Once their exams were over last May, two biology students from the University of School of Science packed their bags and headed to England for an internship at a laboratory the University of Oxford, where they are conducting research leukemia and its instructions .

laboratory "The research at Genetics was very interesting for me, and I realized how close research is to the patients whose quality of life could be improved with future discoveries. Thanks to the financial aid and trust of my colleagues at laboratory and, especially, Marta Fernández Mercado, with whom I worked there, I learned some of the most widely used Genetics molecular and engineering Genetics techniques," emphasizes Alba Martín.

Together with her, Charles Breeze participated in a project that consisted of analyzing the regulatory function of two relevant miRNAs in several lymphoid lines of interest.

"The knowledge gained at degree program has provided me with the necessary background and technique, as well as experience internship in performing them. In this work I have become familiar with qRT-PCRs, minipreps, cell culture techniques, gel electrophoresis, plasmid DNA ligation, RNA extraction, apoptosis assays (ELISA), cell proliferation assays (MTS), miRNA nucleofection, and other techniques such as Western Blot, Cytospin, spectrophotometry.... " summarizes Breeze.

One of the most interesting aspects for Alba Martín was that "I was able to see what day-to-day life is like at laboratory at research and how the projects at research are organized. It is true that the hours of work were many, more than eight every day, but the atmosphere at group, which was really good, made the time pass quite quickly. The experience was so good that I decided to extend my stay in Oxford for a month longer than I had planned."

The two students from the School of Science more than satisfied with the experience, and say they would like to "do it again. And, of course, we recommend it to anyone thinking of pursuing a career in research."