International Conference: Primate Parasitology: Development, Methods and Future (Brno, Czech Republic)

When most people think of the Czech Republic, they immediately appraise the beautiful capital, Prague. But many people, including myself until recently, have a hard time naming another city in this country. However, I had the great privilege of presenting my SIRE research from this past spring at the International Conference on Primate Parasitology, which was hosted by Dr. David Modry’s research group (Laboratory for Infectious Diseases Common to Humans and Non-human Primates (HPI)) in Brno, Czech Republic.

It was incredibly humbling to hear presenters who have committed over a decade to research on identifying various pathogens and listening to their passion in this field. Key note speakers included both my supervisor from Emory, Dr. Tom Gillespie, and my supervisor from Berlin, Dr. Fabian Leendertz. It was particularly intriguing to talk to Dr. Jaco Verweij from the Netherlands about his research for the past twenty years on differentiating Entamoeba species, which was my own project from the spring. More intimidating was presenting on my preliminary findings, and being asked questions by experts and other students who were conducting similar studies. However, it was a really great opportunity to meet great scientists and students from all over the world and also to continue working on improving my presentation skills.

After the presentations, we were able to explore the city of Brno. Brno is an unbelievably underrated city. For example, I found out only after arriving that it was in a monastery in Brno where Gregory Mendel conducted his famous “peas” experiment. I visited the museum, which is located next to the greenhouse where Mendel’s peas were grown. The museum does an extraordinary job of showing Mendel’s life and his diverse interests in numerous scientific fields. For me, it was inspiring to see the astonishing amount of details which filled Mendel’s notebooks and created his comprehensive understanding of observations.

It was inspirational to visit the garden where Mendel's "peas" experiment took place - the foundation of our current understanding of genetics
 

Mendel’s presence in Brno is only one of the fascinating attributes. Brno is the second largest city in Czech Republic, and is known for being very youthful, due to the large numbers of universities in this area. With consistently cool and sunny days, exploring the famous landmarks such as the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul (Petrov Cathedral) and the castle is easy and beautiful. There is also one of the largest catacombs in Europe under Chruch of St. James in the center of the city, combined with an extensive underground labyrinth, which includes a torture room, wells, and rooms for refrigerating goods used in the past. It was fascinating to learn about the history of Brno through exploring what is beneath its exterior beauty.

Brno, Czech Republic
View from on top of a roof. To the left is the Petrov Cathedral

Underground tour of Brno included a lesson on how the space was utilized for forwarding medicinal practices in Europe

One of the torture methods preserved in the underground labrynth (Apparently a little cage that would not allow person to sit, stand or lay.... but we think something may have been lost in translation)

I would like to give many thanks to Dr. Modry and the great team who put forth a lot of energy into organizing the incredible conference! Also, thanks very much to the Environmental Studies department at Emory for funding my travel to Brno with the James G. Lester travel grant!