The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) carries out basic biomedical research.
My MISTI Germany internship was my first time traveling solo internationally. I was excited, and I knew it would be the summer of a lifetime. I looked forward to being immersed both linguistically and culturally. While I thought I would simply go and come back, I think I left a little part of myself in Berlin. 
At MDC, I explored the metabolic pathway between glia networks and neuronal axons in the corpus callosum of the mouse model. I conducted stimulation experiments in which axonal firing was induced and recorded in the presence of various solutions to establish the components and characteristics of the transfer of metabolites to sustain the axonal function. I also learned how to make immunhistological stainings of brain slices to analyze the glia networks under a confocal microscope. The procedures required for my project were highly technical and intricate. For example, I needed to learn how to properly extract a mouse brain in under 1.5 minutes, locate particular brain areas and maneuver pipettes to exact positions under the microscope.
As I alluded before, the summer changed my life. Not only in showing me that I was capable of characterizing the most complicated processes in the brain, but also making a home for myself in a city whose streets still echo with the history of our race, whose inhabitants enjoy beer evenings by the river, and whose gardens are a wild tangle of paradise. During the day, I created beautiful, accurate immunological stainings of glial networks; during the night, I wandered the streets of a city that had become my own. I plan to return again next summer!
CRISPR is the hottest thing in my field right now. It is a new technology that allows us to manipulate the genome with more quickly and accurately than we have ever been able to before, while still being very cheap. I used CRISPR to fluorescently label a protein that has been discovered to be important in the formation of collateral blood vessels.
I took on a second project to learn more computational skills and improve my python. I wrote short scripts to analyze the alignment of endothelial cells under flow. My scripts will allow the lab to more quickly and accurately determine cellular alignment of imaged cells grown in culture.
Berlin was a really great city to be stuck in for the summer. The public transport is great and the city is enormous, spread out into many unique sections that were really fun to explore in the evenings and on weekends. I loved walking around and finding flea markets with coworker and finding new graffiti and street art. I also took advantage of the museums and especially all the historical sites from the Berlin Wall era. I do miss Germany, and hope to return to do work at some point in the future.