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Pontifícia Universidad Catolica de Chile
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CHILE
Weizmann Institute of Science
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ISRAEL
Juan Esteban Oyarzún
The internship that I just did was a fabulous experience for many reasons. Although at the beginning I was a little bit nervous of doing the internship so far from my country of origin, the support I received from the Weizmann Institute, and particularly from Professor Antony Futerman and of course the funding source, Lysomod, allowed this secondment to be realized in the best manner.
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This internship was very good for me because I had the opportunity to perform a lot of succesfull experiments for my PhD thesis, and acquire high quality skills usefull for my scientific and personal development. This trip allowed me to see how science is made in other parts of the world, in laboratories where technology and knowledge are at the forefront. I also had the opportunity to meet people who are dedicated to science like me, share experiences, ways of thinking, ideas and advice.
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This internship filled me with positive experiences, ideas, knowledge and a new way of seeing science that I will apply in my scientific career and in the place where I work.
Finally I would like to reiterate my acknolegment to the people and institutions that made this real, Lysomod, my University, P. U. Catolica de Chile and advisor Silvana Zanlungo and the Weizmann institute of Science, particularly Antony Futerman and his group.
Juan Esteban Oyarzún
GenoMed
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PORTUGAL
Weizmann Institute of Science
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ISRAEL
Christian Ramos
"We are trying to understand the gene regulatory programs that endow the very diverse phenotype within Gaucher Disease. In particular, we are looking at lysosomal biology in CBE treated mice/cells (mimicking Gaucher disease) and looking at gene expression.
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All lab members were very helpful, the PI was always available for scientific debate and the lab was state-of-the-art. The visit allowed to consolidate a collaboration, that will results in additional visits to perform very specific research tasks.
Very good. In fact we started a new project related to the work that was done at the WIS.
This secondment allowed to interact with several scientists, which have a different way of approaching science, allowing me to grow as a scientist. I also had the chance to learn new ways of approaching the same scientific question, and to learn new skills relevant, not only for the LysoMod project, but also for my future as a scientist.
I must say that the funding for the Lysomod secondment in the Weizmann was felt as a little short, considering the country costs of living (Israel).
I would like to acknowledge the EU for Lysomod secondment funding, GenoMed, iMM-JLA and Prof. M. Carmo-Fonseca, and Prof. Tony Furterman (and the Weizmann institute of Science), for the funding and the great opportunity to do great science and for my own improvement.
GenoMed
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PORTUGAL
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphiae
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USA
Catarina Silveira
"I spent 6 weeks in the Division of Genomic Diagnostics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. There I could listen and observe all the experience that this team has, regarding the genetic diagnosis that is done there. I had the opportunity to be with almost every director learning how to analyze each situation, like exomes, exomes slices, gene panels, single genes, cytogenetics and cancer related tests. Besides the theoretical part, and all of the considerations that each director has when is evaluating a case, I was able to be in the technician side, learning how to do the variant classification. I spent the majority of my time with the analysts, looking at various challenging cases and learning how to interpret them.
It was a very interesting experience to see the reality of a big lab like this. The dynamic, the structure, the organization. The entire team was always available to help or to clarify any doubts that I had. I consider that this experience was quite important to improve my abilities as a laboratory professional but also as a person. The ability to get along with different realities, adapt to a new (and beautiful) city, new co-workers and new ways of thinking. I am very thankful that this collaboration has provided me such an experience and a look forward to put all these learnings into practice.
This kind of initiative is quite important in order to help us in guiding our way. It is through experiences like this one that we develop new skills and that we learn how to deal with new challenges. Besides this, it is by the exchange of knowledge that we can go further in science. So it is perfect to be able to learn from others and also to share my own experience. "
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Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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CHILE
University of Oxford
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UK
Pablo Contreras
"It has been a amazing experience to work in the Frances Platt lab. The people in the lab have been really nice with me and they help me a lot with many experiments that we designed. Since I arrived to the lab, it was really easy to start to do some experiment because the lab is very organized and the facilities are really incredible to obtain a lot of data. The city is also very interesting and very beautiful. In summary this have been a incredible experience for me.
I think that is a incredible initiative, and has been helping to a lot of researcher to reinforce the networking between them. For sure this initiative needs to be maintained during the time."
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University of Oxford
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United Kingdom
Weizmann Institute of Science
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ISRAEL
Nick Platt
"The project is focused upon using RNA-seq to analyse the expression profile of microglia isolated from several murine models of lysosomal storage diseases. The objective is to determine whether there is a common or discrete expression profiles between these diseases, allow us to understand the contribution of microglia to disease pathogenesis and identify possible therapeutic targets. There is a manuscript in preparation which we anticipate submitting in the early part of 2019.
