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A photo of the perfusion setup (with permission and no patient info)! 

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The time has officially come to say goodbye to the Netherlands. It was very emotional saying goodbye to all of my colleagues, as well as leaving a note detailing the location of all of my samples, data, and collected information from my time at Amsterdam UMC. However, it also feels very sweet to be able to say goodbye to it all, knowing that there will always be memories of the laughs, borrels, and chats I had with my colleagues!

The last two weeks have consisted of a lot of computer work to collect data from the pilot experiments, as well as trying to stain the sections taken from my decalcified legs. Unfortunately, the sections were not the best, and overall, the experiment was neither a total success nor a total failure. Overall, it feels very good to fail within the realm of this project because my personal experiments and the assignments I was tasked with will allow the rest of the Ottenheijm group to move forward and make adjustments based on the data and results that I provided! It was also very nice to be much more hands-on in the lab while developing new skills and techniques.

Beyond the lab, I was invited to shadow a team of perfusionists at Erasmus Hospital in Rotterdam.

The experience was incredible and truly the reinforcement I needed to ensure my pursuit of a career in perfusion. I was able to watch a variety of surgeries, including two coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operations and one aortic valve replacement. This was a great experience, as I was able to see new operations that I had not seen before and speak with perfusionists at different stages of their careers, including those in the education phase, those deep into their careers, and a perfusionist who conducts research within the field. Overall, this was a great day, and I feel much more confident in the applications I am currently working on!

With my research capped off and a day in the operating room as a final treat, I am looking forward to relaxing for a while until the semester begins and I return to Tucson!

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Me and 2 of my very close, personal friends and colleagues

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I’m running low on the toothpaste I bought on my first Woolworths trip in Sydney. Back in Tucson, that would just be an annoying realization because it means I have to make the trek to the store, but here it’s just another sign that my “summer” is coming to an end.

Life feels like I’m stuck in a time warp. I blink and another week has flown by!

We finished up my BRAVO! experiment, so now all that’s left is scoring the behavior. It’s absolutely mental that a year ago I was Googling what the Holmes & Westbrook Lab studied, and now I’ve completed two experiments as a member. This experiment was especially interesting—we manipulated circuitry involving the infralimbic cortex to better understand how it regulates second-order learning.

I spent a few days up in the Blue Mountains at a research conference! I’m an international delegate now—how crazy is that? It was my first oral presentation, but everyone was so lovely that it eased my nerves a tiny bit. I presented research I completed in Tucson, and everyone was super impressed with how much work has gone into the project (of course, I didn’t do it alone… shout out to the Halladay Lab and Penzo Lab!). Not too shabby, hey?

This feels like the end of a coming-of-age movie. I can almost feel the camera zooming out as the credits begin to roll. It’s so bittersweet. I’m also beyond excited to be back in the same time zone as everyone at home. I will never take that for granted again.

One more post from me next week! Get keen!

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If you were wondering what Manly Wharf looked like on the Fourth of July...

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Lately, I’ve spent my days sitting by the window like a soldier’s wife waiting for him to come home from war.

Just kidding—I’m definitely being dramatic, but the PhD students just left for a conference in Europe and won’t be back for THREE WEEKS! I’m so devastated I’m not even going to try to use Australian slang in this post, though I reckon it might come out naturally.

Life has been busy, busy, busy! I just finished a 21-day stretch of coming into the lab and working every single day. I’m exhausted. I finished running my bonus project by myself last week, and now I’m waiting until next week to see the results of the delayed test. I’m looking at how a change in context impacts the renewal of fear memories, as well as whether a time delay leads to the spontaneous recovery of those memories. Fingers crossed it’s exciting news!

Now I’m working on running my official BRAVO! experiment—heck yes! I’m working directly with a postdoc (my favorite person ever), and I’ve been acting as an extra set of hands. I wish I had a picture of the facility where we’re running this cohort because it feels like I’m on a spaceship whenever I’m inside!

The Fourth of July in Sydney was interesting. There were fireworks on the Harbour! I spent the morning in the lab, so it didn’t really feel like the Fourth, but once I finished up, I saw a group of people dressed in American flag suits walking around campus.

