Finishing up in the lab

The last week has passed by so quickly. It has been a very busy week, especially in the laboratory and training area.

Techniques and strategies in Molecular Medicine

I was also able to attend a spectacular training session at UCD’s Conway Institute, where I focused on several techniques and strategies. The training covered a vast array of scientific techniques and gave me much food for thought as to my future Ph.D studies, in which I intend to focus on infectious diseases and immunology; specifically, I hope to focus my research on immunopathogenesis of Pediatric TB-IRIS in HIV infected children on ART.

The techniques taught at the Conway Institute’s training session included: RNA detection and quantification, differential gene expression and overview of relevant methods, polymorphism association with disease, model organisms, DNA cloning strategies, transgenics and knockouts, RNA interference, determining protein, protein interactions in biology, protein expression and purification, mass spectrometry, expression proteomics, biochemical applications, immunodetection methods on cell and tissue extracts, cell imaging and sorting, flow cytometry, imaging using fluorescent/confocal microscopy, high content analysis of nanoparticle/cell interactions, stem cells-biology and applications.

The brilliant talks were given by specialists in these fields and the whole thing was quite fruitful. The keynote public lecture was on structure-based systems biology of insulin and IGF-I receptors signalling, by Prof Pierre de Meyts from Hagedorn Research Institute. You can imagine it was an intensive hectic two-day workshop!

Lab work with Enda

We have started working on the frozen HIV PBMC samples where we have to rapidly thaw them followed by counting the cells. It has not been easy as the samples kept in nitrogen can be disappointing, however the controls have not given us such trouble. Some of the samples (after thawing) showed insufficient cells and others showed that the cells were dead, which meant the sample was lost. However, we have learned that working with frozen samples is not usually as exciting and straightforward as with fresh samples. We also prepared fresh PBMCs and we shall be using them on Monday for full experiments. I will be looking forward to a busy last week!

CDPC workshops

I have managed to attend seminars this week so as you can gather it has been a busy one. The first seminar was on Phylogenetics and Justice: HIV infection at the Intersection of Science and Law. The first lecture featured Edwin Bernard (writer and activist with GNP+, IAS, NAM, NAT and UNAIDS), who gave a lecture entitled 'HIV Forensics: from the lab to the courtroom'. This was followed by a lecture from Stéphane Hué (University College London, Division of Infection and Immunity), whose lecture was entitled 'Investigating HIV transmission: a molecular approach'. These two lectures generated a lot of discussion, especially in terms of the gray areas of HIV- for example, if you infect another person with HIV this may be categorised as a crime and the law might need to intervene. However, I was of the opinion that this may result in drawbacks as far as positive advances made in HIV prevention are concerned, as it might become a source of stigma once again. It may also be very difficult to prove someone’s guilt in such an instance and would necessitate encroaching on and unnecessary exposure into private lives. I also saw that it may be practical in a few instances like ‘sugar mummies and daddies’ who entice young people with tokens and through these means, have cross-generational sex which usually results in unprotected exposure of these desperate youth who may contract HIV and/or other sexually transmitted diseases. However, in the usual instance it is cheaper and more practical to aim education at a wider audience so that one is empowered to make an informed and responsible decision as far as HIV transmission is concerned.

The final workshop this semester was on Saturday; the topic was “In Search of the Woman in the Body across Africa: Anthropological Perspectives on Gender, Health and Development”. This was held in John Hume Building, NUIM, and we had three female presenters who were all knowledgeable in their field. The main theme that came out of this workshop was the reasons why it more difficult to empower women in Africa and we realised that we need to understand the context of the culture one has been brought up in, the pressures of the demands it poses on her, education levels, religious beliefs and women’s own self-expectations.

Weekend:

I have really been busy summarising my stay in Ireland and also planning for another week that will be very exhausting as I still have a lot to do and complete. It has also given me a time to go slow and reflect on what I have learnt, what I will immediately utilise and what I will use later on but mainly share with other colleagues with the aim of improving our diagnostic investigations and more so research and then see how they can be replicated or transformed into better patient management, as that is my sole aim of research and studying.

I have also followed the finals of The X Factor - I have been an ardent watcher of the show over the weekend and watched the final episode which saw Joe as the winner. I wasn’t that thrilled as I really thought that Daniel and Stacy had and still had what it took. Joe is kind of predictable and same style and nothing strikingly knew – but, that is what the people voted for. We shall take it as that. It has been really very entertaining to watch an interesting show with surprises of aspiring stars with very minimal talent. It gave me a nice laugh from time to time.

On a good note am also looking forward to go home I really miss home and my family, my ward, my normal routine like nyama choma at car wash in Kigali, the happening times in Kampala and the warm friendly sun!