Sana Hanif is an MSc in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology student who completed her undergrad in Medical Physiology with the Life Sciences Enterprise Project (LSEP). In this blog post Sana shares her thoughts on the project.
As a Medical Physiology undergraduate, I was fortunate enough to be able to tailor my modules to my interests and experience a breadth of subjects from ‘Intro to Neuroscience’ to interdisciplinary units like ‘Computational Approaches in Biology’ and the ‘History of Biology in 20 Objects’.
After two years of following my curiosities, I concluded that lab-based work was not my forte, and, instead, I became increasingly interested in the commercial aspect of biomedical research and how innovations can go from one person in a lab to a global tool.
When it came time to choose our final-year projects, I opted for Life Sciences Enterprise Project (LSEP) and explored the business and consultancy side of commercialising research.
What does the LSEP entail?
At the start of the semester, we were asked about our research interests and ranked a list of potential supervisors and their proposed projects to find an avenue for commercialisation. From this, we were each assigned to our groups who we would work with for the rest of the year.
My group had a shared interest in AI in healthcare with a specific focus on psychiatry which we used to come up with individual ideas for products utilising AI. At the end of the semester, we presented these ideas in the form of a poster in front of the entire cohort.
In the first week of semester two, the team came together to create a concept presentation for the idea chosen by the group which we presented at the end of the week to our life sciences supervisor as well as the programme leads, Maggie and Martin.
During this week, the team decided to assign roles in line with the ‘Belbin roles’ which we learnt about through our weekly business workshops throughout semester one. Throughout semester two, we worked as a team to produce consultancy reports, presentations and business proposals, culminating in a year-end presentation of our business pitch as well as a Q&A with all the students and supervisors involved in the Enterprise Project.
Personal reflection and growth
During the project, as part of our individual assessment, we each kept a log of reflections following each task, keeping track of what we had learned about ourselves, and highlighting our strengths and weaknesses. For example, following a log completed as a group, we each noted strengths and limitations we noticed in each other and assigned each person a position, mine was essentially a mood-maker and creative thinker.
Another facet of the project which I thoroughly enjoyed was the opportunity to work with students across the School of Biological Sciences and make lasting personal and professional connections. My group, or ‘Team Cochran’, was extremely enjoyable to work with and I appreciated all their conversation and humour while working and outside of University.
What next?
As my undergraduate degree drew to a close, I explored more of my interest in science commercialisation through attending Intellectual Property open days and talks and soon found an industry in which commercialisation has grown exponentially and the technical skills aligned with my interests in AI and technology – bioinformatics.
Currently, I am working on my first research project as part of an MSc in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology at The University of Manchester and I attribute my newly improved interpersonal skills and reflective practices to the experiences I had as a member of my LSEP team, ‘Team Cochran’.
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