This pharma student shares how internship gave her a peek into the corporate world

Rasmita Nayak, is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy. In her leisure time, she usually spends it reading science fiction stories. “Being a science student, I believe that studies are not the only thing you have. You can pursue a lot of things. Like I love to dance, I have a habit of making pencil portraits and I love making portraits of my loved ones,” she shares. Why the Apeejay student chose to pursue pharmacy is because of her keen interest in being part of the research and development team. With that clear vision, she completed her internship at Panacea Biotec Ltd. where she learned about innovative techniques of research. She is happy to have got the opportunity to undergo hands-on training in understanding various instruments and apparatus in the Panacea Biotec’s laboratory, which were highly sophisticated instruments, and must be operated with immense care and protocol. 

Read the edited interview of Rasmita in which she explains her learning experience and aspirations:    

Tell us about your internship experience at the company?

I am glad to express that my training at Panacea Biotec Ltd was a great experience. During my training, I learned about the company’s values and working in an organisation  to successfully produce biopharmaceutical products which are very helpful in the medical sector. I was exposed to various instruments and apparatus in the laboratory, those were highly sophisticated instruments, and must be operated with immense care and protocol. Also, I learned about the process of scale up production of E. Coli, cultural, chemical, glasswares, fermentation types, and media preparation required for attaining the maximum growth for the microorganism. I also performed a gram staining procedure to get an inside about the contamination check on our cultural growth. I was also exposed to the quality assurance department, which enlightened all the practices of quality management in the organisation. I was successfully able to complete my short venture of industrial training at Panacea Biotech.

How did this internship make you industry-ready for the future?

During my training the most important thing I learned is the company’s value and how to work in an organisation with discipline – a proper working procedure needs to be followed. Also, I learned about working as a team,  how to handle all the glassware and instruments, and apparatus in the laboratory for large scale production.I got insights into working in the research and development in the pharmaceutical industry. All of these are enough for me to get ready for my industrial work in future. 

Some of the key things you learned during your internship?

The key points I learned are firstly, how to behave in an organisation. Secondly, the use of basic protection like masks, hair caps, hand gloves and lab coats  before performing any experiment. Thirdly, I got to know how a stepwise procedure is important for attaining successful results. Fourthly, how teamwork and division of work power are key for working in any organisation. Lastly, communication is the most important aspect when working in a research and development area.

How did your professors at Apeejay prepare you for the internships?

They made me industry-ready and shared their mistakes to alert me that I don’t repeat them. They also told me about the ethics of pharmaceutical companies, which I followed strictly and made my journey more easy and enjoyable at the same time.

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What are your future aspirations?

The one month of training in the  research industry helped me to know more about the options available for research and development in the pharmaceutical companies. Now I am confident that in future I want to pursue my career in research on Herbal Medicines