What I do

Achilles Therapeutics specialises in personalised cancer treatments. It is an up-and-coming field of medicine where we make treatments specifically tailored to a person who has cancer, designed to attack only the cancer cells and not harm the patient’s normal cells.

I work as part of the immune monitoring. We will get samples from the cancer patients and run tests to ensure that they are safe and that they are responding to treatment well.

Gloved hand pulling a pipette out of a glass bottle

How I became a technician

I did A-level Biology, Politics, and Business. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to go to university. Instead, I wanted to do an apprenticeship. Initially I applied for business/admin apprenticeships but I came across this job on the government website and decided to apply.

The lifestyle at uni wasn’t really for me. I was fed up with traditional education and wanted to get into the workplace and earn money at the same time. I have started a Level 5 Foundation Degree in Applied Biosciences. On Fridays I get a day at home to do apprenticeship work. It’s all online from the University of Kent.

A typical day in my working life

As I’ve recently joined the team, I am undergoing lots of on-the-job training to fully understand the processes required. For the time being, a typical day would be shadowing other team members, general admin work, and ensuring the labs are clean. If anyone needs any help, I’m there!

A little more about
my everyday role

What I love most about my job

Days when I am in the lab for most of the time are my favourite days at work. We are quite a new team and when we got our first sample in (after months of preparation) that was a big day! It is a nice feeling to know that you are helping cancer patients. It is all confidential and we are not allowed to know any details about the patients but I do know that they are from all across Europe and the US as well.

The best bits about working in a team

There is a lot of support in the team - even more than I expected. I have one person who is my mentor and line manager, but everyone is willing to help me out. They often go out of their way to help me, which is really nice.

Find out more about this role

Discover what qualifications you’ll need, how much you can earn, and what the next steps are.

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Meet other technicians

Read more real life technicians stories, see what they do every day, and how they got started.