It’s July Already?

Hello again! Us interns are wrapping up our time here at IMEC, which is a crazy thing to think. At the beginning of the summer, late July felt so far away, and yet, it’s arrived. These past few weeks have been busy as we had to give our project presentations. I had a few stressful days before I was able to get nice data to present, but finally giving the presentation and showing the work I’ve done was really fun!

In the lab, I’ve been synchronizing calcium fluorescent imaging and lens-free imaging on cardiac cells to validate lens-free imaging as a method to detect cell contraction. It’s a time-sensitive, complicated procedure, but getting the hang of it and getting good data has been very gratifying. Time passes so quickly in the microscope room--I’ll barely notice that I’ve been tinkering with the system or collecting data for hours.

This past weekend was a four-day weekend thanks to Belgium National Day! To celebrate, Stephanie and I visited Brussels for a day to see all the festivities. We left with more flags and balloons than we came with, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. That evening, I traveled to London to visit my aunt for the weekend, which was incredible. We walked around some of the major historical sights of London, like Big Ben, Parliament, and the River Thames. One of the highlights was visiting St. Paul’s cathedral, where we climbed all 500-odd stairs to the very top for a great view of London, seeing the classic landmarks that we’d just visited from above. We took an hour’s train to Oxford for the weekend, where we did some more sightseeing and learned about the awesome history that envelops the town and university. As my last big trip of the summer abroad, I really enjoyed England and definitely hope to return.

See you next time for my last blog!

Lakyn Mayo is a rising junior in Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and an IMEC intern with the Johns Hopkins INBT IRES program. She likes dogs, mountains, and getting lost running in new places.

Beautiful buildings in Oxford

London view from St. Paul's Cathedral

Murky Thames and Parliament

Radcliffe Camera

Canals and the Clean Room

Canals and the Clean Room

This past weekend, a few of us visited Amsterdam! We were greeted with beautiful weather that framed the famous canals and architecture. One of the highlights was visiting the Anne Frank House, which gave us an amazing and haunting perspective of life in Amsterdam during World War II. I’d read the diary before, but seeing it come to life in the actual warehouse, including the original bookshelf and Anne’s bedroom wall art, made everything feel more real.

After some more sightseeing and enviously watching boaters on the canal, we decided to rent a boat and take it for a (slow!) spin. Lydia’s dream of driving a boat finally came true, even though she didn’t have any sort of boating license. We still made it back in one piece, despite the turns and pass-throughs that often needed all four of us to help steer. Seeing Amsterdam from a canal perspective was definitely worth it!

In the lab, I went on my first clean room visit to cut a large silicon wafer into smaller ones that cells could be grown onto for simulating re-entry mechanisms later on, observed with our lens-free microscope. Preparing to enter the clean room was a twenty-minute process that included putting on steel-toed shoes, a hairnet, a full-body suit, and knee-length boots. Walking around was a bit difficult at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. I’ve never seen clean rooms so enormous and extensive as they are here at IMEC! I also don’t know how people recognize each other in those suits to have conversation--I could barely recognize myself when I peeked in the mirror. Though this was probably my only visit, I’m really excited that I actually saw the clean room and get to say I did some work in it.

Until next time!

Lakyn Mayo is a rising junior in Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and an IMEC intern with the Johns Hopkins INBT IRES program. She likes dogs, mountains, and getting lost running in new places.

Canal's-eye view

Outdoor Market in Amsterdam