Farewell and Safe Travels Home

Our 2018 IRES interns now head home after 10 weeks of intensive research and cultural immersion at imec in Leuven, Belgium.

From left to right: Ariel Slepyan, Rayyan Gorashi, Ayon Mitra, Jaynie Criscione, and Dante Navarro

The (wo)Man in the Mirror - Rayyan Gorashi

Besides the Michael Jackson nostalgia that the last hangout with our colleagues brought on (hence the title), it’s fair to say that this summer pushed me to new places, both literally and metaphorically. In the literal sense, I crossed country borders with ease and experience different cultures firsthand. But in the figurative sense, I dedicated this entire summer to a research project. This was especially important to me because I haven’t worked for an extended period of time doing just research. Typically, there’s the worry of classes, volunteering, work, student groups, etc. at Hopkins. Being at imec refreshed my curiosity that I had when I first got involved in research.

From left to right: Alessandra (imec intern), Lauren (imec employee coordinating IRES program/visit), Me, and Jaynie. 

Final Presentation to the Life Sciences Division

As you may be familiar with already, my project this summer dealt with the optimization of primary neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocyte culture within a high-throughput microfluidic device. To put it simply, I was tasked with finding optimal conditions to culture primary rat cardiac cells within a microfluidic device curated by imec and micronit. Of course, this is a process that takes much longer than 10 weeks. Based on the preliminary data, parameters such as coating concentration and seeding density were reduced from what was established previously. I was glad to be able to leave the project where the next person, as well as my supervisor, would be able to continue from questions that we were unable to investigate due to time constraints.

All in all, imec reminded me that there are great opportunities to collaborate with others and that the world of science extends beyond American borders. The experience has really inspired me to possibly pursue further education elsewhere, outside of the US. Imec really put STEM research on a global level into perspective for me, showing me firsthand the incredible technology that’s being developed, prototyped, and made available to better the lives of humanity. I am incredibly thankful for this experience and for the Cell and Tissue Technologies Team for taking me in as an intern, giving me a warm welcome, and extending that welcome into an incredibly enjoyable stay. Thank you!

View from the EuroMast in Rotterdam, Netherlands