The BSID Undergraduate Research Experience offers one biomedical or medical undergraduate student interested in skin research the possibility to spend 6 weeks over the Summer in the laboratory of a BSID member to carry out a skin focused project. The scholarship includes a £1500 stipend for the student and £500 towards consumables for the hosting lab.
At the BSID meeting 2025 in London Ms Anya Sharma, a medical student from the University of Edinburgh, was announced as the 2025 awardee to carry out a project on “Investigating the Aryl Hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) in the context of psoriasis” under the supervision of Dr.Paola Di Meglio at King’s College London.
Anya spent last Summer in the lab in London; we recently heard from her, as she commented on her first taste of laboratory research :” The BSID summer internship was a fantastic opportunity that introduced me to many key laboratory techniques including keratinocyte cell culture and stimulation, RNA extraction both from whole skin biopsy and cell pellets, cDNA synthesis, and qRT-PCR. One achievement I was particularly proud of during this project was being able to isolate primary human keratinocytes from donor skin, culture these and use them for an experiment”.
She also explained how this award has shaped her future:”Overall,working on this project introduced me to the exciting field of dermatological research and has motivated me to continue research alongside my future career as a physician. It reinforced the central role of research in clinical practice and illustrated how carefully designed experiments can inform the development of targeted therapies for conditions such as psoriasis. My time with the Di Meglio team strengthened a long-term aspiration to combine a career in medicine with ongoing research in the fast-moving field of dermatology and I would like to extend a thank you to Dr. DiMeglio and the team for their continued support and guidance and the BSID for this fantastic opportunity”
The BSID Undergraduate Research Experience scholarship returns in 2026 funded by the BAD to select a new medical or biomedical students who will spend time in a skin research lab in Summer 2026. The call closed in early Janaury and the outcome will be annunced at the upcoming BSID Annual Meeting 2026 in Manchester.