What is your name?
Viola Ceriani
Where are you from?
Italy
Which class do you belong to?
Translational Neuroscience MSc class of 2026
Where and what did you study before joining Imperial College London?
I did my BSc in Biochemistry at King’s College London
How did you find your Master’s experience at the College?
This year has positively challenged me to improve. Beyond what I learned during the MSc, I am grateful to have been introduced to the Imperial Department of Brain Sciences through our lecturers and lab workshops. I really appreciated learning what other people in my field are researching, as it showed me the amazing breadth of neuroscience research
Which research project did you work on?
I worked in a lab at the Francis Crick Institute focused on congenital muscle disorders. My project focused on modelling a neuromuscular disease, X-linked myotubular myopathy, using iPSC-derived neurons and muscle cells
Where are you now?
Right now, I am in London, and I hope to remain here to continue my journey in academia
What are you working on?
I am looking to join a lab that reflects my research interests: my aim is to work on the molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases
What is the most important lesson you learnt as a Master’s student?
This Master’s programme taught me a lot, both inside and outside the lecture halls. Given the fast pace of the course, my biggest lesson was that motivation and dedication will take me further than trying to achieve a ‘perfect’ result. In both the lab and in reports and presentations, I like to take my time and keep improving my work before showing it to anyone. This course taught me to start a project with a clear idea of what I want it to look like and to be motivated to communicate my findings to an audience
How did the Master’s programme help you get to where you are now?
This Master’s introduced me to the bench-to-bedside aspect of neuroscience research, which is what I would like to pursue in the future. I gained skills that I will apply to my future research and, hopefully, to a PhD