Laura Koenitz is a fourth year PhD student at University College Cork. Her PhD project investigates microneedles as a patient-friendly delivery platform for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments and is supervised by Dr Sonja Vucen and Prof. Abina Crean. She recently finished a 3-month SSPC placement with Boston Scientific, Cork.
Briefly, we aim to formulate a microneedle patch with IVF drug cetrorelix, investigate it in skin experiments and learn about patients’ and healthcare professionals’ views on the use of microneedles for IVF treatments.
As part of my PhD, I had the amazing opportunity to do a three-month placement at Boston Scientific Cork. I was part of the Process Development team and involved in an exploratory pharmaceutical project. As this project was in a different area than my PhD, this was a lovely opportunity to expand my knowledge to other dosage forms. Furthermore, I enjoyed learning about the innovative projects of other groups at the Cork site and organization-wide for example at an internal conference and lunch and learn events.
I am immensely grateful to SSPC for facilitating this opportunity to branch out of academia and expand my network and knowledge. There is no doubt that the skills I have acquired during the placement will be beneficial to my further PhD research and future career. It was fascinating to experience how exploratory projects are approached in an industrial setting. I learned to evaluate ideas from a business perspective considering the market space and current commercial products. Furthermore, I developed new communication skills when presenting scientific results to an interdisciplinary team.
This experience has given me a better understanding of future career paths in the pharmaceutical industry and strengthened my drive to enhance patients’ lives through new developments. I could not be more grateful to my colleagues at Boston Scientific and their fantastic support and collaborative spirit during this time. I encourage everyone to benefit from these opportunities outside their PhD project to expand their network, knowledge, and skillset!