That’s all for now! Have I mentioned that UNSW is the #1 ranked university in Australia?

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One last photo at my bench in the Brussels lab.

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My time in Brussels has officially come to an end, and the feeling is truly bittersweet.

These final two weeks in the lab were some of the most productive of my summer. I spent my days running multiple experiments, testing mutants of the nutrient signaling pathway studied by my lab in Arizona to explore whether it plays a role in the amino acid transport carried out by the vacuolar cationic amino acid transporter I had been investigating in Brussels. The results were exciting: I obtained data confirming that the transporter is indeed implicated in the amino acid signaling branch of the TORC1 pathway, specifically through the GTPases associated with the complex. I was also able to rule out the hypothesis that the transporter's function is mediated solely by the adjacent V-ATPase and the proton gradient. These findings are meaningful for the future of the collaboration between the Brussels lab and my lab in Arizona, and I could not be more proud of what we accomplished together.

Beyond the science, I am walking away from this experience a changed person. It was not always easy, but I have grown in more ways than I expected, both as a researcher and as an individual. I have taken trips I will remember for a lifetime, embraced everything new and unfamiliar, and discovered a deep appreciation for the slower pace of European life, the fresh produce, the bakeries, and yes, even the metro. As much as I will miss it all, I am very ready to return home to my friends and family and step into my senior year.

But my European adventure is not quite over yet! I am currently on a train to Amsterdam, with stops in Hamburg and Berlin still ahead, before wrapping up with a few days in London. Thank you for following along on this journey. Bonne journée!

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Front entrance of Auschwitz I, "Arbeit Macht Frei" translates to "work sets you free". 

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Hey everyone! This past weekend was another very great weekend (as they have all been)! I traveled to Kraków, as well as slightly outside of the city, to tour Auschwitz-Birkenau as a sort of capstone to my exploration of WWII sites during BRAVO!. Visiting cities with so much history, like Kraków, has made this trip immeasurably enjoyable. It is so cool to be able to see castles, churches, and monuments from so many centuries ago, all in such close proximity to a site as modern and impactful as Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is also jarring to be in a city where so much history has happened and to see each different era of the city that still stands to this day. From Wawel to Nowa Huta to Auschwitz-Birkenau, each of these places told a very different story from time periods separated by royalty, dictatorship, and communist rule, as well as many, many years of history and change. Seeing Auschwitz-Birkenau was an indescribable feeling. Knowing what occurred there and being able to visually see and physically walk through the area completely changes your understanding of the scale of the atrocities committed. For me, it was also very interesting to see that there are houses, apartments, and schools in the surrounding area that have a view of the grounds.

Before going to Kraków, I took a day trip the previous weekend to Groningen in the Netherlands. My colleagues in the lab described it as a college town where mostly students live, and they were perfectly on point. It has a much more youthful and colorful charm. Whether it was the vibrant cobblestone streets or the more colorful walls and interiors of the churches, the entire city was filled with a youthful atmosphere! I think it is my second favorite city outside of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

As for research, it has been steady and is going decently well. At the moment, I am navigating some setbacks in the embedding process of my demineralized legs, which is less than ideal. In the coming 2.5 weeks, before I finish my research here at Amsterdam UMC, I will be doing mostly data analysis.

For the next couple of weeks, I will be going to Cologne, Germany, and Rotterdam again to shadow a perfusionist! Which you will hear about in the next post!

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Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland!

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Wow, this summer is flying by but what an incredible summer it's been! I traveled to Edinburgh this past weekend by train and had the chance to visit Princes Street Gardens and the National Museum of Scotland, tour Edinburgh Castle, and climb Arthur's Seat. I unfortunately did not get to see a highland coo in person, but did pick up a (mandatory) plush! Scotland is so beautiful and the weather was gorgeous; I hope to visit again someday!

In the lab, I've been working on my statistical analysis pipeline using non-parametric tests to evaluate which mathematical features are best at differentiating between the six esophageal precursor disease states and am producing the classification analysis pipeline using multi-class classifiers to identify non-linear relationships between the features. This will reveal the accuracy of certain features in identifying the disease state of unlabeled (test) samples. Since the data I'm using is protected and I may not be able to process the data once I arrive back in Arizona, I have also been trying to process as many of the images as I can. I've been given the opportunity to present to my lab before I leave, which will be a great opportunity to share my results and get feedback on my project, and I look forward to hopefully continuing this collaboration once I leave the UK.

