Sunday 1 March 2009

What does a biochemist do?


Recently our students received their Morrisby test results and suggestions for future careers. A number or reports included the suggestion that a career as a biochemist would be suitable. This prompted the question "what is a biochemist and what do they do?".
Personally (and I admit to being biased here as my degree is in clinical biochemistry) Biochemistry is the most exciting, and indeed broad, field of science to study today. We are constantly working at the forefront of knowledge..with every discovery often raising more questions than answers. If you are interested in making money then certainly the biotechnology field is one well worth having shares in.

We were very honoured to have Dr. Ion as a speaker last Wednesday who gave us an excellent presentation on DNA, the development of research techniques and their automation.

We had invited the physicists and mathematicians along, and I am sure they were wondering why. However the section on computer science, robotics and engineering I hope inspired them to consider that the fields of Maths, Computing, Physics and Business are no longer seen as separate to Biology and Chemistry. Indeed Science is now becoming much more interdisciplinary now and the universities in the UK are investing millions in brand new Interdisciplinary BioCentres. Its is certainly a very exciting time to be a biochemist!

We would like to thank Dr. Ion for her presentation and look forward the rest of her lectures.

Year 12/13 Biology Field Trip: Donana


Following Mr Hogans informative fish farm trip the Sixth Form biologists went on a weekend trip to beautiful Donana to investigate the plight of the lynx. The trip was very informative, exhausting and great fun...so thank you Mr Hogan for orgainising it.

My personal highlight, I think, was the three hour midnight walk where we all wore our pyjamas under our clothes because it was so cold and spotting glow worms, a boar footprint and some unusual lynx poo.

Other highlights was learning about the strange pharmaceutical properties of local plants and the lore surrounding the plants: some of the stories would make your hair curl!!

I look forward to many more fun trips.