MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London
Science for Health
Postdoctoral scientist experiences
17 July 2012
NIMR hosts approximately 220 postdoctoral scientists, supported either by MRC core funding or externally funded fellowships. Two postdocs give their reasons for choosing NIMR.
Laurent Dupays, Developmental Biology
Working at NIMR has been a great experience over the past few years. The
large size of the Institute and the wide range of expertise available allow any
researcher to find what he or she needs in a matter of hours, whether it be
an unusual restriction enzyme or the answer to an obscure statistical problem.
One of the many assets is the incredibly well organised network of services.
As a developmental biologist working on mouse heart development it’s great
to have access to such a wonderful mouse facility. Our animal technicians
are dedicated to taking care of our mouse colonies, which allows us as
researchers to spend more time at the bench furthering our knowledge. And
the mouse facility is just one part of the many dedicated services provided for
scientists at the Institute.
Another benefit is the number of people working on so many different model organisms. Maybe your speciality is mouse embryology, but you would like to perform some quick functional analyses in an alternative model? Just go next door and ask about zebrafish or Xenopus embryos and you can expand your project into another organism within the week. And colleagues are always happy to help you ‘see the light’ by using their preferred model! Without doubt the great infrastructure combined with the sharing of knowledge and skills makes NIMR a wonderful place to work efficiently, and perform well.
Otto Kyrieleis, Molecular Structure
I started at NIMR in November 2009. I am working in Steve Smerdon’s
group, on the structural biology of complexes involved in ubiquitin-regulated
signalling events following double-stranded DNA breaks. I have always enjoyed
the friendly, collegial atmosphere at the Institute and in particular in the
Division of Molecular Structure. In addition to the great working atmosphere
here, the Institute offers a great variety of facilities available for everyone in
the Institute. This allows you to learn many additional techniques and methods
to tackle biological questions.
Each facility is run by competent and friendly staff, who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise with you and to support you. This makes the life of postdocs at NIMR a lot easier compared to other institutions. And finally, I really appreciate the opportunities for social networking at NIMR including the onsite bar, various sport pitches, squash court and the seminar series such as the Mill Hill Lectures and the bi-monthly postdoc seminar series with a beer session afterwards. Taking all these things together this makes the NIMR a very inspiring and exciting place to work.
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