Daniel M.
About me
| Daniel M. | |
| Chemistry | |
| Chemistry, Biological & Medicinal Chemistry | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Langwith | |
| 2010 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Medicinal Chemist (Scientist 1) | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Science and research | |
| Medium-size business (50-249 employees) | |
| 2009 |
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A day in the life of a Medicinal Chemist (Scientist 1) in the United Kingdom
My career history
During my time at York I spent a summer working at a nearby pharmaceutical/consumer goods company - getting experience of working in a professional lab, conducting research generally learning how science research is done outside of undergraduate labs/school.
I then took up the opportunity to spend my fourth (and final year) of my MChem on an industrial placement, studying remotely for module exams and reporting some of my placement work as my final research project. This was a great opportunity to see if the job I had hoped to do when I started studying chemistry at York was what I had hoped for, along with also giving me a full years worth of experience working in a research environment - ideal to help me find a job after graduation. I loved the work I was doing, along with the company and environment I was working in - great news!
After my year placement finished I managed to secure a 6 month temporary contract extension (something that wouldn't be possible on most "sandwich" style placements), which ultimately grew into a full time contract! I was very lucky to have such a smooth transition from graduation to employment, in the exact role and industry I'd hoped to enter when applying to study chemistry at York!
But even if the process isn't as smooth for everyone, in my opinion graduating with a year of experience will help you stand out in any graduate job application process!
My advice to students considering work
Try and get as much experience as possible - it gives you that extra edge to everyone else that is applying for the same job! This could be just a week of work shadowing, a summer work placement or even a full year in industry placement.
Any experience will help you stand out, gain some industry contacts and advice, but perhaps most importantly, will also help you discover whether the field you hope to work in is what you hope it to be or not!
Try and speak to people who are working in the field you hope to get into - make sure you are applying to work in a field that will engage you. If you can get experience of that type of work too then that is even better - it will help you stand out when applying for that first job. Having seen what the work involves and realising that it is what you want to do when you graduate will help give you that drive to give the job application process your full!
My advice about working in my industry
Try and speak to people who are working in the field you hope to get into - make sure you are applying to work in a field that will engage you. If you can get experience of that type of work too then that is even better - it will help you stand out when applying for that first job.
This could be something that seems to you as insignificant as a week shadowing someone in a company up to a year placement, but having seen what the work involves and realising that it is what you want to do when you graduate will help give you that drive to give the job application process your full!
What I do
I work as a medicinal chemist - this means I'm working in the lab on a daily basis carrying out reactions to make target compounds for the project I'm working on - these targets range from forms of cancer, brain disorders or any other health condition.
Alongside the chemistry lab work, I'm interpreting the assay results from the previous compounds made within the project (with the rest of the project team) - forming ideas for the next target compounds to be made and how this will be made possible in the lab! This can be in both formal meetings as well as more regularly as informal chats around whiteboards etc. Every few months we will hold full project meetings where project progress is discussed.
Throughout the process it's key to be accurately recording how everything is made so that it can easily be remade in larger quantities if required and to be used to help form a patent application if the project progresses well! As well as working well independently, it is important to be able to communicate with the other members of the project team to help share knowledge, plan who is doing what and to help solve problems together.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
Technical skills - reaction planning, fixing reaction steps that don't work and general lab skills are all developed throughout your university career both in the lecture theatre and in the lab and then continue after graduation and throughout your career! It takes experience, learning from both the literature and colleagues around you. No one knows everything as knowledge is always being created!
Teamwork and communication - it takes a whole team to reach research project goals therefore discussing ideas, problems, interpretation of data etc. are all critical skills for any research scientist. These skills can be developed in many ways - both within an academic setting such as tutorials or lab sessions, but also in very different environments such as committee work within a university club or trying to explain what you do to a relative!
IT - use of literature searching tools, electronic lab notebooks, data analysis tools etc. are all vital skills for any research scientist. These skills are developed whilst at university - researching the literature to help answer tutorial questions, to guide your research project etc. but will then also be built upon when in work as the specific tools may vary from company to company. A general level of computer literacy is always helpful though - it makes learning new specific skills for each program much easier if have already mastered the basics!
What I like most
Getting the assay results back and discovering that one of your compounds has made a huge leap forward and has hit the success criteria for that stage of the project! It makes all the time and effort put into making the compounds worthwhile!
What I like least
Spending weeks (and more!) trying to find a set of reaction conditions that will allow you to make the idea that you think is going to be the next big idea. The job would be boring if everything worked first time, every time, but after trying different ideas tirelessly and still failing you begin to regret ever saying that!
Next steps...
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