Among the postgraduate students joining St Catharine’s for the new academic year will be our newest Gates Cambridge Scholar. Kyle Nickel is preparing to leave Canada to start his PhD in Biological Science at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and his arrival will bring the total number of Gates Cambridge Scholars currently studying at St Catharine’s to eight.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme was established in 2000 by a donation of US$210 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge. The programme continues to offer approximately 80 full-cost scholarships each year to outstanding applicants from countries outside the UK to pursue a postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge.
We caught up with Kyle to find out more about his journey to Cambridge.
Kyle Nickel
How are you feeling about your move to Cambridge?
“I grew up in Camrose, a small town outside of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, but each step in my studies has taken me further afield. I was based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton for my undergraduate studies (about an hour from home) and then headed to the University of Calgary (three hours away) as a graduate student. My brother lives in London so it will be great to be based in the same country for the first time in a decade!
“My desire to move abroad for a PhD was influenced by the experience I had during my Rotary Youth exchange: I lived in the Netherlands for a year, and the chance to live in a new country with new friends and family was immensely rewarding. I’m looking forward to joining the thriving international postgraduate community at Catz.
“As a biologist, it is cool to be coming to Cambridge, which has such a proud tradition of ground-breaking biological research. I have used the Sanger sequencing method all the time as a student, and it was actually developed by the double Nobel Laureate Fred Sanger at Cambridge’s MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.”
Are you excited to start your PhD?
“I have always had a lifelong curiosity about science and my PhD has been a long time coming. I decided that I wanted to be a scientist as a little kid and this excitement never went away. I first enrolled on a cell biology programme early on as an undergraduate and I’ve stayed on the same track ever since. There are still so many unanswered questions in biology – and cell biology in particular – and it is a case of exploring all the new technology available to us to find these answers.
“The Gates Cambridge scholarship is enabling me to undertake research in an exciting environment as part of a new community. I am excited to be based in Dr Simon Bullock’s lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. I’ve been really impressed with the lab and how Dr Bullock’s group has provided insight on the mechanisms that underpin key processes in the cell.
“My PhD research will focus on understanding how cargos are transported around the cell. I tend to liken cell cargo with a road network, with different trucks transporting trailers of supplies (such as proteins) moving between depots (such as where DNA is stored or where energy is made), and there are signals much like a satellite navigation system that direct cargo between destinations. However, we still have a lot to learn about how everything in the cell ends up in the right place. Investigating the molecular basis of how cargos are recognised and transported is important for our understanding of how cells work. It also gives insight into human health, as defects in this process are associated with diseases such as neurodegeneration.”
What are your interests away from the lab bench?
“I’m looking forward to letting off steam by getting involved in cycling, basketball and bouldering. I am excited to explore the UK and visit as many medieval castles as I can! I am also passionate about science communication and I look forward to sharing science with others.”
