This week, Catherine Yu shares her experiences of working at the University of Sheffield MBB department and the Florey Institute over the summer as part of Princeton University's the International Internship Program.
This summer, I have had the immense pleasure of interning at the University of Sheffield for eight weeks, through a joint effort between the Florey Institute and the Princeton University IIP (International Internship Program). Under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph Kirk, I have been studying the antibiotic resistant pathogen, Clostridium difficile, and attempting to understand its molecular structure and function in the context of host-pathogen interactions. Me enjoying chips on the Brighton pier
This topic has been personally interesting to me because even before the start of my internship, I was aware of C. diff's notorious reputation in U.S. hospitals and the topic had been briefly covered in my molecular genetics course at Princeton. My project centered on studying a putative peptidoglycan deacetylase that has yet to be characterized, but is known to have altered expression in C. diff strains with mutant S-layers. I mostly worked on creating a C. diff lacking the CD 2679 gene, in order to study its effects in both a wild-type and S-layer mutant C. diff strain. Additionally, I worked on cloning a fluorescent tag to CD 2679 in order to study sub-cellular localization.
Taking a walk on the London Tower Bridge
Taking a walk on the London Tower Bridge
Outside of the lab, I have been fortunate to have the time to travel on the weekends with my fellow intern, Julia Edgar, who was working in the Dr Turner's lab. Throughout our 8-week placement, we made trips to Dublin, the Peak District National Park, London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and Brighton and Hove. While most of our trips were quite brief, spanning only the time of the two days of a weekend, I feel immensely grateful for the experience to travel to such a variety of places. Although I have since returned home to the states, I will always look backfondly on these 8 weeks and am especially grateful to Dr. Rebecca Corrigan and Princeton University for making it happen.
Exploring the Howth Cliff Walk, just outside of Dublin city center.
