GenerationResearch is a programme at the University of York established in 2021 that aims to widen access to summer studentship experiences for all students at University in the Yorkshire region. The programme provides paid practical, lab-based experience and career development opportunities to both undergraduate and Masters students across technical disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and engineering. The programme works hard throughout the year to secure funding for the projects, advertise them as widely as possible, and select the students based on an application and interview process which uses widening participation criteria to make the opportunity accessible to as many people as possible.

Novogene are delighted to be sponsoring one of the studentships this year in collaboration with Professor Katherine Denby at the Biology Department, a project that will investigate disease resistance genes in the Amaranthus plant, facilitated by Novogene’s RNA-seq and bioinformatic services.

The successful student is Tulsi Suchak, a third-year biology student at the University of York. An important factor for Tulsi when choosing her university was the opportunity to carry out a placement year to gain practical experience which, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, biology at the University of York provided. However, now placement opportunities have reduced, Tulsi was still eager to gain practical experience and applied for the studentship.

“I really wanted to fulfil the employability aspect and gain practical experience in a lab somewhere. GenerationResearch were advertising the studentship, so I decided to apply in the hopes of getting an internship to fill the gap,” said Tulsi.

Tulsi has found over the last few years that her areas of interest are genetics, data science and bioinformatics so chose the Novogene-sponsored project as it ticked all these boxes.

“I had also attended some of Professor Denby’s lectures so knowing the project’s supervisor was another factor in my decision in putting this one as my first preference. I’m looking forward to being in a lab environment for an extended period of time, learning new skills, and developing connections. And hopefully by the end of it I will have identified some genes involved in resistance against a range of diseases in the Amaranthus plant!”

We are delighted to have Tulsi on board for this studentship and wish her all the best with the experience. We look forward to getting the samples for RNA sequencing! We will be keeping in touch with Tulsi throughout her time in the lab so keep an eye across our social media channels for updates on her progress from when she starts in June.