A group of eight MSc Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industrial Practice students have joined frontline health workers in administering PCR tests. The team of students have been supporting efforts since the 10 December 2020 and are stationed at different sites across the country such as Stansted, Hull and Exeter.
PCR tests, although not new, have been thrust into the forefront of our conversation when they started being used for detecting the presence of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic and are now a familiar term to all of us.
Training the students required an incredible effort by both staff and students in order to be deployed quickly, the call for workers went out the week before campuses were locked down in December, in line with government guidelines.
Applying our knowledge
Milan Antonijevic, Principal Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Analysis made the call for support with training students, “I knew we didn’t have long to get our students trained and ready to go. I am a chemist, so this isn’t my area of expertise, but I put out a request within the faculty and thankfully Joanna came straight back so we got to work."
Joanna Miest, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences said, “my area of research is fish biology but the technique of PCR is transferable between fish and humans. I told Milan that I’d be happy to help with in person training as well as preparing an online hub for teaching materials so that the students could have access to more information at any time. Time was really tight as we knew the campus would have to close in line with government guidance very soon so we organised a face-to-face lab session and sent out the invite to our students. “
Answering the call
“About 20 turned up” said Milan “and we managed to do a three-to-four-hour session and supplement it with all the online resources. Eight students were placed in the field and have been working right through until this week.
One of the strengths of our course is industry placements. We are proud of our ability to get our students access to amazing opportunities and this year is no different.
Joanna said: “I thought it was wonderful that our students were given the opportunity to help combatting the pandemic and enhance their skill set at the same time. This was a fantastic opportunity for them.”
A team effort
Milan said: “We also need to mention a great support provided by technical staff in Nelson building as the session run smoothly due to their great efforts and timely preparation of the lab. Also, we built the repository of a general knowledge for our students around the current PCR and qPCR testing, hence all MSc Pharmaceutical Sciences students have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and fully understand current analytical efforts used to support Covid testing. “
Thank you to Milan and Joanna, and all of our students who are supporting efforts on the frontline to combat Covid-19.
