Clay A. Abraham
Researcher
International Internship At UNESP
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Prior to Departure
During my life I rarely traveled within the many areas and cities of the United States let alone another country or continent. When I learned of the internship, I was enthralled by the potential experiences and possibilities I could partake in while in Brazil. Since this was my first expedition outside of my native country, I wanted to have an open mind as to what I could expect while traveling. I knew that research was being conducted in Brazil as with countless other nations across all areas of the globe. Yet even with the vast quantities of international collaboration occurring, I personally was unaware to the actual types of scientific research being conducted within Brazil excluding research on the Amazon Rainforest.
Studying and Traveling
To be completely honest the first week of the trip felt like a dream. After 9.5 hours I had flown over 3800 miles to another continent and hemisphere where the seasons started at different points in the year. I had traveled to a place with a different culture, language, way of life. I began to notice the variations and differences that has made Brazil such a unique and amazing country. Within my first week in the country, I had visited a city (Sao Paulo) that dwarfed New York City. I had flown to Foz Do Iguacu and visited "The Iguacu Falls" which had been named one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. I managed to travel to Argentina for a day and the Itaipu Binational region which supplies Paraguay and Brazil with clean hydroelectric energy. During the remainder of the first week, I travel to Botucatu, Brazil. This is where I conducted my internship and met my roommates at the "Republica." I hope you can visualize why I thought I was in a dream.
Even after the euphoria slowly washed away, I was still left with many great experiences to come. Throughout my internship at the IBTEC Facility at UNESP, I acquired valuable skills that I can easily transfer between the in and outside of the laboratory. I actively worked in groups that constantly had a form of language barrier. This made communications at times not easy however the experience for everyone involved was invaluable. In a world where globalization and international research is being conducted, it is vital that people from all areas of the globe are able to work together in the lab to perform research. The technical and theoretical knowledge I obtained while interning is another aspect of my experience that I can transfer to other areas of biotechnology. The IBTEC facility acquired their own Illumina Sequencer which is the future of genome mapping and conservation biology. With this technology at their disposal, the faculty are able to prepare DNA libraries from a variety of sources (endangered species, misquotes, etc...) and analyze the thousands of labeled samples. This has allowed for unprecedented advancement in molecular biology, and I was able to be apart of that process for my internship.
Upon Returning
As the remaining days of the trip diminished, I how beneficial the ordeal had to me. Not only was I able to see another corner of the world, but I also have discovered a deeper passion for how biotechnology can be applied to environmental and conservation sciences. The use of Next Generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to help solve tomorrows obstacles. Although my trip to Brazil has come to an end the memories and understanding that I have obtained from the internship is something that I can not only use for myself but also pass on to fellow aspiring scientists.
Acknowledgments
A special thanks to the countless graduate researchers and professors at UNESP who allowed us to partake in their research. Also, I wanted to thank Dr. Celso Marino for all of his help and tours of Brazil. Lastly, I wanted to thank and acknowledge Dr. Alejandra Maruniak for organizing the internship and accompanying me on such an amazing journey.