Director of Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre and Manchester Precision Medicine Institute

New high end instrumentation is being employed to ensure patients receive the right treatment at the right time at the right dose. To ensure that the maximum opportunities are taken from such platforms a highly skilled workforce is required. At the University of Manchester we have developed just such a highly skilled technical team to enhance the development of precision medicine and companion biomarkers.

The Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre was established to aid in the development of new diagnostic tools and protein biomarkers to assist in diagnosis or to judge whether a patient is or will show a response to drugs.  It is co-located  with the Manchester Molecular Pathology Innovation Centre (MMPathIC)  in a £3 million purpose built laboratory. The Stoller Centre was developed   with a £13 million Medical Research Council grant and now has funding of about £25 million (inclusive of a £6 million equipment base) with MMPathIC.  MMPathIC takes forward findings from the Stoller Centre, partnering companies and other research laboratories to develop tests and devices that can be used in the NHS and elsewhere to take clinical decisions. The funding acquired has been awarded for a platform and a concept that absolutely relies on the highly skilled technical staff we have employed to deliver data and information via the use of highly complex molecular weighing machines known as mass spectrometers plus other complex pieces of equipment. In mass spectrometry precision, accuracy and reproducibility are everything. Maintaining all these criteria needs to take place within a strictly controlled laboratory environment where every sample has to be tracked and every manipulation performed on a sample needs to be recorded.  Then, all raw data has to be stored and archived and also processed into information, a huge task given the amount of data we produce. This means our colleagues had to develop and build a complex informatics structure from scratch.

In the Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre we began with a shelled out piece of laboratory space and built the laboratory from nothing. We appointed excellent technical staff who helped to develop the project from the ground up taking into account sample tracking and all other features mentioned above. We have made a globally unique centre based on their team work, willingness and hard work. For example, in one strand of its activity the Stoller Centre has industrialised the process of finding and quantifying proteins in blood, synovial fluid or cells. With the help of our technical staff we developed the standard operating procedures to perform these assays in a fashion that would be acceptable under good clinical practice guidelines.  This involved standard procedures to “cut” proteins with enzymes, chemically reduce them and alkylate them. We often need to extract proteins at very high pressure and approaches to do that also had to be developed to best practice standards, again protocols had to be developed to do this.

Now we sit on a huge opportunity to improve healthcare thanks to the work of our staff in the Stoller Centre in the past and the future. We have projects in arthritis, leukaemia, ovarian cancer, psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, schizophrenia, dementia, heart failure and others. We are making and we will make a different thanks to our integrated and excellent technical support team.

 

Technical Excellence Supporting Teaching

Director of Teaching and Learning, School of Chemistry

The role of The University of Manchester’s world-class infrastructure and technical staff in the generation of internationally competitive research outputs and knowledge transfer is well documented, and is an important draw for academic researchers and businesses to the University from around the world. Perhaps less well documented, but equally important in pursuit of the University’s strategic vision and in attracting excellent students to study at Manchester, is the role of technical staff in teaching and learning – this is especially true in the School of Chemistry.

Being able to ‘do’ practical chemistry is as important as subject knowledge for many of our graduates in their future careers, and it is also an integral part of learning how to be a well-rounded chemist. An effective, professional partnership between technical and academic staff is crucial for around 700 students per year to gain hands-on experience of advanced, modern practical chemistry.

The technical demands of laboratory teaching programmes are wide-ranging: in any given week during the semester in the teaching labs, our technical staff engage in setting up an array of sophisticated experiments, rapid scene-shifting between different classes (a highly complex manoeuvre with very little margin for error), maintenance, calibration and operation of sophisticated analytical equipment, ‘on-the-fly’ problem solving, procurement, scheduling and implementation of laboratory safety to name but a few things. To deal with this level of student throughput whilst maintaining a world-class student experience requires not only skill but dedication and attention to detail.

