Social events

Life outside the lab

Science, sport and sketching at the annual Tissue Repair Retreat

Tissue Repair PhD students and supervisors enjoyed two days of science, sports and social activities on the shore of beautiful Loch Tay at the annual Tissue Repair Retreat,

which was held at Firbush, the outdoor centre of The University of Edinburgh. The centre is located near Killin, on the shores of the beautiful loch Tay, surrrounded by  impressive hills.

Following an afternoon and evening of excellent presentations by students of three of the four cohorts on Monday, the evening was for socialising. Tuesday started with engaging and inspiring three minute thesis talks by the fourth cohort, after which it was time to relax and make the most of the outdoors activities available at Firbush.

Students and supervisors participated in a range of activities, and found themselves on mountain bikes conquering the woods, in canoes peddling on the loch, or strapped to crampons with ice-axe in hand, making their way up one of the nearby snow-covered munros (Tarmachan ridge). The weather was great, adding to the joy. The evening offered an opportunity to be artistic during competitive pictionary sessions in the bar. 

Festive visit to twinkling Edinburgh Botanics

The Tissue Repair students and management team enjoyed a magical outdoor evening stroll through wonderfully illuminated trees, buildings and art sculptures during 'Christmas at the Botanics' at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.

The winter trail was completed with festive drinks at the balcony bar at the John Hope Gateway centre. An excellent way to celebrate all the student achievements of 2018 and ease into the holiday season.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year everyone!

Tissue Repair programme welcomes new student cohort

A warm welcome to our new Tissue Repair student cohort, who joined the programme in September.

During their welcome week our seven new-starts were introduced to the University and Edinburgh city. One sunny(ish) afternoon students of all the cohorts were divided into four teams to participate in a murder mystery quest in Edinburgh Old Town.

Racing against each other and the clock, they had to follow clues around the Royal Mile to find out ‘who dunnit’, learning a thing or two about the history of Edinburgh as they went.

After about an hour the teams ended up in (front of) Deacon Brodies Tavern to collect awards and quench their thirst.

Tissue Repair Away Day at Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh

The Tissue Repair Away Day 2018 at Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh was a great success, with outstanding talks by students of all four cohorts, followed by an inspiring key note lecture by Dr Tom Bird.

The first year students presented a 10 minute outline of their PhD research project proposal, while the second year students provided a summary of findings to date, all showing excellent data and progress already.

The third and fourth year students had to summarise their research in three minutes using the 3MT format (3 Minute Thesis) concept: one slide, 3 minutes. They all managed to inform and entertain the audience in equal measure, within the time limit. Great performences all round, with final year student Phoebe Kirkwood going on to win the University of Edinburgh 3MT Final with her talk on scarless mwound healing a month later.

Tissue Repair students attend PhD Student meeting in London.

The students of the 2017 cohort headed south to attend the ‘First year PhD Student Meeting’ at the Wellcome Trust Centre in central London. They had an excellent day which showcased the various Wellcome Trust 4 Year PhD programmes and research happening across the country.

Tissue Repair at Midlothian Science Festival

During the Midlothian Science Festival, which ran during the Autumn school holiday, Tissue Repair PhD students presented the workshop ‘Macrophages - the unsung heroes of tissue repair’.

Suitable for an audience ranging from primary and secondary school children to adults, the workshop informed visitors about the role of this type of immune cell in tissue repair. Activities included a video showing macrophages repairing a wound in zebrafish, a card game about immune cells, and creating your own macrophage using play-dough.