Introduction

Hi! My name is Sara, and this summer I will be researching in Ireland at the University of Dublin Trinity College. My PI overseas is Dr. Mani Ramaswami, and I will be studying the mechanisms that regulate GABAergic (neurons that make GABA as their neurotransmitter) facilitation in vivo. Specifically, I will be investigating the role of RAc1 and Synapsin I, a protein involved in the release of vesicles from the reserve pool in neuron terminals, in habituation. I will be conducting larvae dissections and studying the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) to acheive this aim. Additionally, I will be aiding in the other experiments of the lab, which encompasses measuring lateral neuron (LN) facilitation and PN repression. For the other lab experiments, I will get to use a two-photon microscope, which I am really excited about. I will be leaving for Dublin on the 30th of May, and I plan to return on August 17th, just in time for a short break and classes to start back up again. Currently, I do not have a place to live lined up. I am watching the rent postings, but I think it's a little too early to find a place to live since I'm not leaving for another month and a half. I am trying to get a place near the University so that I can walk to the research lab instead of finding a means of transportation. I will be doing some traveling while in Ireland. I plan on visiting many different cities in Ireland, as well as cities in other Western European countries. More on that will come later. I think I might try to find a way to volunteer at a hospital on my down time outside of the lab. I don't want to just go back to my apartment every time I leave lab, and I think getting a feel of another country's health care system will be really exciting. We'll see how that goes. Until then, Sara