Stewart McKay is swapping his cycle commute from Balerno for the golf course at Harburn in West Calder and fly fishing at Threipmuir Reservoir after more than 40 years at the IGC. Over the years, he has seen the Institute move through many phases of development and remembers staff playing volleyball on a field which […]

The IGC Technician Training Fund, a pilot project supported by core funding from the MRC, was set up to enable the training and development of technical staff. All IGC technicians can apply for funds on an individual or group basis to attend a conference or workshop, visit a lab to learn a new technique, or […]

With applications being sought for the University of Edinburgh’s prestigious ECAT-i programme (Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track – inclusive) by 29 October, we spoke to former and current participants to find out more about how the posts have benefited them. Paul Brennan, Professor of Clinical and Experimental Neurosurgery at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Consultant […]

By Jenny Sharma What is it like to be diagnosed with cancer? What is the hardest part of living with the condition? If you wanted to take part in research, where would you look and what information would you want to know? We need to routinely ask questions like this so that we can design […]

By Daniel Thédié My one-week visit to the Institute of Genetics and Cancer was a great week filled with new experiences and interesting discussions. I am a postdoc at the School of Biological Sciences, working on DNA repair and bacteria. I use a lot of microscopy and image analysis, and I have been wanting to […]

Dr Olga Oikonomidou is one of the UK’s leading breast cancer academic oncologists based in the Edinburgh hub of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer. As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we talk to Olga about why she chose her career path and what her role involves. […]

During Postdoc Appreciation Week, which recognises the exceptional contribution of research staff to the University, we speak to Lawrence Bates about life as a postdoc in Jenny Nichols’ lab, which studies the early stages of mammalian development, from formation of the blastocyst to implantation, gastrulation and the onset of organogenesis. What was your route to […]

Facility Manager Lizzie Freyer works alongside Flow Cytometry Specialist Michael Rennie in a state-of-the-art lab in the new North East Building, which they moved to in April from three separate rooms in the West Building. What was your route to becoming a technician? I studied in Germany and by degree I’m a Biotechnology Engineer. I […]

Jonnie works as a Zebrafish technologist looking after several thousand tropical fish spread over three rooms on the ground floor of the Central Building. What was your route to becoming a technician? I did a PhD in Developmental Biology in Aberdeen looking at the mechanism of early eye development. When I came back to Edinburgh, […]

Helen works as Histology Service Manager in the first-floor lab in the South Building of the IGC, running the histology service for users within the university and outwith, including students from other universities who don’t have histology services and some private companies. What was your route to becoming a technician? I have been here for […]