NIG Intern 2011

Wen-Hsi Kuo
Wen-Hsi Kuo From National Taiwan University
Stayed at Kakutani Lab. (Division of Agricultural Genetics), NIG.

@ I cannot believe that ten weeks passed so fast. Before I came to Japan, I thought ten weeks were really long, maybe a little too long for a foreign intern student. But when I arrived at NIG, things changed a lot. A lot things were waiting for me, for example, designing my small proposal, reading previous research paper, discussing with my professor and getting used to Japanese life. At the beginning, life was really busy, but I was happy because my professor and lab member were always kind to me, patiently answered my questions and gave me instruction. My work here was about epigenetic of plant, Arabidopsis, focused on DNA methylation regulated retro-transposon activity. We hypothesized that DNA methylation at promoter region of transposon will down-regulate its transcription and proliferation. In order to support our argument, we conducted DNA methylation sequencing by doing bisulfite treatment before normal sequencing step. Maybe normal sequencing was relatively easy in present, but never was the bisulfite sequencing, which damaged seriously, making it difficult to amplify by PCR. So I spent lots of time doing try and error, using different PCR condition and checked by gel electrophoresis which really made me tired and depressed particularly when there was no band on the gel. Fortunately, I succeed twice this summer, the results supported our hypothesis, and DNA methylation might correlate with transposon silence. It was a good result and has given further questions on transposon regulation.

@ It was an unforgettable experience to have the internship this summer. I have learned critical thinking and practical experimental skills, which are very useful to me. Besides, when I stayed in Japan, I experienced many Japanese culture and beautiful scenery. I also knew many Japanese friends. All of them were the best gift for me this summer vacation. Thank you very much!

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