More secondments are done!
Most of our PhD fellows have finished or are completing their first change of environment right now. Secondments are a mandatory part of Marie-Curie program which helps to promote scientific collaborations and networking. PhD students have a chance to learn completely new techniques, become a part of a new team and also experience different working environment, such as an industrial research.
Read what our fellow think about it!
I did my first secondment in Karsten Boldt’s lab, in Tübingen. I studied the localisation of PROM1 in RPE1 cells, which are immortalized retinal pigment epithelial cells. It was very useful to see PROM1 expression in these cells, as we don’t work with them in the lab, and it will be really interesting to see if a similar pattern is observed in RPE cells derived from an hiPSCs cell line.
It has been a great opportunity to learn about the eye field from a different perspective than using retinal organoids, as we do in the lab, as well as for meeting great scientist in that field.
Thanks to the great weather around springtime, I also had the chance to travel around Germany and discover its amazing nature landscapes, willing for a second visit pretty soon!!
I was on my first secondment at the Cilia group at University of Copenhagen for 3 months in studying how the protein that I am working on influences ciliary signaling pathways
It was a very valuable experience for me as I was introduced to working with human cell lines and I also got to learn new experimental methods including fluorescence microscopy and performing signaling assays on these cell lines.
This secondment also gave me the opportunity to meet and work with several fellow researchers working on cilia, which helped in getting new ideas and insights for my project.
During spring, I got to spend two months in the Karsen Boldt’s laboratory in Tübingen. I was working on proteomics data to identify novel interactions of my protein of interest and see consequences of a mutation in this protein.
Not only that I learn technique about which I was only taught in the university, but I also met wonderful people working at the Institute for Ophthalmologic Research. I worked together with other PhD student from our program, Shibu, and it was a great opportunity to get to know and learn from each other.
At the beginning of my secondment, Marina, another PhD fellow from Scils program, also completed her secondment in Karsten Boldt’s lab and thanks to that, we explore a picturesque Swabien region together and become really good friends! :)
Daniel
I’ve spent 3 months working at ZeClinics in Barcelona to learn about heart function in zebrafish.
During my time in Barcelona, I was able to use the specialised equipment available there to study the impact of gene mutations on the function of the heart – a very important aspect to my project. I was also able to learn a bit about zebrafish behaviour when they are exposed to different stimuli. All of this made for a great secondment!
I also had the chance to explore beautiful Barcelona and to learn all about the wonderful city! Being in Barcelona gave me the opportunity to meet new friends and create new collaborations for the future.
Alice
I spent two weeks at Majlinda Lako's laboratory in Newcastle and it was a very stimulating experience!
I was able to learn how to differentiate RPE cells from hiPSCs, a useful model for our laboratory. It was also fantastic to be able to deal with a different work environment and make new friends and contacts for possible future collaborations!
