ApconiX Welcomes Sophia Tomlinson
ApconiX is delighted to welcome Sophia Tomlinson who joins the ion channel laboratory team as an industry placement student and will be working with Dr Michael Morton and Dr Kimberly Rockley for the next 12 months.
https://www.apconix.com/apconix-welcomes-sophia-tomlinson/
Academic Career
Sophia is a fourth-year student at the University of Liverpool studying for an integrated MSci in Biological Science – Pharmacology. This unusual degree consists of 3 years of BSc in Pharmacology, followed by one year of industry placement which counts as the MSc year. Therefore, Sophia will be graduating with her MBiolSci once she has completed her year with us. In addition to her placement work, Sophia is also following a few Uni modules, including Research Methods and Bioinformatics. This year will count for 40% of her grading.
During her third year, Sophia completed a 6-month laboratory project investigating methotrexate and its potential to induce mitochondrial dysfunction in which she developed some useful skills for her placement at ApconiX.
Sophia feels very lucky to be in this position because she will gain a deep understanding of ion channels and various liabilities investigations that are a necessary part of the drug discovery process, all of which will be very useful to find a job after her studies.
Working at ApconiX
Sophia discovered ApconiX at ELRIG in Liverpool in October 2023. She met Laurence Bishop during that conference who decided to introduce her to Mike Morton, the head of the Ion Channel Laboratory. Mike thought she would make a great candidate for a placement and offered her an interview.
As part of the lab team, Sophia will take part in routine experiments in cardiac and seizure liability screening when she is not busy with her own project using human stem-cells models to further validate our seizure liability assay under Kim Rockley’s supervision.
Sophia wants to use this year to think thoroughly about her next step, whether it will be finding a full-time job or starting a PhD thesis.
Dr Michael Morton, Director and Co-founder commented, “Sophia’s positive attitude and outgoing personality have been refreshing. I have no doubt Sophia will enjoy a great placement year with ApconiX.”
Interests Outside Work
When she is not in the lab or studying for her degree, Sophia likes to stay active: she mentioned hiking, paddleboarding, going to the gym and bouldering are her favourite activities.
