Olatz Arnold Garcia traveled back to her home country for her master's thesis.

She spent about 7 months doing research at the Biodonostia Health Research Institute in northern Spain.

Interview with Olatz Arnold Garcia

Field of study: MSc Pharmatechnology
Stay abroad: MSc thesis
Host institution: Biodonostia Health Research Institute
Semester: Spring/Fall 2021

What made you decide, what motivated you to go abroad?
Gaining work experience, creation of network and future employment plans.

Why did you choose your host institution/country?
Because I speak Spanish and it would be easy for me in Spain.

What is your everyday life like? What does a typical day at the host institution look like?
Every day from Monday to Friday, I used to arrive at 9 o’clock in the morning to the institution. Then I used to start with the planned experiments until 13 o’clock. From 13 pm to 13:30 pm we used to have lunch at the same facility. And from 13:00 pm to 17:30 I continue with the experiments. Every Tuesday at 14:00 we had the lab meetings with all the group members and on Thursdays at 10:00 I met my supervisor to discuss about the results and the prospects.

Tell us about your research and your research findings during your residency.
I did the computational analysis of the alternative splicing in blood samples of patients suffering from Frontotemporal Dementia. I also did the gene expression profiling for the same samples. I finally did the molecular validation of the bioinformatic results.
On the other hand, I also worked with the optimization of the Cas13 system as a therapy for Frontotemporal dementia with a specific mutation in GRN gene.

What surprised you the most about your stay abroad?
The kindness and help I received at the host institution.

If I had known at the beginning that... What tip would you like to give to future exchange students.
Ask every question you have; everyone is prone to help.