Life Sciences

Sample student profiles

Go to France, speak French, learn to dissect hen embryos
Building bridges while building better braces
Zebrafish locomotion moves neuroscience major towards her goals
How do you say "woof" in French?
Real life experience in a medical laboratory

(See overview page for important information on profiles and lists.)

Go to France, speak French, learn to dissect hen embryos

Name: Tatiana S.
Undergraduate major field(s): Biology
Goals for her Paris Field Study semester: Keep improving French skills and immerse in France, while developing as a laboratory researcher.
Placement: Collège de France – Department of Experimental Medicine
Responsibilities as intern:

Carry out her own research project, assigned as part of the overall program of the laboratory.

Learn a range of techniques needed to pursue the project to completion.

Clone a portion of the ROBO4 protein; use mutagenesis to characterize protein interaction with its ligands.
Subject of research: The role of the protein ROBO4 in angiogenesis.
And... Tatiana achieved a surprising scientific discovery; cloning a sequence of ROBO4, through hybridization in situ she demonstrated for the first time that this protein conserves its expression in the bird model, contrary to what was previously assumed.

Building bridges while building better braces

Name: Rayan B.
Undergraduate major field(s): Biomedical Engineering
Goals for hisParis Field Study semester: Become fluent in French, learn more about French society which marked his own country of Lebanon, experience French and European approaches to the field of biomedical engineering.
Placement: Research Laboratory in Biomechanics and Bioengineering at the University of Compiègne.
Responsibilities as intern:

Become a full-fledged member of a renowned research team.

Carry out a bibliographic survey on dynamic modeling of the lower members.

Conduct market research on state-of-the-art lower member orthoses.

Conceive and develop a computer model of lower member movement and apply it to the design of innovative orthoses.
Subject of research Biomechanical Modelling of Lower Limbs Applied to Virtual Design of Improved Ortheses
And... Rayan is continuing this project as a senior thesis while remaining in contact with his host laboratory, where his results have been included in publications. Rayan is thinking about graduate school in France.

Zebrafish locomotion moves neuroscience major towards her goals

Name: Devika N.
Undergraduate major field(s): Neuroscience
Goals for her Field Study semester: To see how my field is approached in a different language, culture and work environment.
Placement: Neurobiological research institute in brain and spinal cord, at Paris’s largest teaching hospital
Responsibilities as intern:

Understand the generation of transgenic animals; learn the protocols of an optogenetics laboratory

Perform mutagenesis in Zebrafish through transgenic injections in embryos

Test and evaluate a new algorithm for tracking Zebrafish locomotion
Subject of research: Zebrafish in Research on Locomotion: A review of the literature and a report
And... Devika became a science teaching-intern at her university in her senior year

How do you say "woof" in French?

Name: Danya R.
Undergraduate major field(s): French and Pre-Medicine
Goals for her Field Study semester: To gain experience in research or clinical veterinary work to help with goal of becoming vet.
Placement: Veterinary School
Responsibilities as intern:

Assist veterinarian with the daily care of dystrophic cats and dogs

Perform muscular biopsies; carry out the histological analysis of the samples

Participate in the life of the laboratory: attend team meetings, seminars etc.
Subject of research: Canine and feline myopathies
And... Danya continued to treat animals over the summer while interning at a wild life sanctuary

Real life experience in a medical laboratory

Name: Alexandra G.
Undergraduate major field(s): Biology and Pre-Medicine
Goals for her Field Study semester: : To gain hands-on experience in a medical or lab setting while immersing herself in French culture
Placement: The Curie Institute for Cancer Research
Responsibilities as intern:

Become familiar with laboratory protocols, working under a supervisor until able to carry them out independently.

Work on her own set of experiments, examining three cell lines, investigating the expression of a particular protein in two different types of cancer of the bladder.

Attend meetings and research seminars organized by the institute.