1. + Janelle Tam ’17 A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology Singapore, Singapore

2. + work enviro nment Well funded, well equipped, lots of support Institute of Medical Biology: bridging basic science & clinical medicine to nurture a thriving biomedical industry A*STAR: Singapore gov’t research institute BIOPOLIS A*STAR Facility

3. + my project Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) into glucose-responsive pancreatic beta cells for the therapeutic treatment of Type I diabetes stem cell research to treat Type I diabetes

4. + work responsibilities Cell culturing (feeding & passaging cells), differentiation, co- culture experiments) Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) Immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry Phase contrast & fluorescence microscopy

5. + the best part After 3-4 weeks of training, finally allowed to take over almost all wet lab work The best part: obtaining & presenting results based on experiments I had carried out Independence: taking over the experiments

6. + contri bution Helped to establish protocols for the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells Determined appropriate conditions for co-culture experiment Scientific advances (though slow and tedious) BIOPOLIS A*STAR Facility

7. + DAPI PDX1SOX9 MERGE Day 6 PDX1-GFP+ Pancreatic Progenitor Cocultures PDX1-GFP HUVEC PDX1-GFP HAOEC PDX1-GFP HUAEC Phase Day 6 Phase Day 1

8. + impact on future plans Academic Choices Training in extremely useful techniques (for Junior Paper / Senior Thesis) Learned about stem cell research, & how basic science can apply to clinical medicine Career Plans Exposed me to a life of scientific research (phD, postdoc & principal investigator) Helped determine if Singapore is somewhere I want to live & work in the future Do NOT Feed: Scientificus postdoctoralis

9. + closing remarks Int’l nature of research: diverse set of individuals united around the pursuit of knowledge Learning to navigate new work settings in a different culture Jennica, a work colleague “I’m doing the ice bucket challenge!”