Aneesa Ejaz

What does a Laboratory Operations Manager do?  Well, you lead, guide and develop a team of professionals overseeing all elements that feed into running a Laboratory. UK Biobank has various projects - internal and external - usually ongoing concurrently, so we need to ensure our quality standards remain high with the Biological samples we Biobank. I oversee various elements of the projects, including Sample Management, Quality, Training, meeting deadlines as well as monitoring of shipments of samples from our satellite sites and samples that are being shipped to researchers across the globe. 

UK Biobank is passionate about facilitating human healthcare research and ensuring that data is available to all! I can confidently say that UK Biobank has some of the most helpful and friendliest staff working in the organisation as we are all driven by what UK Biobank stands for. The culture is to ask questions, learn and develop - Everyone around you is always on hand to help. 

I have worked in various industries before, but my scientific journey started as a Microbiological Analyst, processing food products from suppliers to major supermarkets across UK and Europe to ensure they were fit for consumption. I moved into DNA quantification and adulteration as well as Allergen testing on food products - Checking products if they contained allergenic proteins which would need to be declared by supermarkets to keep the consumer safe.  It's here where I ascended into management and found my passion for laboratory management as there were so many components involved in keeping a laboratory running! Naturally, the next step was moving into UK Biobank where I could utilise not only skills learnt as part of industry, but also apply my Biomedical Sciences knowledge. 

If you have the skillset and believe you can do the job, apply! We have a diverse range of backgrounds who use the skills acquired in previous settings to help in their roles. It's incredible what UK Biobank wants to achieve and help deliver to the industry, but open to look at those from a whole host of backgrounds with skillsets which match the job requirements. Research into what we do and why we do it, it's very eye opening - There's a whole host of resource available throughout the UK Biobank website.