and I even got the tickets on a cheap student deal. So I’ve had plenty of chance to blow off some steam.

I’ve also been working hard at fundraising for charity for the past few weeks. My housemate and I both have both volunteered abroad with two sister international development charities; which aim to improve access to clean drinking water, promote gender equality and increase environmental sustainability. We both had such incredible experiences, so we decided to fundraise to help fund future projects. I don’t know how I ended up agreeing to this, but we are doing a sponsored sky dive this week; I am beyond petrified. Amazingly, we’ve already raised nearly £700, so at least my untimely death will be for a worthwhile cause. Anyway, I can’t think about jumping out of a plane right now, so I’m changing the subject to something less traumatic.

Fundraiser by day, hula girl by night.

In fact, I’m going to talk about something quite the opposite of traumatic…PUPPIES! Well, singular – just the one puppy. My best friend from back home graduated from university last summer and is now living and working in Manchester, not too far away from me. She rang me last month and told me she was getting a puppy! I’m probably the most excitable dog lover you’ll ever meet. I’m the weirdo who will go round to someone’s house and sit on the floor spooning their dog, rather than actually spend any time with them. So naturally, I was straight around to her house to meet the little pup! Last week we took her for her very first walk around the reservoir in Manchester and she absolutely loved it! Walks and puppy cuddles are the best form of stress relief from uni work I could ask for; oh, and it’s nice to see my best friend too!

“Arghh I have so many deadlin…aww look at the puppy! Let’s go for a walk.”

The next six or seven weeks will be a whirlwind of excitement and stress which will see me through to the end of third year (well that’s a terrifying thought). It will bring with it: 4 coursework deadlines, 5 exams, 2 music gigs, 1 BBQ (hopefully – it is Manchester), 1 end of year ball and 1 trip to Barcelona! If you’ve read my other blogs, you’ll remember that I booked holiday to Barcelona during Easter with some of my course friends to visit our friend who’s out there working in a zoology lab for his modern language year. Well things didn’t really go to plan; we went to the airport, got through security and were called to board the plane, but alas, our flight was suddenly cancelled due to the French air traffic control strikes. The next available flight was the day after we were supposed to return home. So we lost our entire holiday. They even made us show our boarding cards to go downstairs to arrivals, and then made us go through immigration because we’d “technically left the country”. Suffice to say, it was a pretty depressing train ride back to Fallowfield. We were absolutely gutted; a few days in the Spanish sun was just what we needed. However, we’ve just been refunded for the flights and now we’ve rebooked to go straight after final exams instead! I’m sure we’ll need the break even more by then, and it will be twice as hot. Silver linings and all that eh? Anyway, that’s enough blabbering from me; as usual, I should be doing my work.

Ciao for now,

Lucy

British Science Week 2016 (Day 3)

Hi everyone,

I’m Emma and I’m a second year Optometry student at The University of Manchester. Optometry teaching at UoM is split between practical sessions and lectures. Right from my very first week at university, we were in the clinics and labs learning the different components of an eye examination. Practical sessions range from refraction clinics to dispensing labs and visual psycophysics labs. 

From first year, we were given the opportunity to test patients (these patients are paid volunteers of the university who come in on a weekly basis to let the students test their eyes). Testing a stranger’s eyes for the first time is quite a daunting experience and definitely something you’re not going to forget. Thankfully, all the patients are really friendly and helpful – some have been volunteering with the university for over 30 years and know the ins and outs of an eye examination routine better than we do! 

That’s me, carrying out an eye examination!

Working with the volunteer patients has undoubtedly been my favourite part of my course to date. We’re given an hour and a half with each patient to determine an appropriate distance and near prescription and to check their ocular health. At the start of each eye test we record the patient’s history and symptoms. This is a great way to find a bit more out about your patient and really helps build a rapport with them. Manchester is the only university that gives its students the opportunity to test patients from their first year and it’s truly an invaluable experience that has definitely helped improve my confidence. No two patients will ever be the same and they’ll always keep you entertained with anecdotes and tales throughout each session.