Many of School’s technical specialists also engage in ‘face-to-face’ activities with students, for example guiding them through the operation of state-of-the-art instrumentation used in advanced practicals and research projects. A number of technical staff are also heavily involved in the design of practical teaching, both in the process of turning academic ideas into workable, in-lab experiments and in the specification, commissioning and operation of advanced instrumentation. And of course ‘stuff breaks’ in the real world: we rely heavily on the expertise, and often the ingenuity, of a wide range of technical specialists including IT experts, electronic and mechanical engineers and, of course, glassblowers (well it is chemistry after all) to keep our teaching apparatus and instrumentation in excellent shape.

The importance of our technical colleagues’ skill and dedication to the teaching  programmes, undergraduate research projects, and thus the student experience, cannot be overstated.

 

Multimedia Technician

Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development

Describe your work area and its importance.

Multimedia Technician working in SEED, based in Ellen Wilkinson Building 4 days and 1 day Humanities Bridgeford Street. There are around 30 teaching spaces with a variety of AV equipment installed. I spend quite a bit of time looking after these rooms, making sure everything is working as it should be.

On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?

The job is quite varied, there’s lots of portable AV equipment, which needs to be managed, loaned out etc. I could be out at a school videoing a PGCE trainee or a teacher, or videoing at a conference or in the office video editing. I also take quite a few photographs for use on our web pages.

Describe your career path to date, including highs and lows.

I started out as an apprentice commercial vehicle body builder for a company, which has long since gone, called Manchester Garages. After completing my apprenticeship I returned to college full time for 2 years to study AV design. I then went on to work at the Manchester College as an AV technician, I stayed there in the art department for 21 years before joining the university in 2006.

What drives you?

I know I drive a Rover 75, but I’ve never been quite sure what’s driving me!

Tell us a funny story, work-related or not:

There is one involving my wife and a telephone kiosk in Cornwall and that’s all I’ll say, just in case she sees this.

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?

Now let me think……………………..

 

 

Senior Theatre Technician, BSF

Describe your work are and its importance

I work in the theatre suite where we look after the needs of the many and varied groups of research workers. We give them the facilities to be able to do their research in the best conditions that we can.

On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?

This varies from day to day depending on how many people are in the theatres. A lot of time is taken up with the usual paper work, ordering supplies and doing accounts, but also we do the general maintenance of the theatres and equipment as well as giving technical assistance as a when needed.

Describe your career path to date.

I started as a junior technician in 1972 in what was then the Department of Bacteriology and Virology in the Williamson building. When the unit opened in the Stopford building we moved over there which was about 1973-4. In 1979 I went as a technician to the Department of Zoology back in the Williamson building and stayed there until 1989 when the department was swallowed up in one of the many reorganisations that seem to plague the University. I came back to the unit in the Stopford building as a theatre technician and took over when the previous senior tech retired. I have another 2-3 years to go and then I can put my feet up!

What’s your proudest accomplishment at work

There is probably no one thing as such, but I am proud and get a sense of achievement when we get problems sorted out for people be they big or small and they can get on and get their business done.

What was your lowest moment?

Probably when the Department of Zoology was absorbed. I worked at the time with a great group of people which I enjoyed very much who sadly got scattered to the four winds and I lost contact with most of them. Happily I have worked with an equally great bunch of people in the BSF.

What drives you?

Working with a great variety of people who rely on the staff of the BSF (not just me) to be able to do their research work and get the best results that they can. To be able to see that come to fruition is something it is truly worthwhile.

Tell us a funny story, work-related or not

When I started in 1972 I was told that would be on 3 months probation and I would have a meeting at the end of that time to learn my fate. That meeting never happened, no letter arrived ( no emails in those days) so I am still waiting to see if they want me to stay or not. They had better hurry up before I retire!

 

 

Instrumentation & Control Engineer

School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, Faculty of Science & Engineering 

Describe your work area and its importance.

I design, implement and maintain systems for data acquisition and process automation, for teaching and research experiments. I use software such as Labview and our Siemens PCS7 distributed control system (DCS), plus hardware such as sensors and pumps. My work is important because Chemical Engineers need data to understand how a process works, and they need to control it to achieve the desired results.

