From a pipe dream to reality
PhD student Ali Jamil had the opportunity to visit Charles Chan and his group at Stanford University and study a unique cell population.
From a pipe dream to reality and a reminder to myself.
Studying for a PhD is a long and challenging journey, driven by curiosity fuelled with faith and completed with perseverance. Not all days are the same, not all outcomes are predictable, and fortunately, no goals are beyond reach. This, I am once again convinced as I had the pleasure of visiting the group of Chan Lab at Stanford University in California, US, in order to further investigate an interesting cell population we discovered along my work here in Denmark.
My time in the states that lasted approx. 4 months were absolutely extraordinary. Scientifically, Charles Chan together with his group at Stanford University are the pioneers who discovered a unique cell population (skeletal stem cells) that are unable to form fat storing cells, yet successfully gives rise to the formation of bone and cartilage. Here, I learned so much working with leading experts within the field of bone research and got hands-on experience with multicolour FACS sorting, several functional assays and bone and cartilage formation in live animals just to name a few. We even observed quite a bizarre behaviour of our cell population confirmed by different techniques that could challenge our current viewpoint on tissue development and might be of interest to scientists working within the field of bone. This, however, I hope to address further once our data is publicly available.
Staying in the US I couldn’t refrain from going out for some sightseeing. This included a trip to San Fransisco including a visit to the Altactraz prison, a few days in Las Vegas and Los Angeles to visit Hollywood, try the food of Gordon Ramsay and attend the Lakers vs Celtics NBA Christmas event. I also got to visit Boston, Washington D.C., New York and the Great Smokey Mountains national park. Yet again, nothing could triumph cage-free shark diving in Honolulu, Hawaii.
With the very final stages of my PhD approaching, I feel deeply grateful for such a wonderful time I have had, places I have been and people I have met along my journey.