Catching Up

August 2, 2012

Making Plans

Today was a day of lecture and planning. In the morning, we had our lecture on Algae, Biofilm, and Phytoplankton. I had not really heard much about biofilm before, so it was interesting to hear about it. Biofilm is that "slimy stuff" on rocks that you find in lakes and streams. It is essentially a collection of microorganisms that adhere to a surface. Such microorganisms such as bacteria, form a matrix of polymeric compounds that protects the cells and assists physical and chemical communication between microorganisms. (For more info, check out this link about biofilms)

I was a bit sleepy during lecture today from staying up writing the night before, but the lecture was interesting and engaging, and I managed to stay focused. It is difficult adjusting my sleep schedule due to my previous summer sleep schedule. I was used to getting up much later around 9am because of summer vacation, and now I was suddenly waking up every morning at 7am. Luckily, we had access to coffee and/or tea every morning which made the transition easier.

Today after lecture, we met up with our advisers and began to finalize our project. Piet, our graduate student adviser, sat down with my group and I, and discussed project ideas. We decided to look at this new parasite, a gill monogenean, that has been observed in Lake Constance. The overall general plan we came up with with that we would sample 100 young Eurasian Perch (0+) from two sides of the lake, and look for presence, prevalence, abundance, and intensity of this gill monogenean. We also decided that we would look for the larvae of the pike tapeworm, which encysts in the liver of the Eurasian Perch, and also look at their presence, prevalence, abundance, and intensity.


Towards the evening, two of my friends in the group and I went out to town. We took a stroll through the new and old part of town, and took pictures. It was very relaxing, and we just walked around looking at the water and the birds. We walked until the sun set, and stopped by the water to see the moon out overlooking the lake, near where the Rhine river runs, next to a beautiful willow tree. It was a romantic sight, and I was glad to be sharing such a beautiful moment with my friends.

Liz and I on the bridge

The bridge and a boat

Boats lined up

A great view of Constance

Moonlight over the water

 

- Emily 

On the Water

July 31, 2012

Today was a bit stressful for me, mixed with excitement and adrenaline. After class today, we had to pick a research project to work on. We would be working in small groups of 3, and there were 3 projects to choose from. The three projects included working with 1) limiting nutrients in the lake,  2) biofilms, 3) fish behavior/parasites. I was torn between working with fish parasites or biofilms. Both projects were very interesting, but I ended up picking fish parasites because I have worked with them before, and was more familiar with fish morphology and dissection.

After our groups were assembled, we had a trip on the limnology institutes's research vessel, where we were able to observe the various techniques used in limnological studies. One example is the secchi disk, which is a circular white disk that is lowered into the water until it is no longer visible. It is used to measure water transparency. Another thing we did was use a zooplankton net to catch some daphnia at different depths to observe the different species of daphnia and the amount of daphnia present. We observed many other different techniques, and took sediment samples of lake mud to look at the soil stratification.

The best part of being on this research vessel was not only learning and observing all these clever techniques, but also the boat ride itself. It was a sunny day, and the shadowy outline of the alps were in the distance. The fine mist from the speeding boat was refreshing on a warm day such as today.

The evening was spent wandering the streets of old Constance, browsing around all the local shops. There was a violinist playing on the street, and he was absolutely amazing. Elderly women who passed him did so with smiles on their faces as well, and every note of his music brought another smile. I couldn't believe that I was here, in Constance - surrounded by this beautiful music, cobble stone roads, and buildings so old that each one had its own story.

Constance has a charm that makes you forget about anything stressful - all it takes is a stroll through town or by the lake, and you find yourself lost in thought.

The research vessel - its larger than it looks!

The secchi disk being lowered.

Trapping water from a certain depth.

