The HOPTEC program, which began about a year ago, is already bearing fruit – the collaboration between Instituto Superior Técnico and Johns Hopkins University has enabled the Técnico students Inês Reis and Alfredo Inostroza to complete their master’s theses in Biomedical Engineering in the United States of America, in the Wirtz Lab, a laboratory at the US university.
Inês’ work centred on Alzheimer’s disease, using advanced mapping techniques to study the connection between the brain and the eye in mouse models, which could help improve understanding of dementia.
The student says she had ‘the privilege of working with excellent researchers who provided a highly collaborative working dynamic’. ‘The program encourages students to be autonomous and provides the opportunity to develop projects’ in an “environment open to informative discussions”, she shares, also stressing that she is “very grateful” to have been part of the initiative.
Alfredo Inostroza worked on a research project on ovarian cancer, creating a 3D map of cancer precursors in the fallopian tubes, resulting in new data on how these precursors form in women without the disease. ‘The program helped me realise that academia is the path I want to go in’, he shares. ‘It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I feel very fortunate to have been part of the program, which I can’t recommend highly enough,’ he adds. He also commented on the campus where he worked, ‘worthy of a Hollywood film’ – ‘it has magnificent buildings and beautiful trees full of birds and squirrels; more than once I went to work outdoors because it’s a quiet, beautiful campus full of life’.
The HOPTEC program also includes scholarships for research funding and a calendar of seminars promoting collaboration in the bioengineering field. In addition, an annual in-person symposium is scheduled to be held alternately at Técnico and Johns Hopkins. This year, on 18 December, Técnico will host the first symposium, which will provide an opportunity to contact experts in the field of bioengineering.
