Meet the students doing their MRes/PhD within King's British Heart Foundation Centre

I did my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at The Royal Veterinary College where I undertook a year in industry in the CRUK Therapeutic Discovery Laboratories. Within this year I developed the group’s 3-dimensional cell culture capabilities and their application in the high throughput screening process.– Josef Huntington (Year 1)

I studied both medicine as well as molecular medicine (BSc) in Innsbruck (Austria). After completing my studies, I worked there clinically for a year, which was a great experience.– Clemens Gutmann (Year 2)

When I started this course, I’d already obtained a master’s degree in Molecular Biology with a specialisation in molecular medicine and worked for a year as a research associate at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria). Basically, I started my academic career in cardiovascular science from a completely different angle focusing on platelets as biomarker tools and their involvement in different disease states.– Christina Reumiller (Year 2)

Investigating the link between mechano-sensing, the cytoskeleton and cardiomyocyte metabolism.– Josef Huntington (Year 1)

RNA Biomarkers of Platelet Function.– Clemens Gutmann (Year 2)

My PhD project aims to characterise the link between cardiac metabolism and cardiac hypertrophy using an LC/MS-based metabolomics approach.– Christina Reumiller (Year 2)

On a typical day I usually get into the office around 9:30am and have a coffee and a muffin (need to fuel up for the day). I use cells isolated from mouse hearts therefore my lab duties are a mix of growing cells in culture, performing labelling for specific proteins in the lab, and using the microscope to see what my treatments have done to the proteins. I am beginning to use specific kits to measure what my cells are breaking down to produce energy and so I will start playing with altering the levels of nutrients and seeing how this affects the results.– Josef Huntington (Year 1)

I get up at 6:00am, check my emails at breakfast and cycle to the lab. I divide my lab-based work into blocks of experimental work, data analysis and writing. It’s important to maintain a structured approach to working but still be flexible to act on reactive tasks or changes quickly. Most days I leave the lab at around 7:00pm. Three times a week I exercise after work by going for a run, swimming or going to the gym before cycling home. In the evenings I find time to read.– Clemens Gutmann (Year 2)

A typical day for me starts with a Greek yoghurt and catching up on the news. Then, I cycle to the lab where different tasks await me. I am involved in a lot of different projects in our lab therefore every week is different. Some weeks I do a lot of animal work, isolating hearts for metabolite profiling, other weeks I mainly work on method development for the newly acquired metabolomics platform, testing different metabolite extraction protocols and chromatography conditions. In my leisure time, I like to join the people from the King's weightlifting club, exercise or go and explore London.– Christina Reumiller (Year 2)

The rotations are a fantastic opportunity to delve into completely new research areas. I used to think I wanted to be an endothelial cell biologist, and now my project is in the heart, looking at metabolism, a subject I constantly avoided at undergraduate level because of how intimidating it was!– Josef Huntington (Year 1)

The programme with its lab rotations before the start of the actual PhD is designed to give students an in-depth understanding of scientific research. I am also grateful for my supervisor Prof Manuel Mayr, who involved me in numerous peer reviews very early on.– Clemens Gutmann (Year 2)

My favourite thing about this course is the lab rotations because they would allow me to explore distinct labs within the centre, learn new techniques and work with different supervisors and research groups on a variety of research hypotheses before committing to a 3-year PhD project. Only through this experience I found a PhD project that is perfectly suited for me.– Christina Reumiller (Year 2)

I think this year has probably been the most challenging with COVID-19. The last half of our MRes year was all computer based at home, which was very challenging mentally and emotionally.– Josef Huntington (Year 1)

The people that work there. Being surrounded by scientists working on so many different cardiovascular research projects is highly inspirational and provides an excellent environment for innovation.– Clemens Gutmann (Year 2)

The unique feature of the BHF Centre is the highly collaborative research environment, involving a combination of international pioneers in cardiovascular research and state-of-the-art, high-throughput technologies which, in combination, will advance our field of research within the foreseeable future.– Christina Reumiller (Year 2)

No matter what experience you have, it’s relevant. My main research background was in cancer research from my industrial year. But any experience is relevant, the main thing is your interest in the subject and your willingness to learn. I would also say stay open to new opportunities or possibilities.– Josef Huntington (Year 1)

Never trade a learning opportunity for something that seems more comfortable and quicker to achieve in the short-term. Maintain your motivational pace even when you encounter bumps in the road and work towards long-term goals.– Clemens Gutmann (Year 2)

Immerse yourself in this unique research environment, get out of your comfort zone and explore techniques and research approaches you’re not familiar with. Be brave to learn something new and approach cardiovascular diseases from different perspectives.– Christina Reumiller (Year 2)

Probably crazy but I would love to stay on the academic career path, so in 5 years’ time I hopefully will be learning new skills in a post-doc and beginning my academic career as an independent scientist. I would also like to explore potential science communication possibilities because I feel there should be greater accessibility and transparency about what we do as scientists.– Josef Huntington (Year 1)