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Day 8 - The PhD process - a journey between pleasure and sacrifice

13/3/2020

1 Comment

 
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Hi, I am Ernesto and I am happy to share my experience as a PhD student at the University of Sheffield. I came to Sheffield almost four years ago from Mexico and now I am at my final year of the PhD.

​I am doing my research in post-translational modifications in the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae to discern how it affects the metabolism and pathogenesis. I have the fortune to work in the Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease department which is located within the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. I would say that the advantage of being at this building is that you could be growing bacteria and at the same time having an incredible view of Sheffield. 

​Since I moved from Mexico being separated from my family has impacted me in a positive way since I have grown as a person. My family is proud that I have the opportunity to work in a prestigious University and that they know that I am doing what I like, which of course is being at the lab and doing my science!

​​A lot of experiments I have performed. However, some of the most significant achievements have been the identification of the 
N. gonorrhoeae acetylome. During the summer of 2019 I got a graph (Fig. 1), which might seem simple, but behind this is a work of almost 4 months growing 20 litres of bacterial 
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Figure 1. Volcano plot that shows the increased acetylation sites of N. gonorrhoeae
broth and staying until late every day at the laboratory to get these results. This graph shows that the enzyme behind the acetylation process could be a target for an antibiotic.
​

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Me imaging ​N. gonorrhoeae within macrophages
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One of my passions and guilty pleasures of being a scientist is imaging. This image (above), is the infection of macrophages with N. gonorrhoeae and it was the first time that I observed this process in real time. Showing that a mutant of the gonococcus is easier to phagocytose.
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I hope that with these results my lab continue to study acetylation since it seems a good candidate for a therapy against gonorrhoea.
1 Comment
vidmate.onl link
25/10/2022 03:05:47 pm

anks for sharing the article, and more importantly, your personal experience of mindfully using our emotions as data about our inner state and knowing when it’s better to de-escalate by taking a time out are great tools. Appreciate you reading and sharing your story since I can certainly relate and I think others can to

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