Overall, my whole experience was extremely positive. First, it allowed access to technologies and equipment that are not available to me at my host institution. Second, the project was formulated together with the PI Prof Futerman and one of his postdocs (Soo-min Cho) and both were extremely productive interactions and experimental designs that I am confident with result in a high profile and important publication. It will provide the basis for multiple future studies. The Futerman lab is extremely welcoming, all members showed great hospitality and help to me. There lab is housed in a state of the art new building that only opened in 2017. The Weizmann Institute as a whole is world renowned, is a very pleasant campus and offers outstanding facilities and support. It is situated in Rehovot, a small, but very nice town that offers multiple things. Accommodation is provided within the Weizmann Institute in apartments for visiting scientists that are very agreeable. Rehovot is only ~ 30 min travel from Tel Aviv by public transport (train).
I think LysoMod is very good initiative, offering the opportunity to visit multiple other laboratories of international stature. There are opportunities to take advantage of facilities that may not be available in the host institution, spend time and interact with other scientists, both student, postdoc and PI who have common interests and research. it thus provides the opportunity to establish longer-term collaborations and interactions. I plan to make more visits under the scheme."
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Universidade de Lisboa
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Portugal
Universidad de Buenos Aires
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Argentina
João Pessoa
"My Project in Buenos Aires focused on the role of human argonaute-1 (AGO1) as a transcriptional co-activator. When AGO1 is knocked-down in human cancer cells, expression levels of estrogen-activated genes decrease. We have hypothesized that overexpressing AGO1 could restore such expression levels. My work consisted in testing this hypothesis, by knocking-down and overexpressing AGO1 in cells, followed by estrogen induction of target genes expression.
My training period in Buenos Aires has exceeded my highest expectations, mostly for the people I have met and for how welcome they made me feel, both inside and outside the lab. I have worked for two months in the groups of Prof. Anabella Srebrow and Prof. Alberto Kornblihtt, who were always extremely supportive. I had the excellent assistance of the senior lab members Dr. Berta Pozzi and Dr. Valeria Buggiano, who rapidly made me familiar with the lab. That was essential for timely performing the experiments proposed. In this project, I gained more experience in laboratory techniques that are essential in my research field. Presenting my work at a lab meeting was an enjoyable scientific discussion. I have also attended a local meeting in RNA research and I was impressed by the high quality of the talks. Scientific activities were also combined with informal social events, including picada (gathering event with appetizers) and asado (southern American barbecue). Besides the excellent work environment, Buenos Aires is definitely a city to discover. Large avenues, many impressive buildings, a promenade harbor area, excellent fine arts museums, green spaces everywhere and diverse cultural activities are examples of what to find there. During my stay, Buenos Aires was also the venue of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, which turned the city even more vibrant. I was also well impressed to see much fewer people smoking than in Lisbon and by the feeling of security probably due to the large number of police officers on the streets. I came back home with a new experience, an enlarged professional network and many new friends.
The experience gained by working at a foreign research institute is always an asset in every researcher’s training. By promoting and funding staff exchange of researchers, the LysoMod initiative supports their career development. I am grateful to LysoMod and Prof. Maria Carmo-Fonseca for this opportunity and to all my new colleagues in Buenos Aires for the overall experience."
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Charles University
Czech Republic
Weizmann Institute of Science
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Israel
Denis Cmunt
"During my LysoMod training in Tony Futerman´s group, I participated in the research focusing on pathophysiology of sphingolipid storage disease, specifically Gaucher´s disease. This disease is caused by glucocerebrosidase deficiency. The content of my work was the optimization of recombinant production and purification pursued by the activity assays of a mutant version of the enzyme.
My whole stay was short (1 month) but busy. I appreciate the friendly atmosphere in the lab and the possibility to participate in the monthly lab meeting at the beginning of my stay so I quickly came to know what´s everybody´s work. The Weizmann Institute of Science is a great institution with numerous equipments so many methods or approaches to your project are available. Also, I liked the possibility to discuss about any scientific problems with anybody. Everybody I met was nice and ready to help. I was working with Sarka Pokorna who is a kind and very helpful person. We performed many experiences in the short time of my stay so I had the opportunity to see how the science is done at the top institution as WIS. I learnt some new methods and got many new experiences for my professional but also personal live. I am grateful for this opportunity. So many thanks to the team of Tony´s lab and especially to Sarka.
I find the LysoMod project as an example of a very important initiative which brings together many people working on the similar projects even they are spread around the globe. I think this is a good way how the science could be done in the globalizing world with increasing amount of information. I see as an advantage of a such a project the fact that people can communicate, share information but also professionally grow in an easier (or let say facilitated) way. So the project is a very praiseworthy activity."
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Universdade de Lisboa
Portugal
Weizmann Institute of Science
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Israel
Liana Silva
"My project was on biophysics of lysosomal storage diseases including Gaucher and Niemann Pick diseases. I found excellent research conditions and scientific environment, facility to interact with different research groups and access to excellent infrastructures
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I find the LysoMod project an excellent initiative, allows interactions between different research groups and exchange of ideas, possibility to learn new methodologies and acquire new skills."
