Medical Biosciences Industry Placements

How your organisation can benefit

BMB students are driven, prepared and represent the leading scientific talent in the UK. 

Our external projects scheme offers your organisation:

• An effective means of achieving the highest standards for your projects.
• An opportunity to exchange new ideas, combined with fresh enthusiasm and knowledge of some of the latest innovations
• The opportunity to encourage, invest in and mentor biomedical scientists and research leaders of the future
• Experience for managers in training new employees, including providing feedback, complex time management and leadership
• Opportunities to tap into Imperial's research community, and potential collaborative projects and programe
• An effective vehicle for recruiting Imperial's top graduates who are well-trained and highly proficient
• Direct recruitment of trained graduates who have already worked with you

How to advertise a placement
We are keen to engage with companies that can offer projects in any topic related to biomedical sciences. If you would like to advertise a potential placement opportunity for our Medical Biosciences students or think you may have a placement opportunity but are unsure, then please get in touch at: bmbplacements@imperial.ac.uk to discuss in more detail. 

Terms and Job Description
The project offered should provide an opportunity to focus on a current health challenge. Other statutory terms and conditions will also apply, including holiday leave allowance. The external projects scheme forms a part of the final year of BMB assessments, as such we will need to ensure that the type of work the students will be undertaking is relevant to their studies. These conditions will be part of the external project contract agreed between the company, the placement student(s) and Imperial. 

To find out more please view our Placement Learning Policy.

Should you choose to undertake an external project, you will have the opportunity for hands-on experience, putting your skills into real-world practice.

Career Pathway Mentoring
As a student, you will meet regularly with your tutor group and your personal tutors throughout your studies. In your second year, particularly, you will discuss the various biomedical science career pathways and how your own evolving interests and skills match these opportunities.

Pathways Electives Fairs
During the second year, you will have the opportunity to attend Pathways Electives Fairs where you will be provided with further in-depth information about Medical Biosciences external projects and self-sourcing information.

CVs
Showcasing your experiences, skills and motivation for an external project is essential in securing your desired placement. To maximise your chances, the second year of the course has structured opportunities for CV building and review via the Careers team.

What kind of companies host placement students?
Companies can be any size from multinationals to recent start-ups. Companies don’t necessarily have to have biomedical science as their main business, but will understand the value of biomedical science in a broad sense. Through the discussion with our Industry Liaison Officer, we will establish that the placement role fully meets the School’s academic criteria.

Can the placement be overseas?
We are currently particularly interested in London-based placements, however we are keen to establish a network with a range of organisations nationally and internationally. To discuss overseas placements further, please get in touch at: bmbplacements@imperial.ac.uk. 

How will company confidential information be treated?
We recognise that some projects may contain confidential information. As such, Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) may be put in place between a company and the student, and the Faculty of Medicine.

However, the work or NDA should not prevent the student from discussing your organisation, the technologies they used or evaluating what they have learned from their work experience.

The BMB course trains its students in pure scientific rigour and skills, as well as the analytical ability, professional outlook and interpersonal intelligence required to succeed in their future careers. There is a focus on careers sessions as well as work etiquettes, responsiveness and professionalism. Our BMB course is specifically tailored with Industry feedback, innovative teaching and cohort network building.

The course offers extensive theoretical teaching and lab experience in the first two years, providing students with the foundations of human biology and the basis of disease. The extensive lab programme integrates theory and practice, as students pursue a hypothesisdriven project related to real-life research questions, designing and performing experiments. Students spend considerable time working in teams in the course’s innovative ‘Lab Pod’ modules, which develop communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills. They plan their lab time, troubleshooting and maintaining lab books throughout, presenting their findings in written reports and oral presentations. 

By the time students undertake their final year projects, they will have encountered and performed the following laboratory techniques:

• Cell culture
• RNA and DNA extraction
• RT-PCR, qPCR
• Protein extraction and quantification
• SDS-PAGE/western blot
• Mammalian cell transfection
• Basic flow cytometry
• Basic cloning strategies (i.e. ligations, bacterial transformations, DNA extraction)
• CRISPR - modification of human cell lines
• Cell viability assays

In addition, students study a full module on statistics during Year 1, which is taught using R coding. Students learn and are assessed using varied methodologies and so are very comfortable presenting their own data, that of others and analysing different types of data sets.

Students will have the following transferrable skills to offer to your company:

• Effective time management
• Engagement with ethics
• Leadership • Presentation abilities
• Problem-solving techniques
• Scientific writing
• Independent critical thinking
• Resilience