A Transformative Embryology Summer Course | University of Bergen

This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to spend six weeks at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, attending the Embryology: Concepts and Techniques in Modern Developmental Biology course. This course brought together students and researchers from all over the world, each with different backgrounds but a shared passion for developmental biology. It was an unparalleled environment to learn cutting-edge techniques and work with a wide range of model organisms from invertebrates to vertebrates.

I chose this course for many reasons. I wanted to see what research looked like beyond my own model organism and to explore how different systems can answer the same biological questions. By the end, I was not only more confident but also more creative in how I approached experiments, thanks to the patience, guidance, and invaluable advice of the course assistants and faculty.

One of the biggest highlights was how we learned together. None of us were experts in every model [system], in fact, we were all diving into unfamiliar territory almost every day. During this course, I also significantly improved my microscopy skills, gaining both technical precision and a deeper understanding of image acquisition and analysis. Each organism had its own quirks, and teaming up made a huge difference.

Source: A Transformative Embryology Summer Course | University of Bergen