This weekend, I met up with Kaia (BRAVO! student in Brussels this summer!), Natalie (former UBRP student), and Bryce (former UBRP student and completing his MPhil at the University of Cambridge). It was wonderful to grab coffee and catch up with them! See Kaia's post for the photo!

I'm hoping to catch a Cambridge Shakespeare Festival performance and spend some time in the city before I leave. I am also planning a very brief trip to Paris next weekend if all goes well, so stay tuned for some more adventures before the summer ends!

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A tranquil moment and view of King's College Chapel at the annual "Singing on the River" by the King's Men, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge!

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I have spent the last few weeks in Cambridge taking advantage of as many incredible opportunities as possible that the city and university have to offer! Last week, I was invited by my supervisor to attend a formal dinner at Darwin College, where I indulged in a delicious meal with wonderful company and had the opportunity to meet the Chairman of the British Physics Olympiad. Since, I was invited to assist in preparing the highly selective British Physics Olympiad team for the International Physics Olympiad held in Colombia! I prepared several theoretical and experimental optics problems to coach the five brilliant A-level students and shared a casual dinner at Churchill College with the team. Beyond informally mentoring students in coursework at the University of Arizona, this was my first true teaching engagement and it was such an honor to have an extremely attentive and curious audience! I also recently had the opportunity to tour the Cavendish Museum with members of my lab and met ESA reserve astronaut and Spanish cancer researcher Sara García Alonso!

In the lab, I have made great progress on my texture feature analysis pipeline and have generated texture feature maps of the quantitative spatial features across the whole-slide images I am using for my study. My next endeavors involve writing the programs to determine which features are best at differentiating between each of the six disease states using statistical analysis and multi-class classifiers. I virtually met with my PI in Tucson to discuss some next steps and possibly continuing this research collaboration once I leave.

Apart from academic engagements, I also recently attended the annual "Singing on the River" summer event presented by The King's Men, the choir of King's College here at Cambridge. Summer evenings in Cambridge are absolutely stunning, especially against the scenery of the historic colleges. The event was well attended and so delightful! Outside of Cambridge, I also met up with some friends from high school studying in Oxford and London to attend a concert at Silverworks Island. Next week, I plan to travel briefly to Edinburgh by train and see the National Museum of Scotland (and hopefully a few highland coos!).

Time has been flying by, but I hope to continue forging ahead on my project and exploring as much of the UK as I can whilst I'm here!

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Bonjour! I can’t believe I am almost through with my time in Switzerland! My last day in the lab is this Friday, so I have been keeping busy with wrapping up my project. Although I encountered a few setbacks and wasn’t able to do any lipidomics due to a shortage of standards for my samples, I’ve been finishing up some click chemistry experiments with my treated cells. I’ve also had the opportunity to assist one of the postdocs with a research project involving tardigrades, where I’ve learned about MALDI imaging and several other new assays. It has been such a cool experience to be surrounded by so many different types of research, and I have learned so much from my lab mates. I am grateful to be part of such an amazing group, and this summer has really fueled my love and appreciation for research.

Over the past few weeks, I have also been traveling and trying to see as much of Switzerland as I can before I leave. I was able to do some incredible hikes in the Swiss Alps, as well as explore new cities and even ventured to a waterfall. This weekend felt even more magical than usual with the rain, which made it feel like I was hiking through the clouds.

As I enter my final week in Switzerland, I’m looking forward to revisiting some of my favorite places before I leave. I am truly grateful for this experience, which has allowed me to grow so much personally and professionally. My experience in the lab, weekend adventures, and the friendships I made have been so rewarding and something that I will carry with me.

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BRAVO!/UBRP meetup in Cambridge, UK. From left to right: Bryce Wilson, Kaia Mount, Natalie Rawlings, and Supriya Roy. All are current or former BRAVO! and UBRP students at the University of Arizona. Photo taken in front of King’s College, University of Cambridge.

