Student internship at Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany
January 10 - February 9
Nitat Sinsereekul
I am one of the fortunate students of Osaka University who received an opportunity to go abroad for 1 month internship.
My name is Nitat Sinsereekul from Thailand. I am currently a second year master student at Osaka University in the Department of Material and Life Science under the Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology of Prof. Shigenori Kanaya. I joined Prof. Udo Heinemann group for an internship at Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany, during 10 January - 9 February 2011. In his group, crystallographic analysis is combined with biochemical and biophysical experiments to explain biological functions and observe specific ligand binding to proteins. They are primarily interested in proteins interacting with nucleic acids, involved in vesicle transport, or linked to disease states. Their works based on structural analyses of functional modules using macromolecular crystal-lo-graphy as its central method.
As their group focus on the structural analysis based on the crystal structure of protein, I decided to bring my sample, Tk-SP, a subtilisin-like serine protease which is well characterized. Tk-SP is highly active at alkaline pH even at 100C and highly resistant to thermal and chemical denaturation (SDS, urea, Triton X-100). However, the complete structure remains understood. This is the great opportunity for overproduction, purification and crystallization to know the complete structure of my enzyme. I have full access to all instrumentation, facilities that his group uses at MDC and BESSY, the Berlin synchrotron radiation facility for X-ray diffraction experiments. I can use a robotic station for nanoliter protein crystallization and a full X-ray crystallographic infrastructure. All of the instruments are very useful and helpful to determine the structure.
I am not only gain good experience and learn about laboratory techniques but also spend time to learn the European culture which is different from Asian culture. I believe these experiences would important for me to mine adaptability to new environment in my future career.