Participants
Muhammad Mustafa Khwaja
Over six weeks, I carried out a research project exploring how autophagy in human young fibroblast works and how these cells handle harmful protein clumps that cause neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS. In the beginning I familiarised myself with the lab, learning the basics of tissue culture and how to handle cells safely additionally also understanding the health and safety regulations required in a lab. I then helped introduce special genetic systems into fibroblasts that allow us to “switch on” proteins known to form aggregates, using a lentivirus. To make sure only the cells carrying our system survived, I created antibiotic selection experiments (kill curves). Once the cells were established, I observed the formation of protein aggregates after adding doxycycline, and used aggresome staining to visualise these clumps under the microscope. These experiments gave me first-hand experience in how researchers model disease in the lab, while also teaching me the importance of careful optimisation at every stage of the process while also creating a system that can be used for further advanced research.