Meet Esther Chanty, a summer exchange student!
After finishing her bachelor in biology and chemistry, Esther decided to explore more in details the mysteries of the human body. Therefore, she started a master in Integrative Biology and Physiology in Sorbonne Université (France) and joined Creatio to work on neurodegenerative disorders for my summer internship.
Esther Chanty working in the laboratory
Get to know Esther better!
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How has the experience of participating in the European 4DBR project been?
I had a wonderful experience joining the European 4DBR project. I came to Barcelona for this internship with three professional aspirations: to learn various techniques and knowledge in the field of stem cells and their therapeutical applications, to feel integrated and guided in this experience, and to be able to understand new languages (spanish and catalan)
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“All the happiness in the world lies in the unexpected”.
(Jean d’Ormesson,
French writer)
What would you highlight? How do you think you will be able to use the acquired knowledge?
This internship fullfiled all my wishes. I learnt to differenciate stem cells in specific cellular lineages, which will be useful in my studies and later in my career. Working on living cells was also challenging, and in moments of difficulty, I was taught to seek for solutions every time and to not give up. This perseverance led me to show results that I am proud of, and that I hope will be useful for the future of the 4BDR project. I was surrounded by a very dynamic and cooperative team, that I enjoyed sharing time with, both in the lab and outside. Finally, I arrived in Barcelona unable to understand Spanish or Catalan and I came home capable of following a basic conversation in both languages. Of course a lot of efforts are still needed for me to improve my speaking skills, but this is a good beginning!
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Would you encourage other students to carry out an internship of this type? Why?
I would recommend getting involved in such a project to other students. I think that this internship was a great opportunity for me to discover catalan culture, traditions and landscapes. In my point of view, it is empowering to realize that it is possible to adapt and respond to professional expectations while being an exchange student.
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Do you think this experience will influence for choosing your studies and professional career? What are your plans?
My next goal is to continue working on stem cells for my second year of master, specializing in the generation of organoid models for the study of neurodegenerative disorders.
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If you had to sum up your experience in one sentence, what would it be?
If I had to sum up my experience in the 4-DBR project, I would use a sentence from the French writer Jean d’Ormesson : “All the happiness in the world lies in the unexpected”.