Q&A with Our Newest Cohort of Placement Students

Harry Maguire

Role Title: Student Research Associate

Degree Course: ?BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences

Q: Why did you choose Bicycle for your placement year?

Harry: With my main area of interest being oncology, Bicycle - a company dedicated to developing therapeutics for solid tumors – felt like the right choice. Something that excites me about Bicycle is the diversity of diseases outside of cancer that Bicycles have the potential to target, giving me the ability to not only learn more and meet people from a range of backgrounds during my time, but also be part of a company that has the potential to help a wider range of patients with unmet needs. The sense of community when interviewing at the company is something that stood out to me as well. ?

Q: What do you hope to get out of your placement year with Bicycle?

Harry: On a technical level, I want to become confident and independent working within a top-level industrial laboratory. Just as importantly, I would like to meet and learn from the many experts here at Bicycle and grow a network of professionals involved within the very exciting field of drug discovery.

Q: What are your career aspirations?

Harry: I aspire to be involved in the discovery process of a new drug that goes on to help patients in the real world.

Q: What are your passions?

Harry: I really enjoy both playing and watching sports. Football is my main sport, but I enjoy a wide range.

Q: What is your greatest achievement so far?

Harry: Completing my explorer belt with Scouts in a two-and-a-half-year project involving an expedition to Kenya.

Q: What is your favorite scientific fact?

Harry: The mass of all the bacteria on Earth is over 1,100 times more than the mass of all the humans on Earth.??

++++

Alexa Kennedy

Role Title: Student Research Associate

Degree Course: Chemistry with Drug Discovery with Industrial placement

Q: Why did you choose Bicycle for your placement year?

Alexa: The work that goes on at Bicycle struck me as something extraordinary from the first time I read about it (and I have been proven right since starting work here!). The novel drug delivery mechanism that Bicycle has developed is unique. The feeling that I am contributing to something that has the potential to change the lives of patients is amazing. In addition, I can learn what a predominantly office-based role entails. This is a unique and exciting opportunity.

Q: What do you hope to get out of your placement year with us?

Alexa: Learn more about the entire drug discovery process in general, from medicinal chemistry to the drug discovery pipeline. Also, I hope to gain practical experience of what it’s like to work in a pharmaceutical company in a predominantly office-based job, which in turn would allow me to develop skills such as problem solving, communication and IT (to name a few). On top of learning about how Bicycles can potentially be used to treat cancer, I am also really looking forward to seeing how they might be applied in other therapeutic areas.

Q: What are your career aspirations?

Alexa: I would love to work for a pharmaceutical company, ideally as a medicinal chemist, that one day develops something that changes people’s lives for the better.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Alexa: I have always wanted to tour around South America! I would love to be able to get a taste of the culture belonging to different South American countries – not to mention the food! I also learnt Spanish at school and would love to pick it back up again.

Q: What is your greatest achievement so far?

Alexa: Speaking to a crowd of over 2,000 people to reveal that one of my biggest fears was leaving home to go to university.

Q: What is your favorite scientific fact?

Alexa: If you had 1 mole worth of pennies and gave everyone in the world 1 million pounds worth of pennies every day for the rest of your life, it would take you more than your entire lifetime to run out of money.?