This week has been great! I was finally able to test the perfusion system I have been building for most of the summer and it worked great!(pictured is an early model of the tubing system, in my next post I will post a picture of the finished product!) We had to overcome some obstacles along the way such as growing cells on specific types of slides while keeping notch signaling stopped at a specific point in the pathway and getting the housing of the system to fit in the microscope but in the end It is working! I hope to be able to use it to get some good images using the microscope and hopefully enough data in my remaining week to reach some conclusions about the activation of Notch signaling. Other than work I have spent this week seeing friends that are leaving Israel and continuing to explore Tel Aviv. I found a few local restaurants that were excellent and had some of the best hummus Ive ever tried! (pictured). As I make my way through the city I have begun to get slightly melancholy about leaving it, as I have begun to grow accustom to the way of life here. Although I did not personally experience any significant culture shock when I arrived I think that jumping back into life in New Jersey will be quite the shock. I will miss the beaches, the city and the friends Ive made along the way while working here. That being said, I am not gone yet! I have been preparing for two presentation I have next week about my research, one for the Tel Aviv University International office and one for the members of the lab I have been working in. I am excited to present the findings and data I spent the summer collecting and I am sure it will feel satisfying to see all the work Ive done in one place! This weekend I plan to make a trip to Peta Tikva, the town next to Tel Aviv, and hopefully go to a few museums as well. Stay tuned for updates!
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