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