The Reward of Current Running Through Your Connections - Kirby Leo

In the quest to develop an in vitro cardiotoxicity assay, I have been immersing myself in multiple aspects of bioengineering. With the electrical, computational, and cellular components that make collecting and analyzing my data, I’ve been getting a very comprehensive view of what it’s like to work at the interface of cells and technology. My experiments are chronological in that I have been following certain chips by characterizing them and performing electrical stimulations and recordings via my weekly cardiac culture schedule. I’ve definitely been seeing some sensible trends in my data, and I never feel like I am slowing down in my work since there are always new ways I can interpret old data, in addition, to combing through all the new data I constantly collect from my electrophysiology experiments. Comparing results and analysis methods with those from papers in the field has also been something I have been consistently practicing to maintain direction and relevance in the limited time I have. However, I’ve been speeding up a lot in my analysis now that I have more code written and overall have a more intuitive sense for troubleshooting and running experiments with the setups at imec.

Having fun in a data analysis session at my temporary flex desk – photo credits to my supervisor, Thomas

Collaboration has been a key part of my experience at imec. In addition to heavily using Skype for Business, my team works at flex desk office stations in the tower. All I need to do is plug in my laptop into any empty desk with a docking station, and I’m good to go. This environment has inspired me to be more interactive with my team members, specifically through discussion and sharing of equipment. The highly international setting promotes cultural exchange that intertwines with work habits and behavior. However, this global awareness and connection doesn’t stop with my team, it’s definitely a characteristic imec as a whole. For example, I happened to meet a non-LST engineer sitting at the end of my lunch table from America whose wife had gone to my high school in San Francisco!

Travel wise, considering how hot it has been in Europe, taking a dip in the ocean on a Saturday at a beach in Oostende, a coastal Belgian city, was refreshing. In contrast, I met up with a Hopkins friend who was interning in Switzerland on another weekend to take a hectic and hot trip to Paris. Together, we practiced our French and navigated our way from Champs-Élysées to the Musée d’Orsay and bakeries where we could get our fill of pastries and bread. It was an incredible but exhausting experience that I would love to extend upon in the future when I come back to Europe.

A classic tourist picture at the Louvre, with my friend, Jody

Rock, Glamour, and Fluorescence... - Elmer Zapata Mercado

Welkom terug, beste lezers! (Welcome back, dear readers!)

Before I tell you about my science, first I want to talk about my cultural experiences in Europe. First, I attended Rock Werchter, a music festival that has been happening since 1977 and nowadays attracting 320,000 people in four days of lineups. This year they brought Vance Joy, Bastille, and P!nk to the same stage, on the same night! I was lucky enough to be close to the stage, taking a closer look to some of my favorite artists. It was interesting to see how the city of Leuven provided free transportation from and to the festival, very smoothly and without hassle. Crowd control was on point, allowing the 80,000 attendees to enjoy the music of these great artists. 

After the great music experience, I was able to travel to Paris this past weekend where I was able to visit most of the iconic landmarks of Paris, like the Tour Eiffel, Arc du Triomphe, the creepy Catacombs, and the now partly destroyed Notre Dame cathedral. I also happen to meet up with my awesome PhD advisor, Dr. Kalina Hristova, who was in town for a conference, who I’m very grateful for the opportunity she provided for me to spend my summer doing this program in Belgium. I must admit, that after spending this time here at IMEC, it made me consider completing a postdoc outside the United States. 

Me and Kalina in front of a French Restaurant recommended by fellow Hopkins PhD student, Daniel Wirth

Speaking of research, two weeks have gone by and everything seems to be working smoothly. My project team members expect to revolutionize super-resolution microscopy, by eliminating bulky and expensive equipment, and replacing it with an inexpensive, mass-producible chip. By doing this, my team expects to push the boundaries of microscopy by downsizing the equipment needed, without compromising the resolution of the system. 

You might also remember I am helping to develop protocols to apply the system to biological samples. As of now, I have been successful in two of my three original goals for the project: (1) developing a protocol of fluorescent labeling of samples, and (2) developing a protocol to deliver the sample to our chip. With much work and luck (‘cuz in science you always need a bit of luck) I expect to meet the third and final goal by the end of this internship and demonstrate high resolution imaging. I can share a picture with you, where you can see fluorescently labeled cells, in the chip. After all the work done, I can confidently say that we are moving in the right direction, but I expect to contribute much more to this work. 

HeLa cells with visible actin filaments