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More traveling, a BRAVO!/UBRP meet up, and wrapping things up in lab

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More traveling, a BRAVO!/UBRP meet up, and wrapping things up in lab

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This past week, my friend from Arizona came to visit me! We took a day trip to Paris and then spent time exploring both Brussels and Bruges in Belgium. We also traveled to Cambridge, UK, to visit another friend who has spent the past year completing a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge. Spending time with familiar faces was exactly what I needed at this point in my journey abroad. We explored Cambridge, had a picnic with cows and swans nearby, rode bikes through the parks, and, of course, went punting.

We also got to meet up with Supriya, who has been in Cambridge through BRAVO! this summer. It was great to share our experiences and catch up. It felt like the ultimate BRAVO!/UBRP meetup, since all of us are, or have been, part of UBRP at the University of Arizona.

I recently hit a few setbacks in the lab, but when does that not happen in science? Some assays have not worked as expected, and I have had some difficulty constructing new strains. However, I have finally started screening a group of mutants connected to the metabolic pathway my U of A lab studies, using the assay I have been working on all summer. I only have about a week and a half left in the lab, so I am trying to get as much done as I can before I leave. I know these last two weeks are going to fly by, and I am trying to do and see as much of Brussels as possible before I go.

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Morgen, I feel like there is so much I could say on here. I have fallen so far in love with this country and its people. The endless mountain ranges and the amazing friends I have made along the way have been life-changing. I cannot believe I am over halfway done here in Switzerland. But enough of the sad thoughts.

The lab here is going amazing. I have grown close with my lab mates and have been busy doing extraction after extraction. One thing I really love about this lab is how they have optimized my time to be exposed to as many techniques as possible, all while introducing me to their clinical research approaches. It has been so cool to study patient-specific mutations and be in communication with their doctors.

This experience has not only been fun and unique, but it has also really helped solidify my love for research in tandem with patient care. I cannot wait to bring what I have learned back to the US and continue learning.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic day.

Connor Rasmussen

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Hallo! I cannot believe how quickly time is going; it is truly heartbreaking how quickly the summer is coming to an end. The past weeks in the lab have been incredibly fun, and I am truly feeling scientific! Since my last update, my hindlimbs have been dissected and are sitting in demineralization buffer, and will stay there until Monday. Most recently, I have been learning and practicing how to clip fibers and dissect zebra fish, both of which are incredibly tedious but also very fun if it is going well! Along with science, the lab has also been very fun. Last week, we had a "Lab Outing" where we went to a park and did some competitive games with the entire department, after which we had a networking event.

Outside of the lab, I have had so much fun taking weekend trips and exploring my personal interests. Unfortunately, I am still having terrible train luck. I had a trip to Ghent get cancelled due to electric wiring issues on the route to Ghent. Instead, I biked 86 kilometers to the nearest beach to Amsterdam and back! This was an incredibly fun experience, as I got to see much of the countryside on the way, as well as see some medieval windmills. Most recently, I took a trip to Prague in the Czech Republic, which was incredibly fun! There was so much Gothic architecture, as well as Baroque art within churches, that was very impressive! I was also able to attend an orchestra performance inside one of the churches, which elevated the experience so much. I would even say it felt heavenly.

The next post will be following a weekend trip to Krakow, Poland, which I am very excited about because of the WWII history there! In previous trips, I have heard much about the rail lines, connections, transport systems, and ghettos, some of which I have been able to see myself, and many of their routes end at Auschwitz, which I intend on seeing. It feels surreal to be able to explore these places so deeply and connect them back to each other.

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Five Lakes Trail in Zermatt, Switzerland

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Bonjour! I have had an amazing past few weeks filled with a lot of fun weekend travel to the Alps. I have had the opportunity to travel to so many iconic Swiss destinations. I’ve done two weekend getaways to Ebenalp and then Lauterbrunnen -- the valley known for its 72 waterfalls. I have also done day trips to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn and Lake Oeschinensee. Hiking through the Alps and exploring new towns has been such an incredible experience. It has also been the perfect way to escape the summer heat waves. Taking the train somewhere new each weekend has truly made this summer feel so special and adventure-packed.

