Mastering the transition to employment
The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s (BDI) Masters course has just graduated its first cohort of students, and is already proving fruitful for its students, with a third of the first wave of graduates gaining research positions within weeks or even days of finishing.
Most of the 10 positions gained were in biotechnology firms with two in stem cell companies and one in a microscope manufacturing company.
Course co-ordinator Professor Ramesh Rajan said the key to the program’s success so early lay in giving students skills relevant to any research environment, whether in biotechnology, biomedical or biopharmaceutical firms or in universities.
The first year of the course gives students intensive training in skills in critical thinking, working collaboratively, statistics, experimental design and writing skills, including in communicating complex scientific “hot topics” to a non-specialist audience.
Following an intensive research project, the course is completed by students learning employability-relevant skills, such as writing cover letters, creating an online profile, doing behavioural interviews and addressing key selection criteria for jobs.
“We believe we need to firstly teach students the generic skills of how to think, how to collect data and evaluate evidence, how to test your hypothesis and to evaluate the outcome – that’s unusual as most courses start with course work,” Professor Rajan said.
“We also want them to have an understanding of how the breadth of industry operates,” he said.
The fresh approach paid dividends.
“One student got the job because he was the only one interviewed who knew how the biotech industry operated and who the competition was for the company to which he’d applied. The company was very happy. In fact, they marked him out for a management path and want to set up a permanent internship program for Masters students.”
With employability skills geared to the broad market in hand, students embark on a second year devoted solely to a research project and finishes with a three-month internship either in industry, at Monash or in laboratories abroad.
Find out where some of the first graduates have ended up:
Kishwar Ifrit became fascinated with imaging whilst undertaking his Masters project at Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) working on a project about the fin-to-limb transition of vertebrates – specifically how the fins of zebrafish develop.
“I was watching through a confocal microscope the development of cells to tissue, then from tissue to the whole fin and became more and more interested in the different imaging techniques,” Kishwar said.
Consequently, Kishwar did his internship at Monash Micro Imaging (MMI) where he learnt different microscopy techniques and recieved basic trainings microscopy and image analysis.
Kishwar gained a position as a research support assistant with Optiscan, which builds specialised medical imaging devices, two weeks after finishing the course. Associate Professor Ian Harper, MMI Director, supported Kishwar’s placement at Optiscan.
It’s a role Kishwar says is challenging, interesting and diverse.
“The teachers in the first year of the Masters course helped me a lot in how I’m doing things here at Optiscan,” Kishwar said.
“Our supervisors worked with us closely during our second year research, so part of the way they did their research became part of how we did our research,” he said.
“It’s not just research that you learn from researchers. I learnt a lot of things outside biology about how they plan their work, how they communicated with peers and managed their day to day activities in their labs, that level of professionalism.”
Kishwar, who enrolled in the Masters program after finishing his degree in microbiology in his home country Bangladesh, said he chose the course because he wanted a broader perspective of biological research.
“The course gives you a general idea of the medical and clinical science that’s going on around the world and because it’s so flexible you can go into any kind of biological research,” Kishwar said.
He looks back on his time doing his Masters as a time of learning a new culture, forming friendships and socialising with other students, working under the pressure of “assignment after assignment” in first year, then working hard in research.
“More than 60-70 per cent of us were working in a lab seven days a week we were so interested in learning and getting more out of our project ” he said.
Now on a six-month contract at Optiscan, he hopes to write a paper on his Masters project and to apply to companies including Optiscan for further work.
For Moyuan Zhao, the Masters program opened up a whole new way of thinking and looking at science and the world.
Moyuan undertook his bachelor degree in China, majoring in Bioengineering, during which he found himself increasingly interested in exploring human health and disease. But his degree was mainly focussed on microbiology and fermentation engineering.
He decided to do another degree, choosing the Master of Biomedical and Health Science at Monash because of its unique course structure. The first-year coursework allowed students to discover the research area in which they are interested and have a clear goal in mind before selecting a supervisor in second year.
Although he had originally wanted to pursue a PhD, Moyuan realised he was more interested in working with people than at a lab bench.
“I was interested in communicating with people and helping them fix problems using my professional knowledge,” Moyuan said.
He joined STEMCELL Technologies as a Product and Scientific Representative responsible for helping customers solve problems they encounter during lab experiments while using the company’s products, and working more generally as a professional consultant.
“Our customers are mostly Masters students, PhD students, scientists, professors and doctors,” Moyuan said.
“In order to provide assistance to them, you have to have a solid professional knowledge. The Masters course not only taught me basic knowledge from the textbook, but also laboratory experience,” he said.
“A Masters degree can help you get a higher starting point. It can also prove that you have better learning ability.”
The course left him with a different sort of knowledge, too.
“The two years of study widened my horizons and offered me a new mode of thinking. Also, I met different people from cultures all over the world, which allowed me to understand the world better,” he said.
Moyuan said that while he had only just started his job, he loved the workplace and his position, and was planning to stay at the company for a long time.
Zhipeng Qui’s plans to work in his home country in a venture capital company specialising in biomedical science firmed throughout his Masters course and came to fruition before he even finished it.
Zhipeng is employed by the venture capital company DM in Shenzen, China. The firm focuses on investing in regenerative medicine companies both in China and overseas.
“My major role is to help my colleagues to analysis the technology platform and patent of the regenerative medicine start-up companies in China, Europe, America, and Australia,” he said. “My colleagues evaluate start-up companies using some financial models, but I evaluate these companies from science,” Zhipeng said.
Zhipeng said that whilst his plans were initially “not very clear” before the Masters program they gained clarity after his first year.
“Although I had gained a bachelor degree in China, I hoped to have a deeper understanding about biomedical science,” he said.
“Overseas study experience would also make me more competitive when I came to find a job in China. I was inspired by a course about the application of biotechnology in industry.”
“When I started my Bachelor degree in China, I hoped to get some improvement every year. In this Masters program, I have done it.”
He said two units in the Masters program in particular proved crucial to his new job; a unit teaching basic knowledge of regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy, and one that instructs on biotechnology in business.
Zhipeng’s job not only helps him gain the necessary knowledge in the venture capital area but excitingly, connects him with the most advanced research in regenerative medicine.
“Most of our targets are the spin-off start-up companies of famous universities such as Harvard, MIT and Toronto University,” Zhipeng said.
“This was an invaluable experience in my life. In this two-year overseas-program, I not only developed my knowledge in the biomedical area but also begun to learn how to consider everything like a real scientist,” he said.
Zhipeng said he hoped to lead some investment by himself in the future and help biomedical projects translate from bench work to industry.
Find out more about our Master of Biomedical and Health Sciences.
About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute
Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the newly established Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.