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| BBQ at home of my mentor, Niels. |
Now that we are 80% of the internship completed, I can say I
have spent most of the time trying to wrap up my project. You might remember
that we are trying to replace bulky and expensive equipment, with a small
(mass-producible) photonic chip. Since Physics are a thing that exists, that
task is not easy to fulfill. Although, my job has been to implement the system
into biological samples. From the three goals I was given, I completed two
already, and I expected to complete the third one by now. But we all know that
Science never works the way we want, when we want. So, fulfilling my third and
final goal of getting a super high-resolution image of a biological sample, had
its setback. I am hopeful I will be able to complete such task in the coming
days. As of now, I have been improving protocols, that will serve as a
foundation for the work that has to be done by my team here at imec. Thus, the
work I have done here will be beneficial to the future of the project. Just the
fact the ERC saw potential in this project, and me contributing to it, makes me
feel I have done contributions for the advancement of science.
As the end of this experience looms, I have considered new
endeavors for my future. I have always wanted to become an educator at a
research institution, and for that I must do a post-doc. After living in Europe
for the past eight weeks, I think I will enjoy doing a post-doc here. It has
been a different and positive experience. One thing I can say, is that this
experience helped me grow my network, which is always good to have for future
plans. I do not like to think of life as linear, since we never know where the
winds will take us. But as of now, I think the winds have shifted a little.
In terms of travel, I was able to visit the fairytale city
of Prague, or Praha as the locals say. Two of the most interesting things I saw
were the world’s oldest astronomical clock, and the window where the
Defenestration of Prague occurred, and event that sparked the 30-year war (you
can read more here).
Houd mijn laatste blog in de gaten! (Keep an eye for my last blog!)
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| Prague’s Castle seen from Charles Bridge |
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