Healthcare Laboratory Technician
Leo’s job title is Technician Scientist at Achilles Therapeutics
Achilles Therapeutics specialises in personalised cancer treatments. It is an up-and-coming field of medicine where we make treatments specifically tailored to a person who has cancer, designed to attack only the cancer cells and not harm the patient’s normal cells.
I work as part of the immune monitoring. We will get samples from the cancer patients and run tests to ensure that they are safe and that they are responding to treatment well.
As I’ve recently joined the team, I am undergoing lots of on-the-job training to fully understand the processes required. For the time being, a typical day would be shadowing other team members, general admin work, and ensuring the labs are clean. If anyone needs any help, I’m there!
Days when I am in the lab for most of the time are my favourite days at work. We are quite a new team and when we got our first sample in (after months of preparation) that was a big day! It is a nice feeling to know that you are helping cancer patients. It is all confidential and we are not allowed to know any details about the patients but I do know that they are from all across Europe and the US as well.
There is a lot of support in the team - even more than I expected. I have one person who is my mentor and line manager, but everyone is willing to help me out. They often go out of their way to help me, which is really nice.
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