Meet the Apprentices

Meet Adam, one of our Technician Scientist apprentices

Click below to hear about Adam’s experiences of apprentice life and why he chose an apprenticeship at AstraZeneca.

Adam talks about studying for a Foundation Applied Bioscience degree.

Read about Cora, another one of our Technician Scientist apprentices

I’m Cora O’Callaghan and I am currently in my second year of an apprenticeship at AstraZeneca. I am currently studying a level 5 degree apprenticeship with the university of Kent in Applied Bioscience.

What is my job role?

I work at AstraZeneca within a large department (antibody discovery and protein engineering) in a very small team called the mRNA team.  I work day to day in a molecular biology lab and help by progressing molecular biology projects within my team.

We focus mainly on mRNA. There are lots of different techniques and molecular biology protocols involved in mRNA. Everyday is different and I have learnt a variety of molecular biology techniques. These will help me in my future career.

What are the ups and the downs of your current projects?

Currently, I am working on two projects. The first project is RT-qPCR mRNA stability assay, the main goal of which is to be able to determine the half-life of mRNA expressing antibody. This project has been challenging and has shown me the reality of science.

My second project is to produce mRNA from a range of different DNA which contain different untranslated regions (UTRs) and then to eventually evaluate the expression of the open reading frame (ORF).

What are some advantages for working for a multinational biopharmaceutical company?

Working for a global biopharmaceutical company presents many different opportunities for me to explore. There are so many different areas of expertise you can learn from and you can get really hands on, learning different skills and working on different projects.

How has the apprenticeship been so far?

Overall, the apprenticeship has been even better than anticipated. Being someone who initially wasn’t going to apply for an apprenticeship, I am so glad I did and was chosen for this opportunity. I think the best thing for me about the apprenticeship is that from the beginning I’ve had such hands on experience in the lab, which is exactly what I wanted.