The lab has also been going really well. I am part of such a fun and amazing research team. I have learned so much from my lab mates, and it has been really cool to learn about all of the different types of research happening in my lab because it is so diverse. For my project, I am currently plating and treating cells to perform more TLC experiments. I am also preparing to do some lipidomics with my samples. I can’t believe how fast the time is passing, as I only have a few more weeks in the lab. I’m looking forward to making the most of the rest of my time here by continuing with my experiments and fitting in a few more weekend adventures. I’ll post more updates soon!

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Ann Demulemeester's exhibit at the MoMu- Antwerp Fashion Museum

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Exploring Belgium and Keeping Busy in the Lab

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Exploring Belgium and Keeping Busy in the Lab

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Bonjour! I can’t believe it has already been six weeks since I arrived in Belgium. Over the past few weekends, I have had the opportunity to explore several different cities throughout the country. I recently visited Antwerp, another beautiful and historic Belgian city. My favorite part was learning that Antwerp is considered one of Europe’s capitals of avant-garde fashion. I visited a fashion museum and spent time walking around the city’s many ateliers.

Last weekend, I escaped the heat wave by heading to the Belgian coast and spending a few hours at the beach. The water may not have been perfectly crystal blue, but the weather was much cooler along the coast, and I was able to relax, lay out, and get a little sun. This weekend, I am going to Ghent, which I have been told looks like a real-life Hogwarts, so I am really looking forward to exploring it.

The lab has continued to keep me busy, but one of the best parts of the assay I have been conducting is how quickly it generates data. I am able to produce a new graph, completed in triplicate, every few days! I also had a meeting with both my PI here in Brussels and my PI at UofA, which gave me the opportunity to share all of the data I have collected so far. We also began discussing the future of this collaboration and how I will continue working on a joint research project when I return to the University of Arizona this fall.

Right now, I am especially looking forward to my friend visiting in a little over a week and having some time away from the lab for Belgian Independence Day. During the break, we are planning to do even more traveling, including trips to Paris (again for me!) and Cambridge, UK.

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Sydney Opera House! (Still no sign of Benny the Seal)

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A Quarter Way Through My Summa Down Undah!

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A Quarter Way Through My Summa Down Undah!

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G’day! Man oh man, it feels like I’ve been in Australia for months and like I just got here at the same time! The lab has been heaps busy. I got privileges at all the facilities the lab uses and immediately hit the ground running. I got to assist with some surgeries for my BRAVO! project (the project I came here for), but in a proper surprise, I’ll also be running an experiment for a completely separate project starting next week!

I’ve been spending a lot of time on behavior scoring. It all feels like it's come full circle because one of my first “real” tasks in my UofA lab last summer was scoring behavior. That experience led me to join my long-term behavioral project, and the overlap between that project and Dr. Holmes’ research is ultimately what brought me to BRAVO! in the first place. How beautiful is that? Shoutout Dr. Halladay!

I’ve been to a few new places around Sydney, including this amusement park called Luna Park. As someone who loves her fair share of roller coasters, I can honestly say the rides here are some of the scariest I’ve ever been on! I was proper devo (devastated) when a couple of them closed because of the wind, but I’ll definitely be back before I leave.

I love my lab so much! Everyone is so brilliant and supportive of each other, and I leave every day with my face sore from laughing so much. I’m so so lucky, can't wait for the next update! Catch ya later!

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Today marks almost a month since I've been in Cambridge! Despite the recent heat wave, I have been having a great time both in and outside of the lab! In the lab, I have been working on my image analysis algorithm to perform texture feature analysis of the patient data I am processing, and recently had the opportunity to meet with a histopathologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital to receive input on my model. I have successfully implemented a tissue contour algorithm to outline the perimeter of the ROIs on the whole slide images and have designed a method to extract tissue patches from columns labeled as one of six precursor disease states. With these patches, I will apply a method of texture feature analysis I have already developed to understand the tissue morphology and perform additional analysis characterizing which features are most successful in differentiating between disease states. In addition to working on my project, I have been attending lab and journal club meetings each week, and was invited by my lab last week to a lecture by John Jumper, Nobel Laureate and co-founder of AlphaFold!

