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Pharmacy Student from the National University of Singapore Explores the Link Between Metabolic Syndrome and Neuroinflammation.
For the past three months, I have had the good fortune of working on my final year research project in the UCC School of Pharmacy under the guidance of Dr. Christian Waeber. It has been an honour to be the first student from National University of Singapore (NUS) Pharmacy to come to UCC for this newly-established collaboration.
As I had little prior research experience, Dr. Waeber and his team gave me plenty of opportunities to try different techniques in the laboratory and always ensured that I was learning something new. Everyone in the laboratory was also very helpful in guiding me through my learning experience and answering any questions I had. The objective of my project was to detect an increase in neuroinflammatory protein levels in the brain of pigs that have been exposed to a Western Diet. However, due to a lack of published methods to detect these protein levels in pig tissues, my project was focused on optimizing the protocols for some of these methods, including Western Blot, ELISA and histological staining. Through this project, I have gained a better understanding of and had firsthand experience doing research.
It has been very eye-opening to be here in Ireland and UCC. Apart from my research, I also had the chance to interact with the friendly locals and to travel around to enjoy the stunning views that Ireland has to offer. This research exchange has given me a vastly different learning experience from my education in Singapore and it is an experience that I will value.