My MSc helped me to build my skills and confidence in the lab

“The reason that I chose to study MSc Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Sheffield University was because of its ranking and the learning environment of the university. The course arrangement is also what attracts me, especially that we spend 3-5 months of practical study in the laboratory - I love working in the lab.

“In the Autumn semester, Dr Qaiser Sheikh taught us a lot of techniques, including cloning, but we mainly focused on CRISPR Cas9. It's a sort of technique I did not know about before, but I think it is interesting as a potential gene editing technique.

In the Spring semester, I mainly followed my supervisor Dr Emma Thomson to do exosome in-depth research. I also learned a lot of techniques that I hadn't seen before, and she taught me the basic Protein-RNA complex analysis, CRAC. We cross-linked Proteins and RNA, and then purified the Protein-RNA complex to do cDNA analysis.

Baoli Ding

MSc Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

“In the Spring semester, I mainly followed my supervisor Dr Emma Thomson to do exosome in-depth research. I also learned a lot of techniques that I hadn't seen before, and she taught me the basic Protein-RNA complex analysis, CRAC. We cross-linked Proteins and RNA, and then purified the Protein-RNA complex to do cDNA analysis.

“I feel very happy that the techniques I learned from lectures have been fully applied to my experiments, because practice and theory are quite different. Moreover I am very confident with my lab techniques now, and I can complete basic experiments alone. Next, I want to apply for a PhD to expand my knowledge in the biology world.”