What did you most enjoy about your course?

I enjoyed both the intensity and the diversity of the program; it equipped me in just a year with the very broad range of research skills - from data analysis to in vitro and in vivo modelling - required to carry out cutting-edge science in functional genomics. Lectures were interesting, dynamic and excellently delivered. These were excellently complemented by independent work, through which we learnt how to critically read, assess & discuss high-impact papers covering a broad variety of topics.

I also loved my final thesis: it was superb to apply all that I learned at Imperial from 6 months at The Francis Crick Institute!

What did you most appreciate about the Faculty/College?

What I appreciated the most is the broad range of opportunities offered by Imperial College London: societies to meet new people with similar interests, meeting great PIs along the course or the great resources offered by the College Library, for example.

On the other hand, as a Course Rep I can say that Imperial's high educational quality is not a coincidence at all: it is based on the constant mutual dialogue and feedback between students and Faculty and Course Directors.
Finally, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic was fantastic and every step seemed to have been perfectly planned; despite the intrinsic difficulties of the year, we managed to get the final projects that most of us were looking forward to. 

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

I am doing a PhD in Biomolecular Sciences at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO). At the same time, I am remotely collaborating with the group wherein I carried out my MSc thesis: the Cancer Dynamics Group at The Francis Crick Institute.

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

It is such an honour! This year has been very challenging for me in many ways and I think this prize is the reward to work, patience and perseverance.

At the same time, it has been completely unexpected! Many students in my cohort were superb in all regards and I remember admiring many of them at the beginning of the course; it would have been fair that many others in the class received it. Therefore, I feel very proud to have been recognised with such a prize from a first-class university like Imperial.