On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?

I have a steady stream of requests from researchers who need support in developing their experiment, so I will spend some time consulting with them and some time working alone on my contribution. I am continually developing our DCS, so take the opportunity to work on that when it is not is use. Most days there will also be some sort of ad hoc troubleshooting that I need to attend to, which could end up being the task that I spend most of my time on that day.

Describe your career path to date, including highs and lows.

I graduated from Leeds University in 2003 with a Mechatronics MEng degree, keen to work in robotics. My first permanent job was testing robotic high throughput assay platforms for pharmaceutical R&D. Configuring and testing the hardware was great fun, but I found testing the software quite dull at times. I wanted to be more involved in the development of automated systems, and fancied working for a large company with global presence. Siemens was an ideal fit, so I joined in 2006. Initially I worked as a project engineer, designing large motor and drive systems for clients such as power stations and steel plants. The international travel was great, although it was often at short notice. I achieved Chartered status in 2011, an achievement I remain very proud of. I then side-stepped into a design engineer role in another part of Siemens to learn more about distributed control, working with clients in different industries such as food, chemical and pharmaceutical production. It was fun visiting the manufacturing facilities, especially Hartley’s Jam and BMW Mini. Alongside my engineering work I enjoyed supporting entry level talent as a placement manager and mentor. As coordinator of the undergraduate sponsorship scheme I worked with managers across the business and with Universities, to help our undergraduates develop the skills they need to become professional engineers. I decided I wanted to work in a University and took this post at the end of 2014. In the future I would like to facilitate collaborations between industry and academia, to address the engineering skills gap or to aid development of innovative technologies.

What drives you?

Making things work. I like bringing together technology and people to find solutions to engineering problems. It’s a brilliant feeling when you solve a problem that you’ve never encountered before, and even better to share that feeling with others.

Tell us a funny story, work-related or not:

I used to have an inspirational mentor who worked at BAE Systems in Warton, and I would visit her there for meetings. On my first visit the security guard – quite deliberately – made a ‘hilarious’ comment whilst taking the photo for my ID badge. I of course indulged him with a hearty laugh, head thrown back for good measure. He insisted that the system only allowed him to take one photo, and proceeded to print what looked like a security pass for a braying donkey. He loved printing it out every time I came to visit; I loved wearing it a little less.

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?

Progressing your career isn’t necessarily about what you know, or even who you know, it’s often about who knows you. Take every opportunity to let people know who you are, what you do, what your strengths are. Getting involved with the TE@M network is a great way to do this, it enables technical staff to meet new people across the university and to increase their own visibility – for example writing a profile for this newsletter is a brilliant opportunity which any member can take advantage of.

 

The University of Manchester Technical Apprenticeship Programme in Engineering Operations and Laboratory and Associated Technical Activities was created in 2013 by Technical managers across FSE to help solve the future demand for skilled technical staff across the University by granting young local people entry to employment via well thought out and structured training positions.

The programme is organised to encourage apprentices to develop their careers over time and become analytical scientist/support staff, senior experimental officers, laboratory technicians, technical service managers or project managers, replacing some of the outgoing staff.

The programme of activities needed to be extensive and beyond a ‘standard’ apprenticeship. We recognise young people won’t necessarily know precisely what they want to do. The structure includes continuous rotation through laboratories and workshop facilities throughout their training period. This ensures our apprentices are aware of the whole University operation and are more able to select and be selected for appropriate vacancies as they arise.

The programme equips the apprentice with a set of transferable skills that will afford the opportunity to develop a rewarding career as either a ‘Specialist Laboratory Support Technician’ or ‘Specialist Engineering Support Technician’ upon successful completion of the apprenticeship. In addition the apprentices are taught essential life skills such as University accounting procedures, interview skills, report writing, people and project management skills. Apprentices are encouraged to network across the Faculties, providing a chance for them to grow their personal networks and maintain contacts throughout their lifetime. Regular ‘get-togethers’ across all the cohorts for peer support and networking are organized centrally to facilitate networking, team building and communication.

