By Yolanda Alvarez (3D-NEONET project manager)
In the summertime, most people go to the beach or the countryside to relax and enjoy a nice vacation under the sun… However, fresh-air and greenness of beautiful Ireland were the landscape chosen by 4 of our fellows to spend the month of July.
Sunset in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
Catarina Gonsalves, Pablo Fuciños and Isabel Rodríguez (postdoctoral researchers in nanotechnology from INL, Portugal) went to Irish start-up Blafar, recently founded by Prof Wenxin Wang and Dr Hongyun Tai. There, they worked on innovative nano-formulations based on biopolymers which may be used as vehicles for cancer drugs.
Grand Irish Summer for these 3D-NEONET fellows
Professional skills and gastronomic experience
Beatriz de la Parra (director of Micology focussed SME ECM, in Spain), learned how to use the zebrafish platform in Prof Breandan Kennedy’s lab in UCD. She tested a few fungal extracts on this model to assess safety and to identify bioactivity with therapeutic potential.
Learning about zebrafish model and testing fungal extracts
In summary, 3D-NEONET enabled much more than career opportunities and gain of skills for fellows. Day trips, laughs, dinners, friendship between fellows, their offspring, and even their landlords!!… Special thanks to lovely Bernadette (golden host-family in the project) for her hospitality and friendliness.
We only can share here, in these few images, a glimpse of a wonderful summer at all levels. A GRAND Irish summer!!!
Beatriz
Thank you Yolanda and 3D Neonet proyect.
It was fantastic. New skills, new opportunities and new friends
3DNeonet
Thanks to you BEA, and congrats on becoming a Pro-zebrafish-lens-surgeon in such a short time 😉