Carolina Tängemo (Sweden)
| Hi! My name is Carolina and I'm in the middle of my PhD studies at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. |  |
Actually, I hadn't really planned to do a PhD, but I guess it was my interest in molecular biology that brought me here. It all started off in high school, where I was fascinated by the fact that in the biology books there were still so many unanswered questions - still so much to discover! I decided to do my Master's Degree in molecular biology at the University of Gothenburg, which was a four-year course.
After my degree, I did an additional year in a "research school" which was aimed at students that wanted to carry on to do doctoral studies. This was a very good preparation for my PhD, as I was trained in statistics, bioinformatics, rhetoric, and especially to do wet lab work at different institutions to get a flavour of the different research fields.
The move to Germany to start my PhD was a big step, but my boyfriend came with and we now feel very much at home here. This might be, to a large extent, because of the atmosphere at EMBL, where people come from all over the world and are in a similar situation and want to get to know other people.
I'm in the light microscopy group, which means that we visualise living things and study processes in real time. In particular, we want to understand the sorting and transport of proteins in the cell. My focus is on so called "correlative microscopy", meaning that I study exactly the same cell by fluorescent microscopy and then by electron microscopy. The advantage is that I get information about the transport in the living cell by fluorescence, and then fix the cell and can study it in much more detail by electron microscopy. During a normal working day I take care of my cell cultures, prepare experiments, start imaging, attend seminars, process my images, etc.
Of course, doing research has many ups and downs. For example, a normal working day for me is long, and there might be periods when none of the experiments I do work. However, it is so rewarding when I get good results that I want to continue despite the eventual difficulties.
In my spare time, I play badminton or beach volleyball. Also, my boyfriend and I try to discover new areas around Germany. Friends and family visit us - I like to stay in touch with them and show them around in my new hometown Heidelberg.
School:
Rymdgymnasiet Kiruna, Sweden