Graduate Ashlie at work in a hospital

Graduate stories: Physician Associate in Emergency Medicine

My name is Ashlie and I’m a Physician Associate in Emergency Medicine at Epsom and St Helier Hospitals. I did Biological Sciences at University of Brighton, and I then completed my master’s degree in Physician Associate Studies at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2021. In between these two courses, I worked full time as a Healthcare Assistant, to save for my master’s course and to gain more experience in the field.

What do you do as a PA in hospital?
I love working in a hospital as there are lots of opportunities to undertake practical skills such as blood tests and suturing to name a couple of examples! Continue reading “Graduate stories: Physician Associate in Emergency Medicine”

Model of a body's internal organs

Why study at Brighton? The Huxley building!

Biological Sciences student Sandra Skubis tells us about one of her favourite spots at uni.

One of my favourite places at Brighton University is Huxley Building located at the Moulsecoomb campus.

Specialist facilities at Brighton

Huxley itself has seven floors, mainly filled with specialised labs but also lecture halls and offices. My favourite floors are the 4th and 5th as this is where I spend most of my time participating in practicals. Whenever I enter the premises of this building, I’m amazed by the amount and variety of equipment available. The most impressive apparatus I’ve seen so far includes an NMR machine, spectrophotometers, 3D printers, DNA sequencing system and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer.

Continue reading “Why study at Brighton? The Huxley building!”

Profile pic of Nadia Terrazzini

Meet Dr Nadia Terrazzini

Nadia trained at the National Institute for the Study and the Cure of Cancer in Milan (Italy) and has since worked on a variety of immunology research projects spanning from cancer gene therapy to DNA vaccines, to immunosenescence. She is a member of the Centre for Stress and Age-Related Disease (STRAND), the Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Devices  and the Brighton and Sussex Cancer Research Network.

Dr Nadia Terrazzini is the course leader for Biological Sciences BSc(Hons), Biological Sciences MSci and Biological Sciences BSc(Hons) (with integrated foundation year).

The way I like to teach

My professional field of expertise is Immunology and I teach it at undergraduate and postgraduate level. I am very passionate about promoting the understanding of Immunology to students, who often find this subject very complex. Enhancing its accessibility is a priority in my work. To foster engagement, I try to introduce an element of fun in my teaching and I strive to keep my lectures student-centred and highly interactive, including everyday analogies (e.g. comparing the working of the immune system to a football match), story-telling and animated PowerPoint diagrams or animations.

I also use online game-based learning platforms such as Kahoot and Nearpod to make complex immunology mechanisms and concepts more approachable and easier to visualise. Students engage with the teaching using their laptop/tablets, so that I can introduce questions, polls and videos, pace the lecture and create breaks that give students time to reflect on the learning and work with peers in small groups. I also include examples of experimental data in my presentations and I design assessments to test the students’ ability to understand and interpret scientific data presented in literature. This supports students’ professional development as scientists and ultimately their employability.

Continue reading “Meet Dr Nadia Terrazzini”
abandoned boat

Brighton researchers create workshop for Shoreham Port Sustainability Week

Dr Corina Ciocan and Dr Mary Gearey are running a workshop on 9 September, revealing the ocean pollution caused by decaying fibreglass boats.

The Oceanic Pollution workshop on Thursday 9 September at 11am is free, but those keen to attend are asked to register beforehand to discover cutting-edge investigations now taking place into a significant but overlooked source of ocean pollution. Continue reading “Brighton researchers create workshop for Shoreham Port Sustainability Week”