Buckling Down - Rayyan Gorashi

On paper, 10 weeks seems like a lengthy amount of time. When you’re physically placed in that time setting, days seem to go by in a matter of minutes. Last Monday, July 3rd, marked one month until our final presentations on our work throughout the summer. For me, that meant putting my timeline into perspective in that I may only have 3 or 4 experiments left to conduct. Luckily, from this week onward, I’ll be able to employ Thomas’s (my supervisor) “lens-free imaging” technique. In the photo you can see the set up in the incubator: it consists of a coherent light source (in this case, a laser light), a sample (the well plate), and a sensor. When the coherent light is shone through the sample, the sensor detects and documents the diffraction. For our experiments, this imaging technique is used to monitor the beating frequency of the cardiomyocytes at incubator temperature. We took some preliminary measurements yesterday so that I could get accustomed with the software before taking more next week.

The incubator setup for lens-free imaging.   

Outside of imec, the other interns and I spent the past two weekends in Paris and Amsterdam. Paris was everything my high school self could have imagined. I even remember my French teacher, Monsieur T., telling us about the stores in Paris having the word “SOLDES” on the windows and how that meant “sale” and not “sold.” Aside from the nostalgia, the famous sites in Paris were all too much to take in in just 48 hours. It’s one thing to look at pictures of historical places and structures, but it feels like a completely different realm when those historical places and structures are right before your eyes. I remember walking down the street towards the Eiffel Tower, when it peeked out from the tops of the trees. I could discern such detail in the metal curvature despite my distance. I don’t think I will ever forget that moment. Spending nearly half a day (and still not being able to finish the exhibits) at the Louvre was also quite memorable. Not only were the exhibits incredible, but the architecture of the building’s interior was beautiful. I happened to run into a friend from JHU in the Ancient Egyptian exhibit - he’s in Paris for a research fellowship. 

The following weekend was spent in Amsterdam: the city of canals and bikes. The canals added a maze-like feel to the city because no matter how far we had walked or where our destination was, everything looked identical - from the positioning of the parked bikes to the boats leisurely floating in the water. Amsterdam was filled with more museums, sightseeing, and unexpectedly delicious Dutch pancakes.

 Enjoying a tasty ginger and apple Dutch pancake!

A bridge view of one of the many canals in Amsterdam.

Despite how exhilarating the thrill of being in a new city is, the next few weekends will be spent in Belgium. On Saturday, Belgium will have a chance to redeem itself against England for a 3rd place title in the World Cup. The following weekend, my research group CTT (Cell and Tissue Technologies) will be having its CTT Weekend retreat in the Ardennes!