From Lab Coats to Berlin Streets: Unveiling the Heart of Scientific Discovery with BRAVO!

The day I received my acceptance to BRAVO!, my life changed in ways I couldn’t even predict.  I had written my proposal, submitted, and interviewed with the acceptance committee, and after months of anticipation, my hands shook and my heart was racing as I read the email.  My proposal to travel to Berlin, Germany and work with Dr. Michael Gotthardt, a collaborator of my PI, Dr. Carol Gregorio, was officially confirmed!

Fast forward and I am carrying my bags into the guest housing for Das Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin, home of Dr. Gotthardt’s lab.  Working in this lab, I was able to talk and formulate ideas with researchers from all around the world and experience an entirely new culture all at the same time.  My project was working with human induced pluripotent stem cells (hi-PSCs) and although the name is a bit long and intimidating, they’re a hugely promising direction for biology research.  Essentially, we can now collect skin samples from adults and coax those regular adult cells to change and become stem cells!  My project tested better ways of transforming these stem cells into cardiac muscle cells, for researchers to test new experiments or treatments on human heart tissue.  Because we can’t collect cardiac tissue samples like a dermatologist could with skin, there is a desperate need for cardiac tissue that researchers can use for learning about heart disease, which is where hi-PSCs come in.

In my research, I was able to measure hi-PSCs that were transformed into cardiac tissue with varying techniques.  This was an amazing opportunity, the resources available were incredible, and I deeply enjoyed getting to meet with researchers from different backgrounds.  In between experiments I got to shadow and learn new techniques, with help from the incredible PhD students and scientists in Dr. Gotthardt’s lab.  Surrounded again by all new machinery and experiments, I gained new skills that allowed me to expand my repertoire as a scientist beyond protocols I would normally perform.

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Outside of the lab, I was able to explore Berlin independently, which was gorgeous and so exciting!  Unlike a study abroad program where there can be little choice in the trips, I was able to plan days where every single stop was my passion or interest.  I saw the Berlin Cathedral, visited the Berlin Zoo (which has the largest variety of species in the world), and met with friends from the lab to explore downtown.  After settling into my housing and laboratory, I felt as though I was becoming a Berlin native, moving through the city, ordering and greeting in German, and becoming a part of the community.  This immersion in an entirely new culture, in a new city, 5,000 miles away from home was challenging at times, but was an experience that helped me grow to be an even more independent and confident adult.  BRAVO! helped me to grow as an individual and scientist, in ways and volumes that I could’ve never predicted.