Clinical experience is not only restricted to university practicals, the staff are forever advertising different paid and voluntary clinical posts available in Manchester. At the start of my second year I started volunteering with a charity called Vision Care for the Homeless (an organisation which offers free eye examinations and spectacles to homeless people). Every fortnight I was able to shadow an optometrist and gain an insight into the range of patients I could one day be testing. Walking into the homeless shelter for the first time was such a nerve racking and daunting experience, however, everyone was so welcoming and friendly. I was given the opportunity to check the optometrist’s refraction results as well as carry out a few minor parts of the eye examination. It’s definitely an opportunity worth getting involved in!

Practical sessions are undoubtedly the most interesting and engaging part of my course. I’ve been able to chat and make friends with other students in my year who I may never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. I’ve also found out that I have a whole range of ocular conditions that I never even knew existed!

 Happy science week and best of luck with upcoming exams!

 Emma

If you are interested in studying Optometry at The University of Manchester, watch our course video from the Manchester Life Scientists YouTube!

Lucy’s third year blog

Hello there!

I’m Lucy and I’m here to tell you about life as a third year on one of the brand spanking new Masters of Science (MSci) programmes in the Faculty of Life Sciences (FLS). I’ll be updating you throughout the year as I venture into the uncharted territory of project proposals and bioinformatics as one of the first ever MSci students. I’ll also be telling you a bit about my (hopefully slightly interesting) life as a student as we go.

First, let me tell you a bit about myself. I moved to Manchester at the age of 19 from the not so glamorous or sunny seaside town of Blackpool. Now, a couple of years on, I’ve somehow made it through to third year and I’ve completely fallen in love with Manchester. I decided I couldn’t bear to leave at the end of this year, so I’m staying for a masters!

I was lucky enough to spend most of my summer travelling this year. It all started off with an FLS field course to Costa Rica, where I conducted my own research on tropical frogs and toads. Following the field course, I and a few of my course friends stayed behind for some adventures of our own involving zip lines, horses, volcanic mud baths, diving and a 3 day pit stop in New York on the way home! The trip gave me the fondest and funniest memories that I’ll be blabbering about for years to come, as well as lots of very “Gap yah” photos! I celebrated my 21^st birthday at home with my family and squeezed in as many hours at work as possible, then continued on to London, Greece and Paris.

The hard life of a Biology student

After a whirlwind summer of excitement and mayhem (which left me with a very sad looking bank account), I’m more than ready to be settling back into a routine at uni. I’m now living in a cosy house with 3 flatmates from first year and our new pet goldfish, Rhubarb. This has quite frankly been a welcome change from the madness of living in an enormous 8 bedroom party house last year. It was so much fun, but it’s time to knuckle down.

Over the years, we’ve discovered some of the unique little gems that Manchester has to offer. One of these is the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall. I’ve never been much of classical music fan, but the Hallé puts on an incredible show every week and as a student you can get tickets for just £3! It’s really worth giving it a go if you fancy something different and it’s unbelievably cheap!

Pretending to be an adult at the Orchestra #21goingon51

Right about now is my favourite time of year to be in Manchester. There is SO much going on. Warehouse Project is back in full swing until New Year, the Christmas market cabins are popping up in town and last week it was Bonfire night. Platt Fields Park (right across the road from the UoM accommodation) hosts a free fireworks display, bonfire and funfair each year. It’s always a great night! As for the Christmas markets, they’ve just open so I will be there faster than you can say ‘hog roast’, ready to spend more money that I don’t have on delicious food that I don’t need. I’m sure my next blog post will include a picture of me looking very merry indeed with some mulled wine at the markets – YAY!

Now we’re halfway through the semester, so you’ll find me buried under an ever growing pile of work! I’m in the process of planning the first of two research project proposals for my masters, one of which will become my final year project. Both will be based in the field of parasitology (I have a thing for parasites – don’t ask!). The one I’m currently working on will be looking at the immune response against whipworm, a disease which affects many people in developing countries. It’s going to be a lot of work but I’m really excited to finally have the freedom to design a project that is my own and on something I’m really passionate about. Speaking of my project proposal, I really better get on with it as I’m miles behind (shhh – don’t tell my supervisor).

Ciao for now!

