In our latest blog, student Nelly Nyaga shares her experience of a 12-week summer placement at BioAscent.

Meet Nelly

I am pursuing a Master's in Precision Medicine at the University of Glasgow. I first came across BioAscent during an open day at the university; when the opportunity came for me to apply for an industry placement, I did not think twice.

I was pleased that one of the projects outlined involved biased agonism, a concept that I had explored during my undergraduate studies which made it feel like the stars aligned for me to do this placement.

What surprised you most about working in industry compared with university?

This was my first time doing hands-on drug discovery work after years of studying it in theory.

Throughout the placement, I had the opportunity to see what that looked like from the most basic principles - from what it means to identify a druggable target, design a drug, test it for activity and have all the different stages of drug discovery connect.

That was quite a revealing experience for me because it went beyond the theory. It changed the way I see science because once I started to do what I had learnt in practice, the theory started to mean so much more. I gained a greater appreciation for the complexity of the process and for everything that goes into turning a scientific idea into something real.

Can you describe the project you worked on during your placement?

My project investigated the signalling pathways underlying biased agonism at the serotonin 5-HT_2A receptor.

Over 300 million people are affected by depression worldwide, and only 30-40% of patients respond adequately to the antidepressants that are currently available. So, there is a need for better and more effective antidepressants.

Through biased agonism, we can develop compounds that activate a receptor in a way that preferentially produces effects through particular signalling pathways. Psychedelics, for example, have been shown to have therapeutic effects, but they can also produce hallucinogenic effects. My project aimed to test whether some of these compounds are biased towards particular signalling pathways over others.

Understanding the signalling pathways underlying the effects of psychedelics would allow the exploration of pathways responsible for the antidepressant vs hallucinogenic effects providing a foundation for developing more selective antidepressant therapies that retain the therapeutic benefits while reducing unwanted effects.

What techniques or technologies did you have the opportunity to use?

I had the opportunity to develop and apply a range of technical skills, including cell culture, siRNA transfection, qPCR, cDNA synthesis, Western blotting, xCELLigence and FLIPR assays. I also observed the application of technologies such as CRISPR and gained experience with a range of general laboratory techniques and best practices.

I learned a lot of new skills throughout the placement, but I think the most valuable part was getting to actually apply them, collect the data and interpret the results.

How has your confidence as a scientist changed over the course of the summer?

Significantly. I had the opportunity to spend three months with scientists who are doing amazing work and who were willing to teach and mentor me. That was a big part of the experience. I think it would have been very different if I had access to all these resources but didn’t have a supportive team.

Everyone I interacted with at BioAscent was open and willing to share their knowledge. Every time I had the chance to learn from or have a conversation with someone, I came away having learned something new. Whether it was how to approach a scientific question, talk about my research, or think through an experiment, I was constantly learning.

That made me more confident, not just because of the technical skills I gained, but also because I was able to observe how experienced scientists approach their work. I think seeing how people who have been doing this for years think and work helps you become a better scientist yourself.

How did your supervisor help you develop and learn throughout the placement?

I think I was very lucky to have Dr Kyle Thompson and Rita Pereira as my supervisors. I learned a lot from observing how Kyle and Rita approached scientific challenges. Of course, there were many times when an experiment did not work, which is the nature of scientific research. But rather than simply accepting that, we would think through what could be changed. Sometimes that meant changing the dose of a drug, the way it was applied, the length of treatment, or even the conditions in which we cultured the cells.

I honestly think I had the best combination of supervisors. I learned different things from both of them, and beyond being taught and supervised, I really appreciated that they allowed me to grow and become independent. I think that made a huge difference to my development.

“Supervising Nelly has been a really rewarding experience and being my first opportunity to formally supervise someone, I was delighted to have the chance to develop my mentoring skills. Nelly came into the project with no prior wet-lab experience, but she picked up a wide range of techniques incredibly quickly. I was particularly impressed with how confidently she mastered the xCELLigence assay, which can be quite challenging to learn. I'm excited to see where her future career takes her!”

Rita Pereira, Associate Scientist and Nelly’s Supervisor

What are you planning to do next?

I want to keep building my career as a precision medicine scientist, ensuring that the right patients get the right treatment at the right time.

I’m also very keen to work on diseases affecting populations that are often underrepresented in research or excluded from clinical trials. I’m hoping that, over the next few years, I can continue building my technical expertise and experience through a PhD.

My placement has strengthened my resolve about what I want to do and the kind of career I want to build. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity, and I wish the company and all my colleagues the very best.