Interested in a career in biomedical research?

Learn more about the vast range of careers and job roles available in biomedical research from the team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Biomedical Research Centre.

There are a vast range of careers and job roles in biomedical research. The Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) has a hugely diverse team carrying out these roles across Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London.

Some of the team at the BRC shared their top tips for developing a career in biomedical research in a series of career talks, exploring how they came to work at the Centre and their career advice. The full set of talks are available to watch here.  A selection of staff’s experiences and helpful advice is provided below:

Flavia Flaviani, Senior Bioinformatician at the BRC:

I support clinicians and doctors in their research and provide my skills to help with their analysis. I use my background - which is biology and informatics - to look at genetic sequences both of bacteria and human and microbes and provide these skills using computers to do the analysis … don’t be scared about not knowing right now about what you want to do but try to see what side of sciences you enjoy and just try it. Ask for internships if you can as this will allow you to develop a skill for a job you like.

Gerry Trillana, Matron at the Clinical Research Facility:

My job entails setting up different clinical studies and research, looking at how to resource different clinical trials, managing the patient pathway, and providing direct care and support to patients who are participating in clinical trials. I love my job because it’s a very exciting field of nursing practice – you get to meet patients and individuals and you are part of their treatment journey. In many cases you provide them options to access treatments that would otherwise not be available to them in the NHS.

Maria Lillina Vignola, PhD student at Guy’s and St Thomas’ BRC:

I spend a lot of time studying and doing experiments in the lab to try to find causes for a particular disease. On a normal working day, I do a lot of things – I work on my computer analysing data, making graphs, as well as doing practical experiments in the lab. It’s very exciting to find new things, test them and see if my research can help people to heal.

Jess Sells, Public Engagement Officer at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine:

My job involves working with our stem cell scientists to come up with fun and interesting ways to connect with non-specialist audiences, including anyone from primary age students to patients with conditions we are researching to members of the local community and people who aren’t usually interested in science. The main aim of our events and activities is to enable a two-way dialogue between scientists and non-specialists to help increase the public’s input into research.

 Please watch the full set of talks here.