At Antibody Analytics, we are dedicated to nurturing young people interested in science by providing valuable opportunities early on in their career journey. We firmly believe in inspiring and motivating the next generation of young scientists, which is why we continue to offer internship opportunities via the Career Ready programme.

So this year we were delighted to welcome Amy Nicol as our new intern for four weeks through the Career Ready programme. Amy successfully completed her internship with us, gaining invaluable experience in the world of science and work.

During her time with us, Amy, at just 16 years old, had the chance to fully immerse herself in the field of science, as well as learning all about the world of work within a fast-growing immunology CRO.
 
In an interview with Amy and her mentor Holly Greggan, Amy shares her internship experience and the valuable lessons she learned. Let's explore Amy's journey and hear her perspective first-hand.  

Hi, I’m Amy, I’m 16 and I’m in fifth year of school. I was excited about coming here because I was thrilled about being in a scientific environment and building my confidence within the workplace. I’m hoping to go to university after finishing school and potentially would like to study neuroscience.

How do you think this internship has helped you achieve your goals? 

"It has really boosted my overall confidence and helped get me out my shell. As well as this being in a lab environment and being trained on a variety of different kinds of equipment has helped me improve my scientific knowledge. Overall being at Antibody Analytics has been a really positive experience because I was able to work with lots of different departments and everyone was really friendly."

What have the main highlights been from your internship? 

“The new starters lunch; it was great meeting Andy, the CEO of the company, as well as people from different departments. I really enjoyed the lunch, and it was a great feeling to be invited even if I was just an intern at Antibody Analytics for four weeks; it made me feel more part of the team. I also got to get hands on with some lab equipment, like I was using pipettes, centrifuges, and water baths. I also got a chance to work with cells too which was exciting.”

Did you face any challenges during your internship? If so, how did you overcome them?

“Commuting here was a challenge but it helped me come out of my comfort zone and be a bit more independent. Also getting on with people in a new environment was both exciting and challenging. I feel more confident doing these kinds of things now.”

How are you feeling coming towards the final stages of your internship overall? 

Coming into this internship has helped me build my confidence, my skills in the lab and improve my overall experience working. Now, I’m also quite motivated to get a part-time job thanks to my experience here and I hadn’t considered this before starting my internship.

Of course, we asked Amy’s mentor, Holly, as well who has had an important role in this internship guiding Amy all way through her time at Antibody Analytics. So we turned to her to provide tips and talk about early scientific careers in general. 

Holly, what advice would you give to other students looking into internship opportunities?
 

My advice to anyone at school: it’s ok to not know what you want to do, there are so many opportunities for you once you leave school in terms of different roles within the field that you might want to go into. Our organisation has opportunities from lots of different areas like facilities and operations, R&D and more. Science has far more opportunities than there appears to be on the surface.

"Most importantly, you don’t have to have a scientific background to go into science for example. As a general tip and piece of advice – don’t put too much pressure on yourself, and always make sure to ask questions where you can, especially during your internship.” 

It was so rewarding to see Amy being so grateful and after hearing Holly’s tips she expressed her thanks and gratitude to all. 

I feel like I’ve been given the chance for so many opportunities with Career Ready and I’ve been really lucky to be placed here. I would like to thank everyone at Antibody Analytics, school and Career Ready for making this possible and having me as part of the team. This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.