2015_11_04_CIE_becas_sip

Pablo Ruedas (3rd Double Chemistry and Biochemistry ) is one of the eight students of the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra who carried out an internship through a scholarship SIP(Science Internship Program-University of Navarra). In his case, the institution chosen was the high school of Physics at the University of Stuttgart (Germany), associated with the Max Planck Institute, one of the world's leading centers of reference letter with more than 12,000 employees and 9,000 PhDs, post-docs, visiting scientists and researchers spread over its 80 centers at research. For Pablo, the stay has given him the opportunity to work in a leading center and to have more experience to decide his future:"It has helped me to confirm that I want to dedicate myself to research. I loved having the feeling that I was doing something unique, and meeting people from different countries.

During his stay, Pablo investigated the propulsion mechanisms of Janus particles, silica particles partially coated with a layer of carbon or gold that, when suspended in a special medium, are capable of moving in practically straight trajectories if a focused laser beam is applied to them. "Their future application could be to encapsulate drugs and direct them to any point in the body through the use of light," says the student.

Ane Altuna (4th year of Biochemistry ) was able to go to Columbia University Medical Center in New York for a six-week internship: "The group of research that I joined, at department Molecular Therapy at high school Psychiatry, studies the function and structure of membrane transporter proteins that are related to different neurological diseases. In his case, he admits, it was an unforgettable experience. He was able to put on internship and consolidate experimental techniques that he learned during the degree program and other new ones, knowing how they work in other countries, in other language, etcetera.

"It's been six weeks of which I have nothing negative to say. My colleagues made me feel at home. The experience has made me mature and opened my mind," adds Ane.

Paris, London and, once again, New York.

Diana Sanchez (3rd Biochemistry ) got an internship at the Institut Cochin in Paris. There she collaborated with a group that works on liver in her research center, associated with the School of Medicine of Paris Descartes and the Cochin Hospital: "Something like the partnership here between the CIMA, the Clinic and the University", says the student. From the month spent in the French capital, she takes everything with her, but especially the opportunity to put on internship what she studied at Degree and to improve her skill in the use of Biochemistry and molecular biology techniques.

Amaia Úriz (3rd year of the Double Chemistry and Biochemistry ) spent two months in the Pharmacy laboratories of King's College London, studying the properties and structure of different polymers (tetronics) that are used as gels for the distribution of drugs in the body. During his stay he was also able to work at the synchrotron (or particle accelerator) in Oxford, where he prepared different samples to better understand the Structures of these gels: "It has been a great experience both at the staff and professional level. I recommend it to all students, as it also opens many doors in the future. I would definitely do the same thing again," she says.

Mikel Martínez (3rd Biochemistry ) also did an internship with the scholarship SIP in New York, like Ane Altuna, but this time it was at department Systems biology at Columbia University Medical Center. "My goal was to try to give an answer to a biological problem with Bioinformatics methods. To do that I went into a group that wanted to test whether there was a relationship between the presence of an immune-linked protein family (NLR) and the level of development evolutionary (archaeobacteria, bacteria, plants, invertebrates, etc.)." With that goal, he designed a pipeline to automate the retrieval of data from several Proteomics projects, analyzed all the proteins in search of the ones he was interested in and summarized all the data obtained in a table. At the end, "I even gave a talk explaining my findings and answering questions from my colleagues," he adds.

The two months spent in New York gave him, as he emphasizes, rigor in the work, the possibility of joining a top-level laboratory , where he even participated actively in the meetings of laboratory with other chemists, physicists, biochemists, engineers and mathematicians, "and the opportunity to get to know New York: a truly extraordinary city," he says.

What do I have to do to stay at a center in another country?

From the School of Sciences, in coordination with Career Services -whose position is Cristina Martínez Cabañas in the area of Sciences- is working intensively to increase the network of laboratories in universities and centers abroad. "The goal", explains Eduardo Ansorena, coordinator academic for international affairs in the School of Sciences, "is that our students can continue to develop summer internships in centers of excellence in the coming years, and the School is making an B effort to try to get more scholarships for them".

Next January, Career Services will organize an informative talk for interested students. The date final will be announced on the Career Services website. School

• contact by Eduardo Ansorena: eansorena@unav.es