Internship in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center

One month ago I started my internship in the Naturalis Biodiveraity Center (http://www.naturalis.nl/nl/). Before starting there I had to choose between this center or doing my internship in other two labs: one working only with bioinformatics or another where the project was focused on antibiotic resistance. Naturalis was the only one which offers the opportunity of learning bioinformatics, a field very demanded, but not only computers (so there was also bench work). The choice was very clear for me, so I contacted quickly to the director of the minor and the responsible of the position in the Naturalis. Then we had a meeting where they accepted me. The project was going to be using metabarcoding and NGS for monitoring the quality of the water. I was very excited about working in NGS, something I had studied several times but never seen with my eyes.

The Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a museum of Natural History containing different kind of fossils and animals but it also a center dedicated to research about evolution, biodiversity, etc. It is situated in the Biosciences Park of Leiden. The labs of the institution are located in the Sylvius building, which is shared with the University of Leiden, providing an environment quite juvenile due to the great amount of students found there.

Going back to my project and lab, I have to say that all the people is absolutely nice. Everyone there is always kind and helpful. The atmosphere is relaxed although all of us are working on our own stuffs. Despite I am the only foreign in the lab, people speak in English so I can follow the conversation and participate, which is something I appreciate (otherwise I would be isolated from my workmates). However, sometimes I try to practice my Dutch, which is very basic, adn they help me to improve it.

In that lab we are about ten students in total. There are people from the Hogeschool, like me, and from the University. Besides, not everyone is doing their bachelor, some of them are master students, so we can have a different perspective.

For all this reason I am very grateful to UFV, Hogeschool Leiden and Naturalis for give me this opportunity of doing something I wanted do. I am amaze about can use IonTorrent and make a research by myself.