Antonio Rui Barbosa
I am 22 years old and was born in
Penafiel, Portugal. I am a student at Oporto Medical School. I am at
MMCRI because of an opportunity that became available thorough Thomas
Maciag. It is a privilege to study in the United States where medical
resources and training are excellent. The areas of research studied at
MMCRI are of particular interest to me and I hope to increase my knowledge
in this field substantially during my time in the United States. I hope
to continue a project at MMCRI in the following years as well.
Filipe Carvalho
I came from Porto, a beautiful foggy grey city in the
northwest of Portugal by the river Douro. I am a third year medical
student at Oporto University. Last October I attended a seminar
about organogenesis, a theme completely new to me. During the
seminar the speaker wrote his hotel number and told us to call
if we wanted to have dinner with him. At the end, I asked him
if he was joking about having dinner and he replied “NO!
...OF COURSE” and so we spent our Saturday evening talking about
the Rolling Stone’ concert that he accidentally saw in Portugal,
molecular biology, the Nobel Prizes, cinema....and I became fascinated
with the scientific and cultural knowledge of the scientist. So I decided
to spend my vacations learning more about molecular biology and the
technology applied to study it, but above all how to open our minds
in what concerns science and human kind....by the way, I was remembering
Tom Maciag.
João
Incio
My
name is João Incio and I study medicine at Oporto’s
University. Since my childhood my interest in the research area
has been growing and after having studied molecular cell biology,
biochemistry, genetics, immunology and others in Oporto, now at
20 years old,I knew my coming to MMCRI would be very important to me.
In this way, after having acknowledged this possibility through Tom
Maciag and looking over the Internet site at MMCRI, I applied to work
at this institute as a summer student. I am hoping to gain a handful
of experience for my future in the research field.
João
Martins
My name is João Martins, I am 21 years old
and I came from Portugal. I am a third year medical student at Oporto’s
Medical School. Since August 2003 I have been working as a member of
the Physiology Department, which has allowed me to widen horizons and
improve my skills as a researcher. However, one of my last years’ goals
was to contact with a reality as the one offered by MMCRI. Indeed,
with my involvement in the Summer Student Research Program, I hope
to learn more about one research field to which Thomas Maciag has
aroused my mind, and to which I would like to be associated to in
the future because of its potentials: the Regenerative Medicine.
Silvia Oliveira
My name is Silvia Oliveira and I am 25 years old. I was
born in France but since 1988 I have been living in Portugal. I am a
last year medical student, at Oporto’s Medical School. I started
doing research at the Physiology Department in 2000, as a junior collaborator.
My work back home, so far, has been essentially related to the cardiovascular
system, namely systolic and diastolic function of pregnant rats. In addition
to this, I’ve been teaching physiology to second year students
at the college. To me, taking part in this summer program at the Maine
Medical Center Research Institute is a stepping stone to open my mind,
an opportunity learn more about molecular biology, particularly at the
United States, where science and biotechnology are so developed. In fact,
I do believe this experience will broaden my scientific horizons and
provide me some know-how for my career not only as a researcher but also
as a medical doctor.
