Isidoro Cobo (2nd-year Biochemistry student Biochemistry , Rubén Ferrer (4th-year Biology student), and Esther Recacha (3rd-year Biology student) from the School of Science the University of Navarra worked on several research projects research the Hematology Unit of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford during July and August. The students conducted research related to myeloid cell neoplasms. “We used samples from leukemia patients to identify genes involved in the development the disease,” said Isidoro Cobo.

Esther Recacha summarizes her role in Oxford in two parts: "The first consisted of studying the effect of different treatments on four cell lines (NB4, HL60, K562 and Raji), present in leukemia patients with the aim of measuring their proliferation and apoptosis (death) at goal . And the second was to analyze genes and look for possible mutations in leukemia patients. All this was done at the Molecular Hematology Unit "LLR" (Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research) of the same department".

Isidoro Cobo, who participated in the same study as Esther Recacha, states that "in our study, we nucleofected the cDNA of the wild type gene in the cell lines to be studied by electroporation. Using commercial kits, we measured the proliferation and apoptosis rate of these cell lines at 24, 48 and 72 hours".

"I highly recommend summer internships to all students, and if possible abroad, as it is a way to grow professionally and a very good opportunity to get to know different cultures and learn other languages and customs," summarizes Rubén Ferrer.