I, Selin Akpinar, had the chance to do a 3-week secondment at LENS in March 2024 with Beatrice and Gabriela. We were hosted by ESRs at LENS, Marta and Alberto, and PI Dr. Martino Calamai. I had previously spent time at LENS during the winter school in January 2024, where I learned about the advanced technologies that LENS and the Calamai group offer and work on, as well as the beautiful city of Florence. Regardless, I had a chance to learn new things every day during my secondment at LENS thanks to our strong exchange.
During my secondment, we worked on visualizing fluorescent particles that I prepared for the N2B-delivery application and assessed the uptake of particles in cells at different time points with the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy. We also worked on the release profile of the particles. I had the opportunity to observe the cell cultures experiments performed by Marta, which was a new and fruitful experience for me to learn a new approach and skills to assess nanoparticles. Also, as an industrial doctoral candidate, my secondment at LENS was an enlightening experience to observe the research conducted at an academic multidisciplinary institution.
Overall, it was a great opportunity to discuss my research and get a new perspective on microscopy techniques and how we can use them for visualizing particles. Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to fellow ESRs from the LENS, Marta Rojas Rodríguez, and Alberto Gómez-Navarro, as well as Dr. Martino Calamai for hosting us and for their help throughout this wonderful time in Florence.