Just a view of the lake - its a very, very large lake. Visibility of the alps vary by cloudiness and clearness of the sky. Some days you can see the clearly - days like today, you can barely see them 

 

- Emily

Getting Familiar

July 29, 2012

Today was the day to get to know the town of Constance. We had a guided tour around Constance, and it was amazing. I had chills down my spine half of the time. I know it sounds cliche to say that this place is rich with history, as much of Europe is, but this place was like opening several time capsules because of the many buildings from various centuries. I have trouble remembering dates and names, as I am terrible at European history. Nonetheless, it was interesting. It is so eerie to be near, or in, buildings varying from 200 A.D, up through the 18th and 19th century. It is difficult to imagine that such buildings and places were once of such historical importance. To be in a hotel that was once a protestant monastery, or staring up at the buildings where bishops and kings held important meetings, or by the lake side where unfaithful wives were tied into a sac with rocks and drowned. This one particular building we visited was where people who committed crimes were killed, and liars had their tongues nailed to the building. The only way to get off the wall cause to pull their tongue, which would then cause their tongues to rip in half. When it healed, it would become a forked tongue, so that everyone would know that this individual was a liar because they had the 'serpents tounge'. It is strange to see such buildings today as shops and cafes along the street.

The buildings here at Constance are very quaint, old, and pleasant to the eye. Many of the houses have dates on them, indicating when they were first mentioned or known at that particular century, or when they were built. Many buildings also had shields and emblems, or some kind of decoration that indicated what type of building it was. In the old part of town, streets are narrow and not many cars pass through. It is mainly for walking and biking, and cars are only present in noticeable numbers once you reach the edges of the old part of town.

In in the evening, we went to this wonderful restaurant by the lake,with large windows and vines that climbed the walls. It was an enchanting place, with delicious food to accompany the wonderful atmosphere. We all had a glass of white wine, made locally. It was THE best wine I had ever tasted, and it was the first time I had ever drank a full glass of wine. I had German meatballs with potato salad, and others had spaetzle. It was a enjoyable evening, and a great day. I couldn't wait to see what else Constance had to offer.

Our tour guide.

Remember when I was talking about the dates and pictues on the buildings?

Bread makers, or a market, perhaps?

Strolling through the old town.

- Emily

The past 2 weeks in pictures

August 12, 2012

By Alyssa DeVincentis

Ah yes, research...

So I guess it's probably about time I talked about why I'm actually here...

I am doing research on wound healing in skin cells. Originally, I was supposed to work on a project involving cancer but things rarely go as planned.

Anyways, I'm not really supposed to be divulging this information, so prepare for some vagueness, though I doubt the 3 or so of you reading this blog will rat me out ;)

So, like I said, I am working on a project involving wound healing in skin cells, specifically keratinocytes. The movement of keratinocytes to close an open wound is modulated by a protein whose expression is regulated post-transcription by miRNA (micro-RNA). In simple terms, miRNA works by binding to mRNA transcripts, preventing proper translation. The miRNA is regulated by other proteins, based on environmental factors, and is usually cleaved from an mRNA transcript, preventing translation of a different protein product.

In essence, the goal is to determine how the miRNA is regulated. By determining this mechanism, the protein that promotes keratinocyte movement in wound healing can be better understood and possibly controlled. The end goal of this research (aside from getting it published and turned into $$$) is to develop therapeutic drugs in order to facilitate the wound healing process. So, for example, instead of having a gash in your arm close up in a day or two, it could close up in an hour.

Of course, there have been plenty of hitches along the way, but maybe one day we can be like this guy: my childhood right here.

You know, minus the green and screaming. I can't believe that's a kid's show...

- Andrew Tang

Ah yes, the world's largest fountain...

This fountain:

It's the largest.

 

- Andrew Tang

Ah yes, nerding out...

Okay, I admit it. I’m a huge nerd. I love videogames and new gadget tomfoolery. Lucky for me, this is a country chock full of nerds! Literally everyone here is a nerd: my post-doc mentor, random security guard, even the grandma with the PSP on the train!

To feed this insatiable need for technology, Singapore has an annual event called the “PC Show.” At the height of nerdiness, my friend, Isham, and I went so that he could replace his desktop’s motherboard so that he could play Diablo 3.

Turns out, it wasn’t really a “show.” More like a giant sale. In fact, it makes Black Friday seem like a casual shopping experience. 

This is the crowd...

to get to this line.

As it also turns out, this tech-craze doesn’t just encompass the latest and greatest either.

Don't mind the random stranger.

POW! That’s right! They still got arcades here, straight out of the ‘90s…