28/06/2022
Time to say thank you and goodbye!👋🏼 My 9-month research fellowship at the Iafrate Laboratory in the Department of Molecular Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School in Boston has now come to an end.🇺🇸 I was truly impressed by the dedication to cancer research and feel very grateful and honored to have had the opportunity to complete the experimental part of my medical doctoral thesis in such an educational work environment and to learn from and be inspired by so many different leading scientists, especially in the field of molecular pathology.🔬🧪🧫
A major thank you goes to my supervisor and mentor on site Julia Thierauf, M.D.-Ph.D. who strongly supported me from the very beginning and took a lot of time to teach me all the necessary laboratory techniques. Without her belief in me, research in the U.S. would not have been possible at all. I would also like to express my gratitude to A. John Iafrate, M.D.-Ph.D. for providing laboratory workspace, access to consumables and clinical data, and for advising and mentoring me on my experiments. Furthermore, I would like to recognize and thank my German supervisor, mentor and great role model Prof. Dr. Barbara Wollenberg for her guidance and support prior to and during my stay in Boston.
In addition, I would like to acknowledge Maristela Onozato, M.D.-Ph.D. and Atul K. Bhan, M.B.B.S.-M.D. for their extensive and incredibly supportive teaching of immunohistochemistry. Further thanks go to the staff of the Histopathology Core Unit at MGH managed by James C. Kim, without whose help a successful completion of my project would not have been possible. Thanks are also due to Daniel Faden, M.D.-F.A.C.S and Natalia Queenan of Massachusetts Eye and Ear for their great collaboration and cooperation within my project.
Besides, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Dr. Orlando Guntinas-Lichius and Prof. Dr. Florian Lordick for their support in the run-up to my stay in Boston.
Finally, I would like to give thanks to the BMEP e.V. funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), for the financial support of my research project.
In summary, I learned a lot and was able to foster my desire to pursue a path as scientist in addition to becoming a head and neck surgeon.