Situated in Mishima, a lush green and hill countryside of shizuoka prefecture, NIG offers a quiet, serene and refreshing environment which is very conducive to good research. My work concerned the role of Hesr1 and Hesr2 genes in mouse myocardium, a work which resulted in suggesting a novel role in cardiomyocytes, namely, proliferation. I realised the enormous amount of effort and patience needed to troubleshoot the problems and was lucky to have the able guidance of my Professor, Dr. Yumiko Saga, Assistant Professor, Dr. Hiroki Kokubo, and lab mate, Dr. Sakabe Masahide. Interaction and group discussion sessions with all lab mates proved helpful in getting new ideas.

  I attained a good deal of knowledge about the field of Developmental Biology. My enthusiasm for research in Life sciences has increased many folds and I believe NIG has contributed a lot in this direction. The frequent lectures and symposia offered by various researchers from outside of NIG widened my knowledge base. I got a chance to attend the 42nd Annual Meeting of Japanese Society of Developmental Biologists which introduced me to the immense scope of research in this field. I also got the opportunity to visit 2 eminent professors in Kyoto University, namely Dr. Yuji Hiraki and Dr. Norio Nakatsuji, both of whom are well known for their research.

  The weekend trips around Mishima were great fun, especially because they were filled with so many adventures. There is no dearth of enthusiasm for extra activities in NIG students, as I found in my and my co-interns' lab mates. It is also heartening to see that NIG is working to improve the English communication skills of its students , which helped the intern students effectively communicate with people in other labs too.

  I would like to conclude with sincere thanks to my Professor, Assistant Professor, Lab mates, NIGINTERN committee, NIG education support team and my co-interns for making my stay a knowledgeable and memorable experience.

Saga Laboratory