Since the Technical Apprenticeship Programme began in 2013, 9 apprentices have secured permanent positions within the University indicating the success of the programmed activities and the quality of education and training received. It is anticipated that all apprentices will secure employment. We understand that on completion of their apprenticeship, some may choose to seek employment elsewhere using their University of Manchester Technical Apprenticeship as a lever. Since we have a massive variety of roles at all levels, we actively endeavor to place our learners within the organization at a point that is acceptable to both apprentice and management.

The University is ambitious, raising its expectations and current targets year on year. These goals cannot be achieved without a significant investment in professionalism and training of our technical staff. The apprenticeship programme seeks to filter staff in from the base, continue to educate and train continuously and allow these highly motivated individuals to permeate the entire technical structure, carrying and spreading their enthusiasm as they go. One of the greatest challenges is keeping all our young learners motivated and on-message as they pursue their careers throughout the University.

Great thanks go to all our technical staff connected to the Technical Apprenticeship Programme. Their dedication, enthusiasm and ability to pass on technical knowledge are key to the future success of the programme.

Recruitment for a September 2017 start is underway, see following link:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

 

On Thursday 20th July FBMH hosted a tea party for all Technical staff. The event was well attended with over 100 technical staff attending and it was a great way to celebrate all the hard work and contributions made by staff in the faculty.

There was a crepe stall providing hot desserts, cake and refreshments the day also consisted of some fun out door games including, Play your cards right, Giant chess, Giant Jenga and Quoits, all of which provided good entertainment.

There was also an element of competition with a Technician’s Bake Off. Elaine Jones and Lindsey Loughtman from the University of Manchester Busy Bees Women’s Institute were the judges, they did a fantastic job of assessing and tasting each entry.

The winners:

Best Biscuit – winner: Lisa Jameson with rose water and ginger biscuits.  The prize (donated by Eppendorf) was an Oscar the Octopus.

Best Cake – winner: Lisa Jameson with a chocolate orange cake. The prize was an afternoon tea for two from a choice of 250 locations in the UK.

Best Cake – runner up: Peter Yates with a gluten free chocolate torte. The prize (donated by Eppendorf) was a Lab Wars game.

A total of £23 in donation was contributed by technical staff for the WI’s nominated charities: The Pankhurst Trust and We Love Manchester Emergency Fund.

The University of Manchester has become a founding member of the ‘Technician Commitment’ – a national initiative launched by the Science Council to raise the profile of Technicians and their contribution to the UK’s higher education sector.

As a highly skilled workforce within Higher Education Institutions and Research Institutes, Technicians bring a diverse range of expertise and knowledge to their role providing essential support to research and teaching activities. The University of Manchester currently employs over 700 Technicians across its three Faculties.

Universities are under increasing pressure to improve quality of teaching and research outcomes which impacts on all staff including Technical Staff. Yet Technical Staff have not always received the professional recognition or structured career development opportunities they deserve.

Within the UK as a whole more Technicians are retiring each year than are entering the profession. The resulting shortfall will have a negative impact on our future research and teaching if action is not taken to encourage sustainability within the profession.

Launched on 31 May 2017, the Technician Commitment builds on previous work carried out by the Science Council, supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, towards gaining professional recognition for Technicians. Signatories are asked to commit to taking action across five key areas:

 

Visibility – ensure that all Technicians within an organisation are identifiable and that the contribution of Technicians is visible within and beyond the institution.

Recognition – support Technicians to gain recognition through professional registration

Career Development – enable career development opportunities for Technicians through the provision of clear, documented career pathways

Sustainability – ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised

Evaluating Impact – regularly assess the impact of actions taken in support of the commitment to ensure their effectiveness

 

A Steering Group led by the Science Council will monitor progress and institutions signed up to the Commitment will assess their own progress using a specially developed toolkit of resources.

