October 12, 2022, by Mei Kee Lee
Student Sharing: My Industrial Internship Experience at Pahang Pharmacy – Grace Ang Qiao Hui
Article written by Grace Ang Qiao Hui, a Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences Year 3 student. She has worked as an intern at Pahang Pharmacy Sdn. Bhd during summer break.
How did I find my intern position?
I got the information about Pahang Pharmacy was looking for Intern through the email shared by Prof Lim Kuan Hon. Besides that, I also searched online through websites like LinkedIn to see if any pharmaceutical or cosmetic company was looking for Intern. My advice for juniors who seek for internship opportunity: prepare well your resume and cover letter early, search online through different websites to apply as many companies as you can, ask for help or recommendation from your tutor, seniors, course alumni and coursemate, look out the opportunities offered by our school.
What is my internship job scope?
I worked in Research and Development Department as an intern. My job position was microbiologist cum formulation technician. My job scopes including perform microbial contamination test on finished product samples and raw material, perform benchtop scale R&D trials based on manufacturing instructions and formulations given by the formulator which involve manufacturing processes such as mixing, blending, sieving, tablet compression, capsule filling, tablet coating, perform physical and chemical testing of samples such as pH, viscosity, disintegration, tablet hardness, friability, weighing materials etc.
My daily task was performing Microbial Limit Test (MLT) such as Total Viable Aerobic count (TAMC), Total Yeast and Mould Count (TYMC) and specified microorganisms test which includes absence of E.coli, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Staphylococcus Aureus and more. Besides that, my daily tasks included preparation of diluent, broth and media. I also conducted method validation which also known as suitability of the counting method. The method validation is conducted to establish the ability of the chosen test method such as plate count to detect microorganisms in the presence of product. Moreover, I ran benchtop scale R&D trials for tablets, capsules, oral solutions, topical solutions and also veterinary products. Other tasks given for me included sample preparation for analytical assay such as HPLC and UV.
What did you learn during your internship?
I had improved my lab skills and explored to many microbiological test like microbiological assay, media sterility test, water testing and more. I acquired skills in using different instruments such as autoclave, disintegration tester, hardness tester, moisture analyzer, viscosity tester, manual capsule filling machine. I also gained hands-on experience on making tablets which including mixing, blending, sieving and compressing tablets by running the tableting machine myself. I learnt to assemble and operate the tableting machine, adjusting hardness and weight of table during compression process and the setting of coating machine. Even though I wasn’t trained to run HPLC, AAS and titration but I was given an introduction and demonstration. Other than that, internship helps to develop my personal soft skill like adaptability, dependability, problem solving and time management. Sadly, my job did not require much communication with other departments. I was looking forward to having more chance to develop my communication skill.
How does UNM Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences course prepare me for the internship?
Our modules such as pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical microbiology, pharmaceutical technology and pharmaceutical analysis help me to prepare for my internship. The knowledge I gained from these course prepare me to have the fundamental understanding of what I was doing.
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