Srividhya Ravichandran participated in the RItrainPlus Staff visit programme, receiving a bursary to visit the Cellular, Computational, and Integrative Biology (CIBIO, University of Trento), Italy.
Here she reflects on her experience and the lessons learnt.
RItrain plus staff visit programme and CTLS shadowing programme facilitated my visit to the core facilities at the Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO, University of Trento), Italy. The visit was for a period of five days starting from 4th to 8th November 2024. I represented my host institute, IIT Madras, Chennai, India.
The flowcytometry core facility at the CIBIO is well-organised with all the users independent on the analysers and a few independent on sorters also. During my visit, I was trying to understand the training modules given to the users. Dr. Alessandro and Dr. Isabella helped me understand the nuances of small particle detection in their flow core facility. Dr. Valentina Adami briefed me on the management operations of CIBIO.
We had some interesting sessions on the cell sorting and data analysis. These sessions motivated me to learn about the new facets of the machine with similar configuration currently placed at our core facility. These sessions were fun- filled and had a complete sharing of knowledge among the core staff in equipment usage and maintenance.
The management of the core facilities were very easy and useful to understand. The software which integrates the project and billing part of the user booking is noteworthy. Dr. Valentina helped me understand the cost matrix calculator involved in the user fee calculation.
During my visit, I had an opportunity to interact with several host lab managers who work in other core facilities. Since the inception of facility with a few people the facility has grown immensely and now the core at CIBIO has many structured core facilities integrated into a RI. Other core facilities like advanced imaging facility, proteomics and mass spectrometry facility, high throughput sequencing facility were also a part of my visit.
The CIBIO core facility at the University of Trento, Italy is a well-structured RI which encompasses several core facilities. My visit would help me build a similar model at IIT Madras. The visit also facilitated socio-economic and cross- cultural interrelationships between the people and the facility. It helped me strengthen my potentials in flow core and also building my network. All the facility managers shared their views on the technology, research and collaboration happening at their facility. I was delighted to understand and learn new topics apart from Flowcytometry.
Thanks to RItrainPlus staff exchange and CTLS shadowing programme for the financial support. The visit is a highly memorable and the most valuable one in my career.