Biomedical Science Society Thread

what shall i do for the rest of the year?

I am going into S6 this year and I am thinking of doing biomedical science at Glasgow. I want to work for nhs but I don't know if I will have to do a postgraduate (Msc or doctorate) to get a job in nhs. Plus I don't know how the accreditation and registring with HCPC work. It would be really helpful if someone could explain this. And also is biomedical science a good career choice?

Hi. If you want to work in the NHS, you need to have HCPC registration. For that, your course must be accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS). In the link below, you can download a guide of universities and courses which are accredited:

https://www.ibms.org/go/qualifications/ibms-courses

At Glagow, the University of Strathclyde has a Biomedical Science BSc which is accredited so you can do that and be eligible for HCPC reg and NHS healthcare biomed scientist work.

If the university/course is not listed, then it is not accredited and hence you cannot have the HCPC registration unless you do further study/training (e.g. MSc). I have just finished a biomed degree at University of Birmingham and it is not accredited by IBMS so if I wanted to work in the NHS as a healthcare scientist then I need to get further qualification.
NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP) is a good option if you are thinking of NHS science work.

As for the job itself, I could tell you about my degree and career options. I specialised in cancer in my final year (took a cancer module and did a research project in this field). I can work in university research labs and publish my work in scientific journals, or I can work in scientific companies (e.g. companies that develop antibodies to aid research and clinical diagnostics). If I want to become a lecturer and run my own research then I need to do a PhD.

The job as a research scientist is quite good and you can manipulate experiments to adjust to what you need to find out. Your work can be "translated" into clinical trials and you may be working with consultants that run tests on patients. In the lab, you will be working with cells, chemicals and with animals in various ways (e.g. testing drug effects).
At the basic starting level (e.g. lab assistant/technician) you will be earning around £18,000-£20,000 pa. If you qualify further and are more experienced (e.g. senior lecturer and run your own research), you can be earning up to about £70,000 pa.

I don't know much about NHS scientists, but from what I heard you can progress up the bands with further qualification and more experience. The salary ranges are probably similar to those in research (all depends on qualifications and experience). The job itself involves running routine specialised diagnostic tests in labs and you will be working with tissue biopsies and fluids like bloods and urine. Some specialties involve more patient contact than others (e.g. fertility treatment work). I would suggest getting some work experience in hospital labs if you can to get a better idea of what a career is like. I know more about research career rather than clinical so try contacting work experience department or the labs themselves to ask if they do work experience.

Hope this helps

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Hey guys, just a few questions:
What careers can you go into after doing a BSc in biomedical science? What experiences did you write about in your personal statement? Why did you choose biomedical science?

Hey, I need help on what work experience I would need in year 12/13 for Biomed, I need it to write on my personal statement.

Tbh all the work experiences I did was nothing related to biomed, but as long as you link the skills (teamwork, leadership, passion etc etc) of your work experience or volunteering to biomed it would be more than enough thats what I did

Doing a PhD now in Immunology & some mentorring. Holla at me if you guys have any questions.

Hi
I'm going into my final year of Biomed. I was thinking of applying for a PhD after my undergraduate degree but I'm not really familar with the process. What exactly do I need to do to apply. And also how would you arrange funding for a PhD?

Doing a PhD now in Immunology & some mentorring. Holla at me if you guys have any questions.

Hi, I'm looking to do a PhD after my MSc in Immunology.

Another Immunologist

(You picked a good subject for PhDs. Immunology is such a hot topic).




Again, it was slightly different for me because my employer sorted all this out for me.

However it is pretty unheard of getting on a PhD project without visiting the lab beforehand and talking to the supervisor.
Think of it this way. You'll be spending 3+ years in this lab. Would you not want to see what sort of place it is first before applying?

The best way to get into a PhD programme is by having some work experience in that lab.

Are you just about to start your MSc in Immunology?

If so, simply asking your research supervisor if you could carry on with your MSc research project to a PhD, which means pick your lab for your project extrememly carefully. (Is the lab rich? Are they doing interesting current work?).