Maria Butchart (Summer Placement Student, 2026) 

Maria is a graduate student from the University of Sheffield, who studied Bioengineering with the Biomanufacturing specialisation stream. While her course mostly focused on the manufacturing process of biopharmaceuticals, it introduced Maria to the field of delivery systems, which sparked her interest in nanomedicine and drug carriers.

Throughout her time at university, she gained laboratory experiences through the official university SURE scheme, iGEM and her Final Year Project, which was part of the Bioengineering course. Through these scientific projects, she developed skills in mammalian and bacterial cell culturing, SDS-PAGE, western blot, affinity chromatography, plasmid purification and more.

During her summer placement in the Al-Ahmady lab, she assisted Dr Satinderdeep Kaur with an ongoing long-term study. Maria contributed to the sectioning, staining and analysis of spleens taken from mice treated with a specific drug formulation which was being researched as a potential treatment for stroke.

Outside the lab, she greatly enjoys nature photography, baking, playing guitar and hiking.