As I reached the middle point in my PhD studies, the sudden realization of what I am going to do next after finishing my studies dawned upon me. Will I continue this path I am building in academia, or will I dare to step my foot into the unknown world of industry? As a biologist, opportunities to enter the biotechnology world are scarce, so when I saw the Digital Life Norway Industry Internship, I could not help but to try out. Fortunately, I was one of the few selected and got the amazing opportunity to do a 3-month internship fully funded at one of many incredible partners working together with DLN. I was thrilled when I got the letter of acceptance and even more excited as I read through the projects allocated for that year. I applied to four and was fortunate enough to land my very first priority and start at GreinDX, a startup based in Oslo working on developing a new product for cancer diagnostics.
At GreinDX I worked as part of the biology team in helping develop a product for easier cancer diagnosis taking advantage of the unique biological and physical characteristics of liquid biopsies and circulating tumor cells.
On the one hand, as my focus had been neuroscience for the last 7 years, I got the opportunity to explore a completely new topic to me. I found it challenging yet exciting and I found I was able to troubleshoot using my own research experience. At the same time, I got to learn to work on someone else’s deadlines, a rare instance in. research as you set your own deadlines and expectations. I was also able to communicate within a multidisciplinary team, a thing I had not experienced before as I have always worked among biologists and biochemists as the most foreign scientists. And finally we even got the chance to pitch our very own product to bigger companies who showed interest in us, a kind of networking experience is extremely rare to find.
On the other hand, I was able to use my own hard skills and see how they translate into a completely new topic and new model, as well as using my soft skills in a new environment as well as to broaden my horizons and getting the experience in industry I was so looking forward without even needing to finish my PhD.
If you would like to know what it is like to work in industry and are curious at what that would be like I would strongly recommend you applying for DLN industry internship. You will find it grueling yet rewarding at the same time (as pictured).