A 12-week immersive course that was a highly rewarding and challenging experience. Working in this fast-paced environment demanded efficient orgaisation skills, coupled with excellent problem-solving. My passion for learning and researching allowed me to grasp new concepts at a faster pace.

Along with gaining a many technical skills, I collaborated with diverse individuals. Having the opportunity to exchange ideas and see different perspectives was a valuable experience. I also worked independently on projects, improving upon my self-management skills.

Completing the course provided me with a renewed sense of motivation to further my technical skills while gaining more hands-on experience to create more interesting softwares.

While in lockdown, I decided to pivot my career in a more artistic direction. I've never stopped creating illustrations since I first learned how to draw, I take pride in bringing my characters to life by combining Eastern and Western influences.

I took the initiative created a professional art portfolio, and dived head first into 20+ art contests which achieved top places in 50% of them. In particular, I participated in a challenge hosted by Gucci and Draw A Dot, which resulted in being featured in an article by Gucci. I have also had the pleasure of receiving commissions, this involved communicating with clients to fulfil their requests and create personal artworks for them.

It is incredibly satisfying to see every piece of art come to life, and the emotions it evokes in different people.

In order to enhance my laboratory technical skills, as well as gain more biomedical knowledge and experience I opted into this 2-month course. This involved using computational models to analyse a gene within a parasite, and writing scientific reports to state the results of the experiments.

This experience gave me the perfect opportunity to combine my existing knowledge with computer-based techniques. It further established my interests in utilising modern technology to aid research, and the desire to understand how these programs work.

My first step into the scientific research industry was completing a postgraduate research degree at Imperial College, where I completed 2 6-month lab-based projects.

In my first project, Microsoft Office and GraphPad Prism was utilised for project management and tracking multiple ongoing experiments. Weekly lab meetings was the perfect setting to present my findings to the lab team, and I would receive constructive insights for the project. I was also tasked with supervising a new lab member and teaching them the techniques I have learnt.

In my second project, I taught myself the fundamentals of Python programming to analyse metadata, solved coding problems independently, and used tools such as MetaboAnalyst and Microsoft Office. In conjunction, I prepared numerous biological samples while ensuring the equipment was correctly calibrated for accuracy.

Achieving a Merit for my Master's boosted my confidence and enhanced my technical skills. Moreover, it improved on my problem-solving abilities and teamwork, preparing me for a successful research career.