Internship review
Gerda Užubalytė
At the beginning of my last year of Bachelor’s studies I started wondering where I could challenge myself as a young bioinformatician and focus more on science than simple programming. Since I am in love with Italy, Sapienza University of Rome (department of Biochemical Sciences ”A.Rossi Fanelli”) appeared to be the best choice in order to combine both – a constant wish to improve myself as well as a desire to live in an amazing city like Rome.
Working as a bioinformatician in an environment full of scientists from various fields scared me at the beginning, but once I saw how friendly, polite and inspiring they are, all my doubts and fears just went away. During my internship I learned not only biology or different programming techniques, I also gained an insight into real scientific research, teamwork and collaboration with international researchers. All kind of bioinformatics tools for multiple sequence alignment, extraction of required data or software for visualization and analysis of molecular structures that were presented during lectures at university now became necessary in order to run a research and achieve the best results. Mostly I enjoyed mapping the mutations on protein structures – this was super nice and it made me feel like a real scientists. The last step of my studies – application of theoretical knowledge to real project – I think, was more than successful!
As far as Rome is concerned, there is not much to say – The Eternal City with tiny streets and breathtaking views. Every day spent is Rome made me feel happy, inspired and thankful for this amazing opportunity.
To sum up, this traineeship not only gave me a chance to apply the knowledge I gained during lectures at university, but also inspired me to take a different point of view to all problems as well as go only further with new ideas and dreams. For every person, who is still wondering what do to – I can only recommend Erasmus+ traineeship as the best opportunity to fulfill your dreams and gain priceless experience.