Canals, Coffee, and Contractile Proteins
Xavier Aguilar takes a break from conducting research at Amsterdam University Hospital to visit Paris, France.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to do research as a BRAVO! student, working in collaboration with Dr. Coen Ottenheijm at Amsterdam University Medical Center. The focus of my project was determining the feasibility of a knockdown treatment for nemaline myopathy through a collaborative project between the University of Arizona’s Granzier Laboratory and Dr. Ottenheijm’s research group. I was incredibly excited to be a part of this project because it would bring me so many new experiences within science and life. I joined the project during its pilot phase, helping the Ottenheijm group design and test different experiments that could be used to move the project forward, as well as helping analyze some preliminary results from mice with varying deletion lengths within the nebulin-encoding region. As I found myself growing more as a researcher and becoming comfortable with doing my own experiments, I also found comfort and growth in Amsterdam.
Days in Amsterdam felt like a dream. The vast canal system that I rode along on my bike was full of life, from children swimming in the canals to boats floating through the city, and above all, it felt welcoming. The charming home base for my research was gleaming with beauty. The Rijksmuseum was a hallmark of my time there, as its collection of Dutch masterpieces offered some perspective on Dutch culture and values. On weekends, I often traveled both within the Netherlands and to various countries to get the most out of my time abroad. In the Netherlands, I spent a day biking to major sites like Zaanse Schans and Zaandam, and I even biked to Zandvoort Beach for a total of 80 miles. At the time, it felt unreal to bike alongside a freeway and right outside of Schiphol Airport. Around Europe, I traveled to several countries, including the Czech Republic, where I had the opportunity to visit Prague. Seeing Prague Castle, the rotating head of Franz Kafka, the famous astronomical clock, and the beautiful Charles Bridge felt so surreal. To characterize it simply, every day throughout BRAVO! was filled with awe and bliss.
As days passed and I developed a routine of working, going to my favorite bakery for coffee and cake, and traveling on weekends, I began to realize that I was living life differently than normal. I was truly living in the moment, thinking about the reality of every small thing I would do, like working out in a gym within the 1928 Olympic Stadium or sitting in the grass of a field that had seen countless historic events. Everything was put into perspective. Yet, as days passed and I began to fear missing trains or flights less, I never stopped thinking about how truly lucky I was to be able to have this experience . I feel now as if the short Dutch life that I lived has become a forever part of my way of thinking and approaching the world.
Within the lab, I was surrounded by some of the kindest and most intelligent mentors: Sylvia Bogaards, Nienke Ten Cate, Leander Vonk, and, of course, Coen Ottenheijm. All of them taught me many things, but most importantly, they taught me how to truly be a scientist and that I was working alongside them for a reason. What I cherished the most within the lab were the conversations, coffee meetings, and cultural exchanges between myself and the other international interns who were in the lab. It is here that I learned not only science and how to culture cells, turn mice transparent, and perform dissections, but also where I learned Dutch customs, music, and politics. In Dutch, the word “gezellig” is used to describe a warm and friendly atmosphere, and I would say that it is the perfect word to describe the Ottenheijm group as well as the physiology department at Amsterdam UMC.
Thinking back, my BRAVO! experience taught me a lot about not only science, but also how important it is to step back in life and appreciate the world around you. While my mentors taught me valuable lessons about science, they simultaneously taught me about their way of life and culture, as well as gave me the opportunity to immeasurably grow as a scientist and person. I am profoundly grateful for the BRAVO! program, as well as the Ottenheijm group, for creating this opportunity of a lifetime.