August 31, 2020, by Mei Kee Lee
Alumni Testimonial – Pang Kar Lai (2011)
The most memorable part of studying at the University of Nottingham (UoN) was doing my final year research project back in Spring 2011. Having hands-on experiences by working in a nurturing research environment with state-of-the-art facilities inspired me to pursue a career in academic research.
Upon graduation, progression from a trainee pharmacist to a community or hospital pharmacist had always been the linear career trajectory I envisioned for myself. Hence, as most people did, I took on the conventional career path by securing a job working as a pre-registration pharmacist at Boots. Shortly after starting training at community pharmacy, I quickly realized that it was not a right fit for me, and I was on the constant lookout for something more intellectually stimulating. In Winter 2011, an exciting opportunity came up for pursuing further studies back at the UoN. I eagerly applied for the position and was fortunate enough to be offered a doctoral scholarship fully funded by the School of Biomedical Sciences/MPharm PhD Programme Scheme. I was not hesitant to make a radical change in my career path and transitioned smoothly as the multi-disciplinary nature of the UoN pharmacy degree had provided me with a wide range of transferable skills and knowledge, ranging from clinical to research based. My PhD research involved phenotypic characterization of developing hearts at both morphological and molecular level in an altered haemodynamics pressure overloaded model that I established in Dr. Siobhan Loughna’s lab at School of Biomedical Sciences. I was also involved in giving gross anatomy and histology demonstrations to medical undergraduates during my PhD studies.
Kar Lai with her supervisor Dr Siobhan Loughna in PhD convocation in Summer 2017.
Upon PhD graduation at UoN, my interests grew deeper in trying to understand the molecular and cellular processes underlying cardiovascular diseases upon alteration of blood flow and I took up an opportunity to work as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Vascular Mechanotransduction group with Prof. Ellie Tzima at the University of Oxford. I played a pivotal role in a project that involved characterization of a novel mechanosensor that plays a crucial role in mechanically-induced disease pathogenesis. This project was a real tour de force in our lab and was recently accepted for publication in the world’s leading multidisciplinary scientific journal, Nature (and on which I am the second author). Unravelling the novel signalling pathways that leads to cardiovascular diseases can help us to identify druggable targets for therapeutics purposes in the future.
Kar Lai with her colleague attending formal dinner at Worcester college, University of Oxford.
Looking back at my 13 years journey, even though I have taken a divergent path from becoming a pharmacist, I am truly appreciative of what I have learnt at the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at UoN and the support I have received from my great personal tutors: Prof. Andrew Morris and Dr. Keith Spriggs. They were always attentive to my academic and personal needs throughout the time I spent at UoN. The School of Pharmacy ignited my interest in scientific research and guided me onto the path to pursue my doctorate degree which has allowed me to now work in cutting edge cardiovascular research at Oxford University.
Article written by Pang Kar Lai (MPharm 2+2, Class of 2011). Kar Lai is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford.
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