Lucy

Eleanor’s Final Year Blog: The Homestretch

Hi Guys,

This week was the week that the sun officially arrived in Manchester, its super hot outside, skies are blue, there is not a cloud in the sky… and everyone is inside doing their dissertation or lab report (Yay final year!) Despite the high-stress levels in the day the majority of people still find time to let down their hair in the evening where every bar in Fallowfield with outside seating is filled to the brim with students. If there are two things that students react well to, it’s sunlight and alcohol. Personally, I also have the major advantage of living right by Platt fields, which means that when I eventually do surface from my project write-up I get to take my lunch breaks soaking up the sunshine in the park.

Breaks in the park = Heaven

Speaking of lab reports, 35 pages of portfolio later and I am on the home stretch. All the extra work that I put in at Easter has paid off as I’m set to finish a few days before the deadline. My housemates have all had similar projects that finish at the same time which means that this weekend is going to be… celebratory to say the least. I’m not going to lie; this Science communication project has taken a lot of hard work, but I’m really happy with the result. I would 100% recommend doing one if you aren’t too keen on working in a lab. I’ve learnt how to film and edit videos, use software that didn’t even know existed, and learnt how to communicate science to a whole load of different audiences. If that doesn’t persuade you to do one then I should probably mention that it is a also huge CV booster as you have to manage project yourself, set your own deadlines, and you pretty much get creative freedom over how you want to pursue each piece.

Celebrating the year of the Ram in Manchester.

Over the Chinese New Year one of our International Student Ambassadors, Arthur Yu Shi wrote a blog about his experience of Chinese New Year in Manchester

---

Celebrating the year of the Ram in Manchester

15 February – 22 February 2015

Chinese New Year is the biggest festival in the calendar for Chinese people -its tradition is celebrated around the world. There are about 80,000 Chinese studying, working and living in Manchester, therefore this year’s Chinese New Year celebration was set to be bigger than ever. Apart from extended celebrations across the city, there were a variety of ways for people from different backgrounds to join the fun and lively atmosphere here in Manchester.

Dan’s second year blog

Greetings Lords and Ladies, me again…

I believe my last rant came at the end of exams, although this was in fact, only the end of the first week of exams. As a result, many of my comrades did not share in my exuberance that Friday night. But anyway, never mind them, I made a point not to let other people’s toils and troubles ruin my week off. A week off that, as it turned out, was to include far too many happy days pizzas, beer, and hours in front of the t.v. watching sitcoms. As a result, a new ‘going running’ initiative was instated to try and cling to some remnants of fitness. This was a cute idea, and lasted until probably the end of the first week back at uni, by which time my wonderful faculty had already inundated us all with tonnes work.

Work this time round, however, has taken a slightly different flavour. Lecture work has been put on the back burner temporarily, while I try and juggle my dissertation and Research Skills Module (RSM). The RSM is a lot of work, don’t get me wrong, but it is also quite refreshing in that it is the only set of purely neuroscience labs that we as a course have been given so far. Some of these are largely conceptual, for example “Sniffy” who is virtual computer generated rat that needs to be behaviourally conditioned. Cute as he is, he isn’t real and so this type of practical is a little less exciting – there are only a certain number of times you can feed a rodent that isn’t really there before you start drifting off. On the other hand, over the last two weeks, I’ve had my first opportunity to hold a real human brain. Our hands-on neuroanatomy practical was the final piece in the puzzle in terms of visualising where everything that we have been learning about in the brain actually goes and how it works. It’s only really when you hold one in your hand, can you really see and feel how it has evolved from the brains that other, rather more stupid animals possess, and how our capabilities have evolved with it. Really quite humbling. On a slightly different note, they also run a nitrous oxide practical in the RSM, where some lucky volunteers get to inhale a bin bag sized sack of laughing gas, to ‘examine it’s effects on the brain’. Which really means laugh at people as they try and perform the simplest tasks while in fits of hysterics. Unfortunately for me, I was the last one to take the “Nos” and so everyone got the privilege of directly watching me make a fool of myself, shouting at my paper because I couldn’t remember what the number 6 looked like… All in a days work I suppose..

Dan’s Second Year Blog

Well hello there lovely people!

I’m Dan and I have, rather worryingly, been placed in charge of this year’s second year life sciences blog. Here you will be able to read all about the madness, wonders and misfortunes that befall students at Manchester Uni.

