Alexander Haglund - MRes Cancer Informatics

What did you most enjoy about your course?

Coming from a pure wet-lab background, I really enjoyed the intensity of the informatics module. You learn very quickly that there is no limit to what you can achieve from a computational perspective in medical research, and the course did an excellent job of preparing you for the two rotation projects. These research projects for me really are the selling points of the course; in my case, both my projects were in widely different research areas and employing very different bioinformatic approaches, which really took my bioinformatics skillset to the next level.

What did you most appreciate about the Faculty/College?

There's a real push for excellence at the College which resonates throughout the Faculty staff and ultimately through the research you conduct, even as an MRes student. Despite this competitive angle, it has always been accompanied by a highly collaborative spirit which I have found in any person (staff or student) I have spoken to throughout my MRes. The College itself is also very international, which makes for an amazing community!

How did it feel to receive the Dean's Prize?

Amazing, especially considering my limited bioinformatic experience before embarking on the course! Extremely grateful to the people with whom I conducted my research at Imperial College and within the Institute of Cancer Research, whose invaluable guidance throughout the year has played a great part in this award.

What are you doing now/What do you plan on doing after graduation?

I am currently undertaking a fully funded PhD in Neurogenomics, jointly supervised here at Imperial College within the Department of Brain Sciences and at the University of Cambridge.