Outside of the lab, I have explored a few museums in Cambridge including the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Whipple Museum. I went punting on the River Cam this week to escape the heat and see a few of the Cambridge colleges from "the backs"! It was a great way to relax and enjoy the weekend (and also get in a quick workout!). I've officially adopted Celsius (the high is 42 this week...), and I have been trying a fair range of chippies (fish and chip shops) and cafes on the weekends. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the UK in the coming weeks and continuing progress on my project! More updates coming soon!

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HEYYY! The last two weeks have been so much fun! Two weeks ago, I took a day trip to Brussels and Waterloo. It was so nice to see some gothic and baroque architecture, as well as one of the most important battles of the Napoleonic era! The highlight of this trip was being able to see my favorite artwork, "The Death of Marat" by Jacques-Louis David. I was a bit shocked when I saw it, though, as it came completely out of the blue! As I was debating leaving the museum, I sat and wondered if I really should, or just finish up the rest of the exhibits, because "who knows when I'll be back," and in the most obscure, out-of-the-way room, I saw the original painting! It was a very surreal feeling because it felt completely by chance that I had happened upon it, because, as far as I knew, just a couple of years ago, the work of art was in Poland.

Most recently, I tried to take a trip to Cologne to see the amazing Gothic cathedral, but this weekend's trains had very different plans for me. As I got to the platform with my train, I read something along the lines of "this train will stop only at the next station due to mechanical issues," which was the only connection train to the station for my international train for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I did not go to Cologne. However, now I can plan a weekend to go to Cologne and visit Hürtgen Forest, which is home to a decisive battle of World War 2! Sunday, I did make it to Antwerp, unlike Cologne! Unfortunately, on my way back, there was a smoking incident which caused us to be stopped in the middle of fields with no shade and a beaming sun for a few hours as the fire department assessed the situation. Safe to say I was just very happy to not have to find lodging in a random village and made it home very late.

Outside of my weekend fun, I have been very busy in the lab! I have been developing a whole hindlimb protocol with the goal of demineralizing the leg and maintaining muscular orientation, as well as a variety of different analyses of images to figure out the best objective way to quantify our FRAP results, as well as discrepancies in fiber length within our animals. Soon, we will also begin zebra fish experiments as well! I am so excited for the coming weeks as we expand our data sets and further develop our methods!

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Hallo!!!

It was an amazing weekend getaway from the main city of Zürich, and I am unbelievably grateful for this experience I am lucky enough to have here. The research has been going smoothly, and I have made many friends with the students in my lab. I cannot believe it has already been a month. It feels like I have been here forever!

The mountains and summer showers have been breathtaking and are always a big pick-me-up after long days in the lab. Every day I continue to learn something new, and I am constantly reminded of how fortunate I am to be here. Once again, I am so happy to be a part of this group of researchers. They have taught me so much already, and I cannot wait to see what the rest of this experience has in store. Bis zum nächsten mal!

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Me on a Seine River boat tour in front of the lit-up Eiffel Tower, happy as ever✨

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Weekend Trip to Paris and Lots of Exciting Data Collected

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Weekend Trip to Paris and Lots of Exciting Data Collected

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Bonjour from Brussels and Paris!!! Last weekend I took a solo three-day trip to Paris, France, and it was one of the best weekends of my life. Ever since I was a child, Paris has been my dream place to visit, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. Let’s just say when I was sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower for the first time, I may have shed a few tears of happiness, realizing that I made it to this moment. I had a croissant and cappuccino every morning, visited all of the famous monuments, went to Musée d’Orsay and saw Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, stayed in a hostel, walked around 20 miles a day, and, my favorite part, saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle at midnight. It was truly a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it.

Aside from my weekend travels, I have been very busy in the lab. I have been working on two different assays: one where I am measuring the cytosolic levels of the amino acid arginine in cells and another where I am measuring the vacuolar pH to quantify how different nutrient states change the proton gradient that influences amino acid transportation into the cell’s storage center, the vacuole. This is helping us better understand how the cationic amino acid transporter protein, Vsb1, regulates when and how amino acids are transported into the vacuole during different nutrient conditions.

