I never imagined that I would be spending my summer in the Czech Republic. I was glad to escape from Tucson's heat to a cool and rainy summer.

Submerged in a new culture, I had many obstacles to overcome. The language barrier was my biggest hurdle. However, I soon became adept and efficient in body language communication. Czech meals are meat and potato based. I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of food I was expected to eat at each meal along with the liter of beer to wash it all down! After some getting used to, I was in agreement that Czech beer is the greatest beer in the world! Czech is a beautiful country and the center of Europe. Historical towns and buildings are well preserved -- one is taken back in time when you walk down the street. Life in the lab was quite different as well. I was very surprised that you could smoke, eat and drink in the labs.

I was fortunate to work in two locations, Prague and Novy Hradek, which allowed me to experience two very different lifestyles. In Prague, I worked with Dr. Jirina Kolinska, Department of Membrane Transport, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and in the small village of Novy Hradek, I worked with Dr. Hana Kozakova, Department of Gnotobiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The project I worked on involved culturing intestinal epithelial cell lines which were subjected to a variety of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1b, IL-10, IL-6, IFN-g and TNF-a) which mimicked intestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease. I extracted total RNA from these samples and reverse transcribed them into cDNA for further use in Competititve-PCR analysis. We also measured digestive enzyme activities such as lactase, sucrase, alkaline phosphatase, glucoamylase and dipeptidyltranspeptidase in these cells to see how these cytokines affect the digestive processes. Due to a lack of money in these labs, the samples were shipped back to Tucson where I will do PCR analysis to determine if these cytokines are causing any gene regulation of the digestive enzymes. We hope that the results will allow a better understanding of how the body's natural defenses against digestive diseases are affecting the health and maintenance of the intestinal tract.

Traveling back and forth between Prague and Novy Hradek was a great experience for me because I was always seeing new things. I really began to like the slower paced life of the small towns, so I made my home base in the small town of Nove Mesto nad Metuji, where I had a one bedroom apartment overlooking the town castle and nearby lake. The beautiful green countryside and forests of the East Bohemian region surrounded me. From Nove Mesto nad Metuji it was a 20 minute bus ride to the lab in Novy Hradek and a 2.5 hour bus ride to Prague. In this region of the Czech Republic there are many castles close by so I was able to visit the majority of them. At the top of a hill by the lab in Novy Hradek, there are ancient castle ruins, which we would hike to during lunch breaks. When I spent time in Novy Hradek, it never felt like I was at work.

In between cell harvests and RNA extractions, I was able to do some traveling. Dr. Kozakova sings in a chamber choir, and when they were invited to perform in Italy, I was asked to accompany them. We stayed in a small town near Cesena on the Adriatic Sea. We visited many small towns in the area and were treated to fine wines, food and gelatto. While my mother was visiting, we went to Vienna, Austria and returned via many small towns in South Bohemia, including Cesky Krumlov, which is one of the most beautiful towns, I have ever seen.

Performing research abroad has been a wonderful opportunity for me. It is amazing to see how much you can learn about yourself when you are alone in a foreign country! I met so many people from all over the world; I have developed a great understanding for cultural diversity. It is truly an experience I will never forget, and I encourage all students to take advantage of this wonderful program. I owe many thanks to Carol Bender, Genevieve Kenney, the BRAVO! selection committee, my faculty sponsor Dr. Bohuslav Dvorak, and my host sponsors, Dr. Jiri Kolinska and Dr. Hana Kozakova.

Jessica Dominguez, UBRPer in Dr. Dvorak's lab, Pediatrics