There have been some changes to the UKCAT that affect people sitting the test this summer (for entry in 2011 or later). The changes are for the times allotted to each section and the number of questions that candidates have to answer.

The new times are;

Verbal Reasoning (VR) - 22 minutes (44 items)

• same as previous years, no change.

Quantitative Reasoning (QR): 23 minutes (36 items)

• The number of questions has been reduced from 40 down to 36
• An extra minute has also been allowed.

Abstract Reasoning (AR): 16 minutes (65 items)

• same as previous years, no change.

Decision Analysis (DA): 32 minutes (28 items)

• The number of questions has been increased from 26 to 28
• An extra 2 minutes has also been allowed.

Non-Cognitive Analysis (NCA): 27 minutes (Item number varies)

• 3 minutes have been taken off the time for this section, to make up for extra the time allowed in QR and DA.

UKCAT have changed the Practice tests on their website from the 26th April to meet the new format, if you have previously used those tests make sure you check out the new ones before sitting the actual exam. The new tests are up at http://www.ukcat.ac.uk

In November 2008 we began asking members to tell us what their occupations were to help us provide the most relevant information on UKMS. Then in march we had enough data to see who was using the site and wrote an entry about it here. Now a year on we have gone back through the same process to see how things have changed.

The results show that in just one year we have gone from 1087 members to nearly 3200. The increase in members has been particularly strong among qualified doctors, with over three times as many as a year ago. We have also seen a considerable increase in graduate entry applicants, possibly because of the high number of medical school applicants last year and the current graduate employment market.

Undergraduate medical school applicants remain by far our most numerous group followed by existing medical students and graduates.

If your status has changed since joining UKMS, please remember to keep us up to date. This helps us tailor the information and services on the site to best suit our audience. You can update your status this by following this link or visiting your profile.

Well, that's it, I'm done! Since my last blog on here, I've been extremely busy in the lab and writing my thesis.

My laboratory work has been tiring, and has included weekends and late-evenings, but has been certainly worth-while. From this I've gained valuable research experience which is preferred for some specialities, and I've enhanced my communication and presentation skills. Examples of the research techniques include: culturing primary cells, Western blotting (to identify and semi-quantify a specific protein), quantitative real-time PCR, flow cytometry, invasion assays and confocal microscopy.

RNA gel electrophoresis showing ribosomal RNA bands

Well, what am I doing now? At this very moment, writing this blog in the garden! OK, guess that wasn't too funny. Well, now that I've finished my masters, I'm on one-month's vacation at home. After this, I'll be starting my final-year of medical school........

No doubt I'll keep you all posted on my experiences, good or bad.....

Over the last 2 months Chris, Mukhtar and myself have been snowed under with work. This time of year is always very busy at university, but now with Easter in sight and the summer on the horizon you should be seeing some very neat new features on the website very soon.

The medicine application cycle for 2009 is now starting to wind down. Most of our members who are applying this year seem to have heard back one way or the other from each of their 4 choices. Congratulations to those who have places, to those who haven’t remember there are still plenty of options open to you. We have heard lots of success stories from graduates, gap year and retake students over the last year and have an article on what to do if you don't have a place, which might be a good place to start if you’re unsure what to do next.

So since the applications process has gone quiet now, we will be using the next month or two to focus on helping our existing medical students. We’re keeping quiet about what exactly that means for the time being but keep checking back regularly for some cool new sections on the website.

I had a few minutes free today to review our members. These were the results:

We’re very pleased to see that

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I've done quite a lot in just over a week. After learning how to culture human microvascular cells, I've now got two large flasks of them growing nicely in the incubator!

Today, I've been immunophenotyping one set of the endothelial cell lines with anti-CD31 antibody. This is to identify that this population of cells are of endothelial cell origin (CD31 is expressed in endothelial cells). In its simplest, the process involved removing the cells from the culture flask (using dissociation media); centrifuging them into a precipitate, resuspending and then pipetting 250,000 of these cells into each of the eight tubes. These were then incubated with primary antibody (CD31). As this antibody wasn't conjugated with a fluorescent marker, a secondary antibody (FITC) was used. Incubation for each antibody was for 20-minutes at 4-degrees. So, at the end of this process, I had 8 tubes: 2 unstained, 2 with secondary antibody only, 2 with isotype and secondary (negative control) and 2 with both primary and secondary staining. These samples were then captured using fluoresecent-assisted cell sorting (FACS) to show CD31 expression in this cell population.

Tomorrow, I need to check on my growing cells, and next week, repeat the process above but on another type of endothelial cell.

So, you now know what I've been up to in the lab! In the evenings,

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