“My daily schedule was very diverse: from working on the research project to attending scientific presentations, reading papers, and analyzing experiments – I got to observe all the different facets of lab work and combine theory with practice,” Anna reflects. For example, she would work on free floating staining one day and cryo staining the next, followed by a day of result analysis. “I have worked in the lab as part of my medical studies but have not done stainings before. In the lab, I was not only able to observe but also allowed to carry out specific steps of the experiment independently, such as the washing step in stainings. Overall, the work and daily life in the lab was new and exciting to me”.
Luise Schröger from the Dichgans lab supervised Anna and comments, “Anna showed a great development at the lab. I could observe how she became more and more confident with lab work each week and showed motivation to see as many different techniques as possible in the short time.”
When asked what surprised her most about working in the lab, Anna mentioned repeating experiments. “Experiments need to be repeated more often than I initially thought. The experiment and its conditions must be optimized, and protocol instructions must be revised accordingly. In addition, precise planning of the experimental steps is essential to efficiently use incubation times, for example, by cleverly combining them.”
Her recommendation for future interns is, “Ask questions, and always help if you can. Keep having fun! Not everything always immediately works out – for example, when doing free floating staining, it didn’t work right away, which is annoying, but it shouldn’t lead to frustration. It’s like Nobel prize winner James Rothman said: ‘Great scientists fail 99%, unlucky ones fail 99.9%’”.
Asked about her future, she mentions how the internship has reinforced and strengthened her desire to do biomedical research in neuroscience. “Neurology has much potential; I think there will be a lot happening in this field in the near future. I would like to combine work in the clinic with research. I want to thank Prof. Dichgans, his team, and especially Luise Schröger for their outstanding support! Many thanks to "SyNergy" and "Jugend forscht" for this unique opportunity.”
About Jugend forscht
Jugend forscht is Germany's best-known competition for young scientists. It encourages and supports talented achievers in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It seeks to inspire young people to become involved long-term and, after the contest, to help them with their careers. Students from the 4th grade up to the age of 21 can participate. More information: www.jugend-forscht.de
