トピックス
2024年3月28日
NGP SPECIAL OVERSEAS TRAINING REPORT
For quite a long time, my ambition has been to become a researcher engaged in advanced scientific projects through international collaborations. The Neuro Global International Joint Graduate Program (NGP) provided me with the opportunity for my first attempt. As a requirement of the PhD program, I embarked on a five-month overseas training in London, where I met many interesting and kind people and learned so much from them. It is an experience that I will never forget. I want to express my gratitude to NGP, the NGP administrative office, and those who supported me during my stay, including my supervisor Prof. Tanimoto and overseas supervisor Dr. Williams at King’s College London.
My journey began with me dragging my heavy luggage out of the Heathrow International Airport after an exhausting 14-hours flight. Getting out from the tube (local name for subway) station, Elephant and Castle station, I found the house where I was supposed to stay for months. The house was very old so as the room and there is nothing in the room but a mattress and a duvet without the cover. But this was the best accommodation I can afford because the rent in London is crazy (little did I know that it was one of the filming locations of Harry Potter III and a notorious town of crimes).
Upon arrival, I was greeted by the left-over foods in the dirty kitchen because it’s a shared house where five persons lived in. Previous tenants left behind the mass and have been gone for a while. I was the first new tenant to come and face all the mass alone. But I found myself not frustrated by this 18-century-built trash house at all. Instead, I had a most comfortable sleep for months probably because of jet lag and fatigue, and a dream of all the exciting adventures and trainings that awaited me in this unfamiliar country.
After a brief welcoming by my lab members and few days of adaptation, I was unexpectedly invited to join a department retreat (a mini conference within the department). I experienced a moment of panic as I barely knew anybody and the retreat had a array of social events. I felt very embarrassing to talk to all strangers, especially when I found myself struggled to comprehend their English due to their ascents and speed. People here also looked so smart to me at the time, and I feared that any misstep on my part would brand me as “the stupid new guy” for the rest of my stay.
Nevertheless, I still busted in, engaging in discussions with strangers, laughed at not very funny jokes, drunk a lot of beers trying to be outgoing during the party. The communication was indeed very intense, but surprisingly, it was not that difficult than I thought. People here were very open and enthusiastic. They were always willing to know more about each other and talk more about their science (I later found that they discuss a lot without conducting any actual experiment, quite opposite to the Asian style). Anyway, the result was good. I made many new friends and felt like I was finally one of them.
In later several months, many funny or miserable little episodes happened, but most of the time, my research went surprisingly well. My goal of the stay was to learn the in vivo live-imaging technique on the Drosophila pupa and apply it to visualize the developmental dynamics of synaptic proteins. It has been unclear that how various components in pre-synapses are allocated to their final locations. The project aimed to shed light on this critical window of synapse formation and potentially contribute to developing clinical treatments for neurological diseases. With the help of the intense every-day interactions with my nice lab members, I learned the technique quickly and collected valuable data. The established system and preliminary data built the foundation for further study in Japan.
Outside of the lab, I travel to many places to refresh myself in the weekends. Sometimes I visited famous big cities like Cardiff, the capital of Whales, to see the Cardiff castle. Sometimes I traveled to little towns like Windsor and Cambridge to enjoy a sandwich lunch at the river side. I can still remember the warm sunshine on the bench outside the two thousand-years old Roman bath in the city of Bath. I also occasionally joined parties held by my lab members like the Thanksgiving party, or my French and German roommates lousy massy home parties. Sometimes I have to join them because their music is so loud that I could not sleep. They would keep it on forever until you tell them you are not happy. This is very important. Personally speaking, nobody is reading others’ faces and minds here. People hypothesize your feelings do not exist if they did not hear them. Therefore, I found it is very important to express myself. Once I open myself, I found them all nice and funny people including my roommates. They are probably the reason that I did not feel lonely in this foreign country.
My stay had come to an end near Christmas. Wondering alone on streets decorated by colorful and shiny Christmas lights near Piccadilly Circus, all the wonderful moments appeared in my mind and I could not stop being sad. But I still have my last mission before I go. Every year around this season, there would be a big Christmas party in the department. All the labs would perform their little skits and try to conclude the year with laughing, embarrassment and alcoholic drinks. Me and my lab members performed a Star War style skit about a man who try to master the dissection skill of the fruit fly brain. To me, it was the most stupid but happy stage I have ever done in my life. And it was a fun way to say goodbye to everyone who had been so important during my stay.
I immersed myself in a focused and challenging environment, dedicated to fitting into a stimulating academic atmosphere and progressing my research project for four months. It was a period of isolation from external noise, allowing me to concentrate solely on my personal and academic growth. Once again, I express my gratitude to NGP and my supervisors and lab mates for making this meaningful and unforgettable experience possible.
Sincerely,
Hongyang Wu
Graduate School of Life Sciences
12th March 2024