Chemistry undergraduates at Southampton are often given the opportunity to work directly with our academics on innovative research. Some go on to co-author papers published in renowned scientific journals, many of which are held in high esteem globally for outlining significant and cutting-edge research.
Dr Jo Corsi worked with Professor George Attard in 2006 on a summer placement at the end of her second year as an undergraduate. She set up new experiments for an EU-funded project to probe the transcription of DNA in liquid crystal phases and continued in this field for her dissertation and PhD thesis.
“I enjoyed the chance to work independently in the laboratory, applying the research skills I learned as part of my degree on a specific project,” she says. Jo went on to win the University’s Alan Carrington prize for an outstanding final year project in Physical Chemistry and was shortlisted for the SET Best Chemistry Student award.
“Internships like this are a good opportunity to find out if you are really interested in lab work,” adds Jo. “It inspired me to stay on at Southampton for a PhD, then go on to complete a year’s post-doctoral research.”
Jo was named as first author on the paper DNA that is dispersed in the liquid crystalline phases of phospholipids is actively transcribed which was published in the Chemical Communications journal in 2008. The article was also promoted online in the section ‘Highlights in Chemical Biology’ by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
She is now Outreach Strand leader for Science and Engineering at the University of Southampton, a post which involves working with schools and colleges to encourage and widen participation in higher education.
Some of the scientific papers our undergraduate students have contributed to
Find out moreI enjoyed the chance to work independently in the laboratory, applying the research skills I learned as part of my degree on a specific project.