My SteriLabs Experience as an Interdisciplinary Biochemistry and Microbiology Intern. Blog post by Natasha Tal.

September 22, 2025

My SteriLabs Experience as an Interdisciplinary Biochemistry and Microbiology Intern. Blog post by Natasha Tal.

My name is Natasha Tal, and for the last four months, I’ve had the pleasure of working at SteriLabs as a biochemistry and microbiology lab intern. This has been an incredible opportunity that has allowed me to experience the unique environment of an industry lab, learn from experienced professionals, and gain hands-on exposure in cross-disciplinary lab procedures.

Some of my main responsibilities as an intern included the monthly and annual verification of lab equipment, documentation of verifications, assisting in sterility testing, running biochemical assays, and helping with many other small tasks to help keep the labs running smoothly. I also became more familiar with the documentation of processes through work instructions and standard operating procedures (SOPs). I even had the chance to update some work instructions for some lab equipment verification, including the thermometer and the ASP incubator.

At the beginning of the internship, everything felt very new, from the style of documents to not being very familiar with medical device testing. However, with the help of the incredibly patient and supportive team here at SteriLabs, I became much more comfortable performing activities in the lab independently, reading SOPs and work instructions, and ultimately becoming a contributing member of the lab team.

Some of the most impactful experiences throughout my internship included:

●       Running a hemoglobin assay independently

○       I was able to run a Hg-TMB assay by myself, which tested my biochemistry skills, and I learned how to analyze data from the microplate reader results.

●       Cycle of client projects

○       It was very interesting to see the full cycle of a client project, from the initial planning phases, through simulation cycles, soiling & cleaning, inoculation, disinfection, & incubation, to the final report, demonstrating how much work is involved in each project.

●       Sterility Testing

○       I learned about sterility testing, one of SteriLabs most common services, and was able to assist with various projects.

●       Media fill testing

○       I learned about media fill testing to demonstrate good manufacturing practices as a part of a drug establishment licence application, and was able to perform and pass a test, and even wrote a blog post on the topic.

●       Updating documents

○       Throughout the internship, I came across gaps in work instructions, and I was able to learn how to write that style of document and update them to provide clearer procedures.

Overall, this internship allowed me to gain significant industry microbiology and biochemistry lab experience and become comfortable performing a multitude of lab procedures. I always felt supported by the SteriLabs team, and they were incredible at teaching me new concepts and techniques in the medical device testing field. I hope to build on the skills I learned at SteriLabs as I progress through my career.