27 August 2017
Viroxy Internship Program - Fare Thee Well, Adina!
Viroxy inaugurated our first internship program in May 2017 and welcomed our first intern, Ms. Adina to a steep learning curve.
On 29 May 2017, we welcomed our first intern to a 13-week of work experience in our fully functional, fast-paced testing laboratory. Last week was her final week with us and we took the opportunity to ask her a few questions to give our future interns a clearer picture of what to expect from Viroxy internship program.
You can also find a video of the interview on Youtube.
Who is Adina?
Wan Adina Suraya Abdullah Sani or fondly known as Adina is an undergraduate from University Putra Malaysia currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in microbiology. She is the eldest of 5 siblings and she enjoys baking in her free time. Adina is set to graduate in August 2018 and she is looking forward to pursuing a career in pathology upon graduation. Earlier this year, she applied for Viroxy internship program, was selected and completed the 3-month program in August 2017. One of the reasons she selected Viroxy is to gain exposure in disinfectant efficacy testing, a field she had been curious about.
So, how did it go?
We knew we did the right thing starting our internship program when Mr. Chin, our Sr. Microbiologist declared, "Adina did great! She exhibited great enthusiasm and always came to the office fully charged to watch, learn and try some serious lab work. We love that kind of energy here."
When asked what the bubbly young Adina thought of her experience, she replied, it was something different and truly eye-opening.
When we agreed to begin an internship program at Viroxy, we decided it was best to design a syllabus that considered each individual intern's level of competency and Viroxy's current workload to ensure we provided an experience that would genuinely benefit the intern. When Adina came on board, we designed her 13-week program to combine both theoretical and practical learning; theoretical learning to introduce the kind of work we do here and practical learning to gice her valuable hands-on experience. The transition from theoretical was gradual with the intern given time to observe her peers during tests.
During her 13 weeks with us, she learned basic skills such as laboratory environment and instrument temperature monitoring and decontamination procedures which are performed daily in laboratories everywhere. She also briefly handled some paperwork related to ISO/IEC 17025 to gain exposure on QMS requirements related to laboratory standards.
Adina then undertook slightly more challenging tasks such as reviving microorganisms and preparing media. And when she was finally ready, conducted product efficacy testing with several test microorganisms using membrane filtration method. During this process, she learned aseptic test methods, how to plan for a test, count colonies, sub-culture microbes, monitor the test environment quality, collect and interpret data, prepare test reports and various other skills that will come in handy when she is ready to work in a laboratory or join the research fraternity.
The realities of working in a commercial testing laboratory are different from working in an academic laboratory. Performing tests for a paying client require speed, accuracy and great attention to detail and this is something we wanted Adina to experience. Disinfectant efficacy tests especially, require the microbiologist to adhere to the contact time and maintain a high level of precision at the same time. According to Adina, the pressure of time was her biggest challenge when conducting tests here.
Not surprisingly, the short stint also taught our young intern to be independent. At the university, the lecturers prepared the materials and instruments required for a test. At Viroxy, she had to prepare everything needed for a procedure by herself before commencing. "I needed to prepare the media, autoclave it and know which equipment to use beforehand." This was tricky but it prepared Adina for her final year project when she'll be running experiments independently.
Asked about her colleagues, Adina said the team is dedicated to their work and they are close-knit. These values that Adina witnessed first-hand, form the core of our work ethics. We work together to achieve our targets, assist when there's an intern in our midst and we share our knowledge. "They are simply remarkable," she said with a smile, concluding the interview.
If you would like bespoke internship program that would prepare you for a future in the scientific community, apply for our internship program now by sending your details, a copy of your certificates and a letter of recommendation from your university or college to recruitment@viroxylabs.com. With us, you will not be handling tasks that add no value to your degree such as getting coffee and filing paperwork. Instead, you will be trained in areas that matter to prepare you for the real world when you graduate.
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