Hallo, nog een laatste keer (Hello, one last time)
Well, this is it. My internship has come to an end, sadly. For the past 10 weeks I had the privilege to come to Belgium and do research far from home. If you have been keeping up with my previous entries, you will know I was working on developing techniques on how to deliver biological samples to a chip. This chip is intended to miniaturize a bulky and expensive microscope, for a mass-producible chip containing all the photonic components necessary for super-resolution imaging. Under the mentorship of Dr. Niels Verellen, I was able to expand my knowledge in on-a-chip microscopy. Over the course of the summer I was able to achieve almost the entirety of the three goals I had. I was able to select a cell structure and a suitable dye for labeling the mentioned structure (1), and I was able to develop protocols to deliver such samples into our chip (2). My third and final goal is almost achieved, to demonstrate super-resolution imaging of the biological sample on the chip. Sadly, I will be leaving before this is achieved, maybe one or two more weeks would’ve sufficed to meet this goal. Overall, I was able to develop methodologies that will help my team here at imec move the field of photonics a little further.
After this magnificent 10 weeks, I have to say I am more than grateful to all the agencies and institutions involved: imec, the Institute of NanoBioTechnology (INBT) at Johns Hopkins University, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the European Research Council (ERC), and my awesome PhD advisor for allowing me to expand my academic and professional horizons. If the opportunity comes in the future, I will consider coming back to imec to continue to do some good science “across the pond”. Having experienced the differences in research culture and society, makes me consider a professional career outside the United States. Experiences like this one, I feel, are necessary to create bridges instead of walls.
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| Christina, Kirby, Sharada, and me during our barefoot walk. |
Lastly, it is not my blog if I don’t tell you very quickly what I did over the past two weekends. I was able to visit one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Budapest. All my life I saw postcard-like pictures, but I have to say, the architecture and how vibrant the city is, can’t be described. I was also able to visit Amsterdam over Pride weekend, it was phenomenal how the government encouraged citizen participation. My last adventure consisted of a barefoot walk through the woods in a national park of Belgium. At the end, it makes you appreciate your shoes.
With this I leave all of you, I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures as much as I did living each and every single one of these experiences.
Tot ziens! (Farewell!)
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| Hungarian Parliament (in Pest) as seen from the Buda side across the Danube. |
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