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Day 114 / June 19, 2026 Hello and welcome back for this Week 16 recap! Taking us back to Friday, I was in the lab for most of the day. Catalina and I helped Catherine with her plant experiment assessing the viability of various beans with and without the addition of a biostimulant across various levels of water availability. Shrabana arrived with some yummy pistachio Bon Bon chocolates which we snacked on between plant prep. It was time for a proper lunch at that point and I

Day 107 / June 12, 2026 Fridayyyy!! After a busy first week performing the antimicrobial assay, we wrapped up by measuring the results from the 72h samples plated yesterday. Then, I helped Cathe water the beans in the incubator for an ongoing drought resistance study and prepared materials for next week. After work I went for a quick trip to the climbing gym then met Catalina to go watch the Paraguay USA World Cup game. We walked to Bar Estado together and settled at a table

Day 100 / June 5, 2026 Wow! 100 days in Chile. I am one very very lucky duck! And so so so excited for the next 100+ to come!! :)) Mina and Jula walked to campus with me to see the office and drop me off for the day. They walked home shortly after to allow time for Mina to prepare for an interview. She was on the call from 11:30am until 3:30pm… a very long day indeed! Meanwhile, I was in the lab planning for next week with Nicolas and Catherine. Nicolas is going to Concepcion

Day 92 / May 28, 2026 Nicolas and I worked to innoculate the various media plates prepared the day prior with the respective bacteria. As we were working together in the laminar flow cabinet, things got shuffled around and all of a sudden the brown paper on top of one of the sterile jars got too close to the open flame and caught on fire. I saw flames, grabbed the jar and started to frantically pat the flames out with my hand. In just a few fell swoops the fire was put out. W

Day 85 / May 21, 2026 Thursday was a holiday so there was no school today! After the late night at the disco, I slept in and woke up at 11:30am. At around 3:00pm I headed out for a walk and did a lap down to the river and back home. I had a quick nap then chatted with Val all about his progress on Dune. He is working it!! Every time he goes, he says he learns something new. Climbing is rad. Day 86 / May 22, 2026 On Friday, it was unclear if people were going to work or taki

Day 78 / May 14, 2026 Thursday Thursday!! Today Katelyn, another Fulbrighter, is coming to Talca. She is currently a PhD student at UC Davis and is doing a research project about local sustainability practices in agriculture (agroecology!). Both today and tomorrow she is having interviews with vineyard owners in the Maule region. I spent the morning catching up with Amber on the phone (Australia time is going to be here so soon!) and cleaning my apartment (delayed because I

Day 71 / May 7, 2026 On this lovely Thursday morning I reviewed the slides for my lecture with Education USA at 6pm tonight. I will chat for 45 minutes about my education at UCL and Brown, then touch on my experiences in industry, and wrap up with a discussion about my Fulbright project. I enjoyed a carbonada with a side of cauliflower and carrot cake for lunch from the nearby Sibarita Gourmet. Carbonada is a traditional soup served in Chile and northwest Argentina with beef,

Day 64 / April 30, 2026 Thursday and the last day of the work week this week! Tomorrow, May 1st is a National Holiday for Day of the Workers. “May 1st is a special day for workers in Chile and the Western world. In the country, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo decreed it an irrevocable holiday in 1931, but its origin dates back 45 years earlier in the United States. A historic day for humanity occurred on May 1, 1886. More than 80,000 factory workers in Chicago went on strike and foug

Day 57 / April 23, 2026 This week started out SO strong as I finally got my RUT card! YAY!!! The Rol Único Tributario, or RUT is a national identification number used for almost everything in Chile. You need it to open bank accounts, purchase Wifi, pay utilities, sign contracts etc. After collecting my card at the Civil Registry, I headed straight to Entel to purchase Wifi for home. Within 10 minutes I had selected a plan, filled out the necessary forms, and scheduled the in

A shorter blog this week as I start to get into a routine with projects at work, and hobbies outside. Winter is coming! Day 51 / April 17, 2026 TGIF!! Friday :)) In the morning I was in the lab to record the PHA results from yesterday. I measured the radii of the halos of inhibition for the respective antibiotic treatments and will perform a replicate next week. Aparna messaged Dr. Charles about meeting to discuss the proposed antimicrobial characterization project, and we sc

Day 43 / April 9, 2026 Thursday thursday! I started the morning finishing the blog post from the week prior then published it. More computer work followed after. At around 3:00pm Aparna invited me to join her, Cynthia, and Eiber for a meeting at CEAP (Centro de Estudios de Alimentos Saludables) near University of Talca. They had scheduled to meet with the ‘Bean Master’ leading legume scientist, Bacilio Carrasco, to discuss plans for Eiber’s undergraduate thesis. He showed us

Following a weekend in Santiago and Valparaíso, Amber and I headed south for nature and hiking...what a week!! Day 33/ March 30, 2026 We started this week wishing a very happy birthday to both of our mums! Happy Birthday Adrienne and Jussie!! 🥳🎂 In Santiago, Amber took on an EPIC adventure cycling up to Farellones. She gained a lot of vert and had some incredible photos to share as a result! Amber POV atop Farellones 3/30/2026 Meanwhile, I was back in school. The authors I

Following last week’s extensive summary and busy itinerary, this week was more relaxed though ends with a lovely London surprise!! :) Day 27/ March 24, 2026 In class with Dr Charles, we reviewed organelle functions and compartmentalization within cells. After class I joined my group to discuss our poster project. We are expected to produce a poster about X Linked Hypophosphataemia related to a hypothetical case study we were assigned. My role within the group is to connect sy

Lucky number 3! Day 16 / March 13, 2026 Starting off with Friday the 13th, ahhhh! Fortunately, no superstitious activity to note. I worked with Nicolás and Javiera to review the results from an initial UV sensitivity test as part of the bacteria characterization process for a new sample from the Deception Island study. It was important to ensure an even distribution of bacteria on the plates, consistent placement of equal distance from the UV source, as well as a number of ot

And just like that, it’s time for another weekly update! Day 9 / March 6, 2026 Friday was quite the busy day! The day started with a practice run through of Cynthia’s doctoral defense presentation. She has done some incredible work on plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) using micro-encapsulated exopolysaccharides (EPS) to stimulate the growth of tomatoes and Chilean common beans. Microorganism use in agriculture is emerging as a sustainable, organic, low-cost alternative

Today marks one whole week since my arrival in Chile. So much has happened in such a short time frame so let’s get straight to it! Day 1 / February 26, 2026 My plane arrived at the Santiago airport at 8am. The descent coincided perfectly with sunrise and I lucked out with an east-facing window seat. The mountains were glowing in the early morning sun… OMG so huge!!! And beautiful!! Below is a photo of my view including the infamous Aconcagua as I saw it: Plane view 02/26/202

I'm thrilled to be writing to you all from Boston Logan Airport as I start my journey down to Chile! :)) After a week of many teary good-byes, packing, adjusting and packing again; my two heavy bags are all checked-in. I am through security, sat by the gate with a snack and (surprise!) a big bottle of water (thank you Kate!!). I am very excited to be swapping the snow for sunshine, and even more so to experience all of the Chilean things!! Please send your recommendations my

As of May 15th, 2025 at 5:39PM EST, I am officially a Fulbright! This award celebrates the innovation and productivity made possible...

I am thrilled to share that I was selected as a Semifinalist for the 2025-2026 Fulbright Award cohort! This marks an exciting step...