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Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Chile
Universidade de Lisboa
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Portugal
Tamara Marin
"The project I was working on had two aims. First, searching for altered gene expression in Niemann Pick type A models, specifically in human fibroblast trough RNA seq analysis. Second, we wanted to analyze lysosomal alterations in size and distribution and autophagy markers in NPA fibroblasts with c-Abl modulation through immunofluorescence and microscopy. This is a proapoptotic signalling pathway that is activated in this disease and we believe that it could be involved in this pathology.
I spent 3 months in the Carmo Fonseca laboratory at IMM in Lisbon, Portugal. It was a great experience both in the personal and professional field. IMM is a wonderful place to do science, has very good facilities, equipment and very friendly people who facilitate the work. The Fonseca group was really nice, always available to help or to clarify any questions I had. In addition, Dr. Fonseca was very kind and concerned about the experiments and how I felt. On the other hand, Lisbon is an amazing city with many interesting and beautiful places to visit, nice people and delicious food."
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Chronos Biosystems
Romania
The Weizmann Institute
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Israel
Robi Tacutu
"My research group focuses on ageing and associated pathologies or processes and during this secondment we explored the links between lysosomal activity decline and ageing, and the crucial role that lysosomes have in healthy ageing. My secondment included a 4-weeks visit in Tony Futerman’s lab, at the Weizmann Institute. The experience was wonderful and I really enjoyed visiting Tony’s lab. Throughout the entire time, the people in the lab were very helpful and nice to me, and Tony was always supporting and available for discussions. I was also very impressed with the lab, which is housed in a brand new building, and is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment. I believe the visit allowed us to explore common grounds for collaboration and I am already considering additional visits there. Overall, I think that the secondment was very productive for both our groups (it sure was productive for mine). The Weizmann Institute was also very supporting and helped with all the necessary documents needed for my visit. "
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"I believe the LysoMod project is a very good initiative, having a very positive impact on the career of many young scientists (both students and postdocs) who can acquire new skills and complementary knowledge. At the same time, it is also helping PIs to establish new or strengthen existing collaborations with other labs. The secondments offer the chance to visit different world recognized institutions with state-of-the-art equipment and brilliant researchers. Overall, I think that the LysoMod RISE project is very successful and more such initiatives should be encouraged."
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University of Oxford
United Kingdom
Universidad del Desarrollo
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Chile
David A Priestman
"I had a very, very good experience. South America is a wonderful place, most especially because I speak Spanish (my wife is from Madrid). We worked hard and generated some excellent data. As well as attending lab meetings and giving presentations/talks at UDD, I did all the experimental work in the lab of Silvana Zanlungo in the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. As such, I was working with groups including post-docs and PhD students at both Universities. I found the standard, quality of work and the labs extremely high and very intellectually stimulating. I have known both Andres and Silvana since we met at a conference in Italy, some years ago. We are great friends and they are excellent collaborators to work with. We managed to develop assays for a panel of thirteen different lysosomal enzymes to measure in liver samples from ~150 liver samples from thirty different strains of mice. The data generated is presently being computer-processed in genome wide association studies (GWAS) to identify candidate genetic modifier genes which affect lysosomal biology. Once identified, these genes will become new targets for the development of new treatments for lysosomal storage disorders."
"This initiative has meant that this particular project in the search for genetic modifiers of lysosomal biology has moved forward at a very much more rapid rate than would otherwise have been possible. My expertise is mostly in biochemistry, enzyme assays, metabolism, and developing analytical methods. Andres is an expert in genetics and molecular biology, so we complement each other very well. I was able to teach them very quickly how to set up and do all the different assays. "
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University of Oxford
United Kingdom
Romanian Academy and Institute of Molecular Medicine
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Romania and Portugal
Ecem Kaya
"I highly enjoyed my both secondments in Bucharest and Lisbon. Both reserch gorups were extremely helpful, the labs were well equipped. I developed new sets of skills in each internship, and I received a great supervision from both Professor Petrescu and Professor Fonseca. In Romania I worked with Protein target investigation of Acetyl Leucine using Biotin-Avidin interaction while in Portugal I worked with mRNA profiling of Acetyl Leucine treatment in in vitro NPC1 model. I found the LysoMod programme quite useful and a great networking opportunity for research groups with different expertise."
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Romanian Academy
Romenia
IntraBio
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Oxford
Anca Roseanu-Constantinescu
"My project is "The development of a novel proteome-based assay designed to identify protein interactions. The IntraBio team and their academic colleagues at the University of Oxford were very welcoming and supportive throughput my stay. The facilities were state of the art. I thoroughly enjoyed being based in Oxford as it is a culturally diverse city and small enough to walk around or use bus services."
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