Prior to my internship at NIG I was lacking career vision and experience. In the UAE there aren’t many opportunities for young scientists, so starting out my goal was to learn as much as I could and to utilize the many resources provided by NIG to the best of my ability. The 10-weeks I have spent at NIG have been more rewarding and gratifying than I could ever imagine.

During my first few weeks at NIG I toured many contrasting labs and was introduced to various projects. I learnt a great deal from these trips and whenever I had difficulty understanding everyone tried their best to explain it to me. Seeing the super computer at DDBJ was one of my favorite visits and was truly an experience. My project at Inoue lab was target resequencing of the HLA region in order to find the casual variant for agranulocytosis (an adverse drug reaction) in Graves disease patients using Next-Generation Sequencing. The highlight of my work was using NGS technology, in particular the Miseq (Illumina), and performing the data analysis. I have never had the opportunity to do both, therefore I was seriously lacking in experience. Our labs’ assistant professor Hosomichi-san, however, was very patient with me and through his guidance I managed to complete the task successfully. The chance to work with the Miseq and to learn the methods for data analysis was an enjoyable and irreplaceable opportunity for me and one that will definitely help shape my future career.

Visiting Japan was on my bucket list for the longest time, so I was very excited to tour this beautiful country. As soon as I landed in Mishima I fell in love with its stillness, tranquility and serenity, all of which as a city girl I’m not used to. My weekly Japanese lesson with the lovely Miyauchi-Sensei allowed me to frequently travel with excitement and ease. I went to the bustling Tokyo-city, visited the magnificent shrines in Kyoto, and watched the summer fireworks at Atami’s beach. Japans rich culture provides one with the opportunity to witness many festivals throughout the summer and I was lucky enough to watch the Daimon-ji Yaki, although it was raining it was worth the wait.

Coming to the end of my trip I felt this was an invaluable experience both academically and personally. I would like to thank NIGINTERN committee and Inoue Lab for providing me with this opportunity. I believe I have grown as a person having experienced the spiritual nature of the Japanese culture and the kindness of its people. I have met many wonderful people from different countries and cultures of the world. It continues to amaze me how science and the love of learning have the ability to bring together so many people.