One month in!-Sharada Narayanan

The chip I am using to 
run my DNA extractions.

Not to sound cliché, but its so hard to believe that I’ve already been here for almost a month. I feel like a newbie, just got here, still trying to figure out imec’s convoluted floor plan, but when I step back and think about my time here, I’ve really experienced so much.

I’ve now begun to properly dive into my project here at imec.I’m working on optimizing DNA extraction on microchips to develop a simple and efficient process for PCR-on-a-chip: a huge step in the realization of point-of-care medicine. One of the best parts of working on my first truly engineering project is that the work has a clear purpose. The goal of my project is to go beyond the on-chip extraction of DNA in blood and viruses and begin developing a protocol for extracting DNA from bacteria, something that hasn’t been done before at imec. After running some preliminary experiments using blood, I’ve recently started running the DNA extraction using bacteria. Things have gone wrong and there aren’t a lot of people who can tell me how to solve my problems, but it’s exciting to be able to spend every day solving mysteries using both science and (organized) guesswork, knowing that my work is really going somewhere.

Infusing lysed blood into my chip.

Something else I have really appreciated about my internship at imec is the complete freedom I have during the weekends (and generally after about 5 PM every day) to go anywhere I want. Last weekend, I went to Paris. From the moment I arrived, I was overcome by the staggering old-world opulence of the city; it was truly unlike any other European city I’d visited. Not only was it beautiful, it was also enormous. Compared to Amsterdam and the small Belgian cities I’d visited, Paris went on forever: a behemoth of European culture and architecture. Though I have enjoyed travelling (and will be returning to Paris at least twice more this summer), I am looking forward to a few upcoming weekends of relaxation at home, exploring the beautiful city of Leuven, and finally cleaning my room.

Admiring the sweeping view of Paris 

from the Sacre Coeur.