So far, I have already found that Vsb1 is required for the timely return of cytosolic arginine levels back to steady-state conditions following nutrient deprivation. Additionally, changes in the vacuolar proton gradient caused by differences in V-ATPase activity appear to influence the activity of Vsb1 under different nutrient states. The ability to generate so much data so quickly has been incredibly exciting, and I am looking forward to seeing what else we discover in the coming weeks.

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Performance at the Royal Ballet & Opera House in London!

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Hiya from the UK! I have officially settled into Cambridge and have been enjoying the sunshine and rain! Everyone in my lab has been so welcoming, and it has been fantastic to start on my project. I am currently working on an image pre-processing algorithm for the esophageal tissue samples I am using for my study. I have my own desk with a view of the courtyard at Cavendish Laboratory and have (hopefully) now nearly mastered the bus schedule to travel between my flat, the Department of Physics, and the Cancer Research Institute.

Last week, my lab invited me to a lab retreat at a large estate in Bedford. We went hiking to a lake, played board games, and cooked meals together; it was a great way to get to know everyone and try British cuisine (including a variety of ice lollies!). Since my lab mates are mostly PhD and postdoctoral students, I have learned so much from them about computational techniques for biomedical optics and scientific writing, as well as places to visit in the UK during the summer!

I also traveled by train to London last weekend, where I had the opportunity to attend a ballet at the Royal Opera House. The theatre is incredibly impressive and the performance was one of the best I have seen. I also met a former Cambridge student and her mom outside the Arts Theatre Cambridge last week, where they spontaneously offered me an extra ticket to see Venus & Adonis, a spectacular adaptation of the Shakespeare play by puppeteers! Everyone in Cambridge has been so kind, and I can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store!

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Bonjour! I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since arriving in Switzerland. I’ve been enjoying making progress in the lab, trying different foods, and hanging out at Lake Geneva.

For a lab update, last week I treated and collected the cells I will be using for my experiments. For my next steps, I will be doing more TLC, as well as lipidomics and imaging with the microscope. It has been an amazing experience learning new laboratory techniques and seeing how scientific research is conducted in a different country.

Beyond my research, I’ve been exploring new towns and hiking trails throughout the region. The train rides here have been unreal, and every destination feels like it was pulled straight from a postcard. This weekend, I took one of my favorite day trips so far to the town of Vevey. I spent some time by the lake and walking around the old town. Afterward, I headed up to the famous hiking trails in the Lavaux vineyards and caught some of the most incredible views of the lake and mountains. I am really looking forward to planning some bigger day trips and further exploring during my time here! Bye for now!

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Dam Square with Centraal Station in the background!

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Hi everyone! Today marks my first full week in Amsterdam, and it has been such an incredible week! My first week in the lab was so cool, and everyone has been so nice. The labs here feel so modern, and they are how I imagined medical research labs before starting university. It has been so fun learning about the Netherlands different economic system as well as its schooling system (of which is very different from ours, but also really cool).

While the city is a similar size to Tucson, it feels so much larger and lived in because everyone here bikes! Which means I have also begun biking everywhere, and it can be intense... on the bright side, I have only almost fallen into one bush! For the most part, I feel like I have the hang of it, and I definitely overthought how biking would actually be.

As for my research, I have begun analysis of some isolated FDB fibers, and next week I will be dissecting my first mouse. Stay tuned to find out how that goes!

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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My view walking out of my local metro station!!

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Bonjour! Today marks two weeks since I arrived in Brussels, and I am slowly getting used to my new European life. I have enjoyed sightseeing around the city, figuring out the metro, and the rainy 60° weather (despite the glimpse of sunshine in this photo). My transition into the lab has been very smooth, and I have already started running independent experiments and designing my own. I am working on creating different strains and conditions to test arginine levels in cells using a novel fluorescent probe. I am also looking forward to a trip to Paris next weekend, as it has been a dream of mine since I was a child. I can't wait to see what the rest of this adventure holds!