The University of Manchester signatory to the commitment is Karen Heaton, Director of Human Resources, and our Institutional Leads are Peter Crowe, Faculty Head of Technical Services [FBMH] and Colin Baines, Faculty Head of Technical Services [FSE].

This is an Important opportunity for the University of Manchester and all its Technical Staff to engage with a national initiative to improve the recognition of Technical Staff and their significant contribution to research and teaching. The expertise held by the Technical Staff, which is considerable in its range and depth, is highly specialised and often unique. Providing development opportunities for these expert staff will be critical in adapting their support to new emerging technologies and innovations.

In addition, clear support by Karen Heaton, our HR Partners, Jonathan Winter (Head of Staff learning & Development) and our Training Partners, demonstrates wider University commitment that will assist us greatly in our future aims.

In many ways we are fortunate that the aims of our own Technical Excellence at Manchester [TEaM] mirror many of the aims of the national Technical Commitment. However, TEaM aims to tailor the initiatives to our local needs and preferences, whilst still achieving or exceeding the national goals. TEaM is currently shaping the way forward through consultation with as many Technical Staff as possible over the coming months to ensure that the ‘tailoring’ is appropriately placed for you and your colleagues. Please do engage with the workshop consultations.

Further information is available from:

http://technicians.org.uk/techniciancommitment/

http://scienccecouncil.org/techniciancommitment/

Peter Crowe                                                      Colin Baines

   

 

Geography (SEED) tours at the Arthur Lewis building were a huge success, thanks to John Moore for leading them.

Fidel Peacock “I was really impressed by the lengths with which John and his colleagues at the Geography Labs went to accommodate us. To start, we had a freebie (LED light keychain) commemorating 125 years (1892-2017) of Geography at Manchester.  Not only could we observe as many of the different equipment and facilities they had but we also learned about the breadth of their applications. First, we were shown how soil and water samples were taken, the various equipment they took on fieldtrips (such as a CO₂-measuring chamber) and the different types of tree pollens under a microscope.

One of the topical projects involved looking at microbeads – the variety of sizes, colour and quantity, across different commercially available products. We were then shown state-of-the-art equipment, only a handful in the country, which made possible to automate the study and analysis of soil samples. They also had mass spectrometry machines to achieve greater sensitivity. We then went on to learn about a computational project involving data from different satellites and how they were being used to curate geographical locations.

Lastly, we walked across to the basement of the Humanities Bridgeford St. building where the workshop for architect students was housed. We had the chance to speak and listen to architect students about their latest projects as well as the workshop technicians about how they supported the students’ visions. Besides all the equipment you would expect with model making, they also had a 3D printer which could be really handy for anyone in the University.

All in all, this was a very well-planned, thought out and executed tour. There was a good balance of show and tell and all the designated people at each station articulated their stations with confidence, passion and a touch of humour. I would really hope they would be running the tour again in the future and highly recommend others to get themselves onto this tour!

Gail Millin-Chalabi – GIS and Remote Sensing Officer for the School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED) led the Virtual Vivarium stand for the Community Festival on 17 June 2017 at Manchester Museum.

She was supported by the dedicated help of MSc Geographical Information Science students Judith Angwech, Zhadra Taibassarova and Sandaru Weerasinghe from the Geography department.

The event provided an excellent opportunity for the Geography postgraduate students to showcase to the general public the Virtual Vivarium Google Earth app and Fabulous Frogs augmented reality app (see below photographs). The stand which ran for four hours was well attended with over 75 visitors from a variety of different age groups.

The Virtual Vivarium team would like to thank Peter Leigh – Multimedia Technician (SEED) for installing the Blippar augmented reality app onto several iPads in readiness for this public engagement event.

Virtual Vivarium Team – Community Festival, Manchester Museum, 17 June 2017. Top left photo from left to right: Gail (SEED Technical Team), Sandaru (Geography PGT student), Zhadra (Geography  PGT student) and Judith (Geography  PGT student).