My third year project proved invaluable for my application to study genetic counselling

 “My Clinical Diagnostics project aimed at understanding the process of diagnosis and prognosis of leukaemia patients in the NHS. Our lab received training on how to prepare DNA samples and examine them for bone marrow cancer.

“I chose to dedicate my time to this project because I will be applying to become a genetic counsellor soon, and it was a great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how the NHS operates daily.

Being trained in karyotyping (the process of pairing and ordering all the chromosomes of an organism) and producing a justifiable diagnosis were invaluable for my application to study genetic counselling as well as for job applications that requested experience in an NHS lab.

Vasiliki Kolovou

BSc Medical Genetics

“More than 80% of medical cases are resolved through clinical diagnostics techniques such as the one we performed. Being trained in karyotyping (the process of pairing and ordering all the chromosomes of an organism) and producing a justifiable diagnosis were invaluable for my application to study genetic counselling as well as for job applications that requested experience in an NHS lab.

“Our project supervisor was Dr Adam Hodgson, who was spearheading all communication with the Sheffield Children's Hospital to receive anonymous patient samples and allow us to follow NHS guidelines and protocols, identical to those of their labs.

“I strongly suggest choosing the clinical diagnostics project because it offers a steep learning curve on current standard diagnostics which gives you an advantage for applications to the NHS or hospital labs.”