Amy works as a post-doctoral immunologist at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford. In her current role she investigates immune responses to the Oxford ChAdOx1-nCoV vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 currently in Phase III clinical trials. Amy leads the lab team carrying out antibody testing post-vaccination. In this role she is interested in the differences in antibody responses induced over time with different doses of vaccine, in different age groups and how this changes with administration of a booster vaccine.

I miss being around a group of friends every day and sharing the learning environment with them. My close friendship group from the Abbey normally get together at Christmas each year and this year we have had to do that virtually; I look forward to being able to meet them all in person again.

The advice I would give to current students about the industry I am working in is that Scientific research is very broad but for me, science is all about asking questions, working out how to to answer them, getting some answers and then working out what new knowledge has been gained. If you want to be a scientist and have this kind of mindset then you might like to consider research. The appeal of biological science for me was driven by a desire to find out more about the natural world and how living things interact. Whilst my day to day job can be very demanding at times I wouldn’t change it! I would advise current students to follow what interests and excites them as doing something that you enjoy is very rewarding. A degree in Biological Sciences can open many doors – not just in scientific research, but in pharma, biotech, scientific writing, project management, clinical science and many more.