Meet Vacation Studentships recipient: Jack O'Reilly
Posted on April 28, 2025 by Microbiology Society
The Society offers a limited number of Vacation Studentships to enable undergraduates to work on microbiological research projects during their summer vacation. The scheme also gives early- and mid-career scientists the opportunity to gain supervision experience.
Meet the Vacation Studentships recipients and learn more about their journey.
1. What is your name and institution?
Jack O'Reilly
Trinity College Dublin
2. Please can you tell us why you applied for the Harry Smith Vacation studentship?
Throughout my studies in microbiology, I have always had a strong interest in the field of research, and I knew I wanted to explore this more and get hands-on experience during the summer break.
As a student, gaining experience in research projects and laboratory work was invaluable in supporting my pursuit of both postgraduate study and a career in research.
This led to my application to the Harry Smith Vacation Studentship, which offered me a brilliant opportunity to further my academic journey within the field of microbiology, exploring concepts such as pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance in non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM).
This grant also provided me with an excellent opportunity to enhance my technical skills within the lab, improve my scientific communication and, most importantly, show me what life working in the lab entails.
3. How did you feel when you found out your application was successful?
When I found out that the application was successful, I was absolutely ecstatic, and the news was incredibly rewarding. It felt like a significant milestone and step forward in my academic journey, knowing I would soon get the opportunity to work in the lab conducting my own research, which has been a lifelong aspiration of mine.
And while the prospect of getting to engage in hands-on research has always been a goal of mine, getting to contribute to our knowledge in a field of study that was so important and I was particularly passionate about made my PhD successful application all the better.
In a nutshell, I couldn’t wait to get in the lab and start conducting my own research!
4. How would you go-about explaining your research to someone who may not understand science?
Our research revolved around Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria (NTM), a species of bacteria found in the environment which may cause serious lung infections in patients with underlying health conditions. The number of NTM infections worldwide is steadily increasing, which is concerning considering the long and intensive antibiotic treatment regimen needed for those diagnosed.
Despite the concerns of increasing cases worldwide and insufficient treatment options, our current knowledge on NTM biology is lacking, especially in our understanding of how these bacteria adapt to the host lung environment in order to establish infection and persist despite antibiotic treatment.
In this project, we aimed to investigate how the lung environment affects the bacteria’s characteristics and its ability to withstand treatment with front-line antibiotics. We hoped to examine how these pathogens adapt to the lung microenvironment in order to uncover novel therapeutic targets and strategies for this salient disease.
We did this by replicating the lung environment in the lab through the use of lung fluid, which can be extracted from the lungs of patients through a washing procedure called a bronchoscopy. We then tested how the lung environment impacted NTM by growing the bacteria in this lung fluid and carrying out various scientific tests and procedures around its growth and antibiotic resistance.
5. What have you learnt from your experience?
Over the course of my project, I gained brilliant experiences and skills across all areas of lab work.
One of the highlights of the project was gaining experience working with various types of Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria (NTM) within a containment level 2 laboratory, where I conducted numerous scientific techniques, such as crystal violet staining and CFU enumeration. Getting the opportunity to conduct a wide variety of widely used laboratory techniques has greatly aided in expanding my laboratory skills and expertise.
I also had the opportunity to participate in a weekly lab meeting, which involved presentations of relevant research within the lab. Having the opportunity to become fully immersed in a research environment and getting insights into the work being conducted across the lab greatly aided in expanding my knowledge of good laboratory practice and safe experimental design.
In the final week of my project, I had the brilliant opportunity to present my own research and findings to members of the lab, providing me with invaluable experience in the presentation and communication of my data.
However, my favourite aspect of the project was getting an insight into what life is like in the lab and some of the day-to-day tasks researchers and postdoctoral students carry out, something which strongly reinforced my passion for research.
6. How do you think this vacation will help your career progression?
Getting the opportunity to conduct my own research through this summer studentship has greatly advanced my career development within the field of research.
The experience I’ve gained over the course of this project has reinforced my long term goal of pursuing a career within the lab and helped ignite a deep passion in me for bacterial research and scientific discovery. After experiencing the exciting work being conducted across the lab and gaining a deeper insight into current microbiological research, I have been greatly inspired to continue contributing to our understanding of bacterial resistance and pathogenesis.
While working in the lab, I also received valuable advice and support from fellow researchers regarding applications for postgraduate study and the process involved, which has greatly strengthened my confidence in pursuing a PhD and achieving my long-term goal of a career in research. The pursuit of a PhD can be a daunting task, and it’s common to begin questioning your skills and potential. However, after discussing the application process and the experiences of current postgraduate students, my confidence in striving for a career in research has significantly improved.
7. Why is support, such as this grant provided by the Microbiology Society, so important?
Support such as grant funding by the Microbiology Society is so important in providing opportunities to students to gain experience within the field of research. Unfortunately, as a novice student, research opportunities can be hard to come by yet are so important in giving the world’s future scientists an opportunity to work hand-on in research and further their academic career.
Science holds tremendous power, and through scientific research, we can harness this power to make a positive impact on the world. By gaining skills and experience in research, students can not only expand their own knowledge but can also contribute to science’s ability to make progressive changes to the society we live in.
It’s through support such as the Harry Smith Vacation Grant, that we can open doors for students to the field of scientific research, and unlock countless opportunities for scientific innovation and change.
As a novice student, research opportunities can be hard to come by ... It’s through support such as the Harry Smith Vacation Grant that we can open doors for students to the field of scientific research and unlock countless opportunities for scientific innovation and change.