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Hallo zusammen!!! I have offically been abroad for just over a week now and have already had so many amazing experiences from figuring out public transportation, ordering in cafes, growing up my cells, and enjoying the sun at Zürichsee Arboretum. As far as the science here, it is amazing all that gets done with this team of researchers. I have been so inspired by their efficiency and drive in their fields and cannot wait to learn more from them. My cells have already been growing and we hope to harvest by next week and begin analysis for the first stage of my project. Things have been going so well that there may even be a surprise side project that I swear could be turned into a movie. so stay tuned for that. Bis bald, Tschüss!!!!

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I arrived in Switzerland last Tuesday, and I already feel like I’m settling in! From the moment I boarded the train from the airport, I was in awe of how green and beautiful it is here.

I started lab last Wednesday, and I have really enjoyed getting to know my new lab mates. This week, I officially began experiments, including cell culture and running TLC plates. It has been a great experience getting to learn new techniques, as well as learning about the other projects being conducted by the other students.

During my time here, I’m staying in Morges, a smaller city just outside of Lausanne. It is very well connected to many hiking trails, as well as Lake Geneva. During my free time, I have hiked some of the local trails, visited a medieval castle, and spent a lot of time at the lake. Last weekend, I also took the train to Lausanne and spent the day exploring. It was such an amazing day, as there was a big market at the city center with hundreds of vendors selling everything from produce, handmade goods, and clothing. Afterwards, I even hiked back to Morges along a beautiful lakeside trail.

I'm looking forward to spending the next few months exploring more of Switzerland and continuing with my research project!

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One Week In… Reckon I’m Settling in Alright 

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One Week In… Reckon I’m Settling in Alright 

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Oi! Tomorrow marks one week since I arrived in Sydney, and it’s been absolutely unreal so far. I reckon I’m getting the hang of the Aussie slang already. My first day in the lab was a few days ago, and I had my first lab meeting this arvo. Meeting all my lab mates has been so great, and it’s been really interesting hearing how different grad student life is in Australia compared to the US. Everyone’s been incredibly welcoming and kind this week, can’t wait for the next 11!

I’m still trying to wrap my head around Australians driving on the other side of the road. In somewhat related news, I picked up biking for a hot minute, but I’ve decided to take a short break in an effort to minimise the number of times I accidentally turn into oncoming traffic.

I’ve already seen heaps of Sydney, including the Taronga Zoo (I saw my kangaroo!), the Sydney Opera House (still haven’t spotted Benny the Seal, but this Padlet will absolutely be the first to know when I do), and I even took a ferry under the Harbour Bridge.

I start working on my research project next week, so the next update will hopefully be about that, but until then, ta for now!

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I am very excited to be traveling to Dr. Giovani D’Angelo’s lab at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland this summer! I will be studying how fatty acid treatment influences the organization of sphingolipids within cells and how this process may play a role in disease development. I am most looking forward to working with Dr. D’Angelo’s research team, learning new microscopy techniques, and exploring Switzerland’s charming towns and beautiful hiking trails.

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I am looking forward to returning to the University of Cambridge to work on an optics and biomedical engineering research project with Dr. Sarah Bohndiek, a collaborator of my U of A mentor, Dr. Travis Sawyer. This includes classifying images of esophageal lesions to identify different disease states through digital pathology. I am also looking forward to being immersed

in the University of Cambridge's scholarly environment as well as enjoying various cultural events in Cambridge, England.

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I'm extremely thankful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in BRAVO and conduct research abroad in Zurich, Switzerland. I'm especially looking forward to learning new techniques in the lab, collaborating with an international research group, and growing personally through this experience while living in a new country.

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I am excited to travel abroad and work with Dr. Nathan Holmes and his team of researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia! I am looking forward to working and building connections in an international environment while, of course, exploring everything the Harbor City has to offer!

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I am a junior majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona and amember of the Capaldi Lab. This summer, through the BRAVO! program, I am excited to conduct research in Dr. Melody Cools’ lab at the Institut de Recherche LABIRIS in Brussels, Belgium, where I will study a novel amino acid transporter involved in TORC1 signaling. I am especially looking forward to gaining hands-on experience in an international research

environment while collaborating with scientists from different backgrounds and expanding my perspective on global biomedical research.

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Hello, my name is Xavier Aguilar, and I major in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Physiology. I am most looking forward to immersing myself in a different culture and navigating it with a new language! I am also very excited to see historical sites in the Netherlands.