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Durham’s Biophysical Sciences Institute’s Summer Research Bursaries
BSI Summer Research Bursaries provide undergraduate students with valuable hands-on research experience in interdisciplinary laboratories. The bursaries support novel research projects, many of which lead to new academic areas, publications, and further funding applications.
Fostering Innovation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The 2024 bursary cohort came from across four university departments and during their bursaries participated in a crash course focused on innovation led by the DU Venture Lab based on the complete EDAPT Innovation & Agile Thinking Training programme. During the course, students collaborated across disciplines to prepare and present pitches to "investors."
Jessica Fewkes, a Biosciences student and 2024 bursary holder, reflected on her experience: “My internship with the BSI taught me so much, more than I could have learned from my undergraduate degree alone. I gained new lab skills, connected with leading academics, and even contributed to published research.”
Research topics for the 2024 cohort included:
- Targeting Parkinson’s disease (PD) through a novel treatment approach using novel Retinoic Acid Receptor-Modulators (RAR-Ms), Jessica Fewkes (Biosciences), Supervisor: Prof. Paul Chazot (Biosciences) and Prof. Andy Whiting (Nevrargenics).
- Simulating Fluid Flow Driven Ciliated Tissue Remodelling, Guillaume MacNeil (Computer Sciences), Dr. Francesco Boselli (Engineering and Biosciences).
- Does dopamine degradation occur in non-dopaminergic neurons in the Drosophila brain? Karina Piotrowska (Natural Sciences), Dr Vincent Croset (Biosciences).
- Microbial coexistence with resource toxicity. Thomas Shaw (Mathematical Sciences), Supervisors: Dr Andrew Krause (Mathematical Sciences), Dr Karrera Djoko (Biosciences), Dr Denis Patterson (Mathematical Sciences).
- Modelling of the Embryonic Heart. Angela Wang (Engineering), Supervisors: Dr. Christopher Marcotte (Computer Science) and Dr. Francesco Boselli (Engineering and Biosciences).
- Modelling transient protein-protein complexes with AlphaFold. Isabel Bull (Biosciences), Supervisor: Professor Ehmke Pohl (Biosciences) and Dr Chris Prior (Mathematical Sciences).
- Understanding the interactions between enzymes and guest molecules. Euan Legg (Chemistry), Supervisor: Dr Keith Andrews (Chemistry) and Dr Michael Hall (Newcastle).
The cohort’s research findings were showcased in a poster session following the 2024 Howard Lecture. Thomas Shaw (Mathematical Sciences) and Euan Legg (Chemistry) were awarded the annual poster prizes by our poster judges: Aakash Basu (Biosciences) representing the BSI Executive Committee and Libbi Moon (Chemistry) from our BSI Early Career Researchers Committee. The prizes were presented by the 2024 Judith Howard Lecture Speaker Dr Ionna Mela (University of Cambridge) and Prof. Judith Howard CBE FRS .
The Undergraduate Summer Research Bursaries continue to inspire and equip the next generation of researchers and innovators at Durham University.
Links:
DU Venture Lab based on the complete EDAPT Innovation & Agile Thinking Training programme (Sway)