Letitia McMullan
PIPS Host Organisation: GSK
Project Title: DRG Sensitisation by Type 2 Cytokines

During her placement at GSK, Letitia McMullan carried out laboratory work to investigate whether DRG sensory neurons can be activated or sensitised by type 2 cytokines. She learned several new laboratory techniques, including the dissociation and culture of DRG neurons, multi-electrode array recordings, and ELISAs, as well as how to analyse these data in Excel, GraphPad Prism, and Spotfire.

Letitia was also given the opportunity to take part in group project and department meetings, which allowed her to develop her presentation and communication skills, both through listening to others and presenting her own work. She gained valuable insight into what a science career in industry involves and how it differs from academia, and she is now far more open to considering a career in industry after her PhD than she would have been without this experience.

Letitia also learned the value of regularly discussing her work with others and taking more time to plan experiments and look at data rather than over-filling her schedule with lab work. Additionally, she established many new industrial contacts that she hopes to utilise in her future career.