Just a quick little bit about me to start. I moved to Manchester from London as a highly excitable, slightly mad, 18 year old fresher, straight out of sixth form to study Neuroscience. Since then, I feel I have matured greatly into an even more excitable, completely mad second year neuroscientist who thinks he knows all there is to know about everything that matters. I’ve never had a blog before, so hopefully you can enjoy an lively insight into my Macnunian world!

Moving away from London to uni, I wasn’t too sure that anywhere I went would be able to match the filthy brilliance of the city I’d grown up in. That showed just how naïve I was… I loved Manchester from the moment I got here and it has been surprising me ever since. There is, quite literally, always something going on. Whether you will have the time, energy and will power to constantly be at the heart of the action though, is yet to be seen! I have been trying for well over a year now and I still can’t keep up with the city. Since moving back to uni after, a booze fuelled summer of football and a rather hazy excursion to Thailand, I think I’ve managed to touch on almost every aspect of Macnunian life.

Obviously the first week back was spent re-establishing old relationships with the bar and club staff of Manchester, as well as trapesing round everyone’s new houses for their first parties of the year (some being awesome, others being dismal!). There was, of course, an obligatory trip to Factory, as well as Revs, whose free pair of brightly coloured underwear with every loyalty card makes a great night out souvenir! My ‘refreshers’ week ultimately culminated in a very loud and late night at Pangea, made very memorable by excellent live sets from Craig Charles and Shy FX. Since then, I’ve managed to squeeze in live performances from SBTRKT at Albert Hall, and both Gorgon City and Ella Eyre at the Vevo Halloween zombie maze concert. For what it’s worth, I actually met Ella Eyre after the Halloween concert and am now deeply in love with her. I’m hopeful, but it probably won’t work out.

Brief trips back to London have given me the opportunity to grace both the King’s College medical freshers celebrations (my mates flat is almost directly under the Shard… I know right!), and the annual Waitrose staff boat party on the Thames. However, the minute I step back off the coach or train at Piccadilly, I can feel myself back in the flow of work and deadlines and to be honest, it’s fast becoming more of a torrent than a flow!

Frankly, since diving back into uni, I’ve had but the brief moment of down time. There’s barely even been time to keep up with the San Jose Shark’s or the mighty Arsenal’s faltering league campaigns, and with second year dissertation topics released this week, it’s not about to get any easier. Although I can’t quite figure out how they allocate the dissertation topics, I’m still pleased with the one I got – ‘The neurochemical basis of Schizophrenia and its treatment’. Just so you know what I’m on about, dissertations in the second year are big mark, nine page, scientific paper style projects that everybody has to do. Uni give you a list of topics to choose from and you rank the eight you’d most like to do, although just between you and I, I’m not sure how much influence these ranks really have.. Anyway, this essay’s a big deal, so much so that I’ve been told the research will be eating into my Christmas skiing time. We are NOT amused! On the up side, it’ll stop everybody back home from asking about my uni work when I give it to them to read and they can’t understand a word of it!

All this said, it’s good to be busy and I can already sense a very weird and wonderful second year taking shape. Hopefully, I will be able to partake in enough mayhem to give you guys an interesting read each time.

Until my next post, have fun and try to behave yourselves!

Much love,

Dan.

Rachael’s First Year Blog: On the Home Stretch

Well, it’s been…a while!  Sorry for not keeping in touch very much (hey, that rhymes).  As someone who likes to keep themselves comfortably busy at all times, this past semester has whizzed by in a flash of lab reports, pub shifts and Michaelis-Menten equations.  Here I am, writing to you practically at the end of term, ready to serve up the next dollop of info on my life as an undergraduate in the Life Science department at Manchester.

First things first, Easter was lovely.  I had three blissful weeks of rest back home in Sheffield, cluttered with some convenient shifts at my local pub to pay for my summer holidays, and a manageable pile of work to be getting on with.  One good thing about finishing the Easter break is that I’ve finally cracked my lab report and finished it well in time for the deadline.
Possibly one of my favourite parts of the whole course this year has been writing my report.  A mere seven pages (and ample time to complete it), it was great to have a bit of freedom on a mini-project that I could write and format in my own time.  Although my topic was already chosen for me (we studied the kinetic properties of the Yeast Alcohol Dehydrogenase enzyme), I have been told that there’s a little more free reign in second and third year.  Exciting stuff!