Flip Jansen
Tell us a bit about yourself.
“I’m a master’s graduate of Quantitative Finance at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the Nanobiology joint degree between TU Delft and the Erasmus Medical Center. I am very excited to be continuing the work from my Nanobiology thesis in the field of structural biology. This will be for the Fraser Lab at UCSF as a Junior Specialist where I will be working on improving structural determination methods, with a focus on Ribosomes.”
Why did you apply for the Internships in the Valley program?
“I was excited to do an internship in the US to experience a different (work) culture - and work towards ambitious goals. Specifically, I looked forward to exploring all the beautiful places and doing all the cool activities possible in the Bay Area. Now that I’ve been living here for a bit, there are even more things to do than I previously thought. I have been skiing, surfing, hiking, sailing, biking, climbing, and saw so many amazing places.”
How did you find your position at the Fraser Lab? What projects are you working on?
“What worked for me was asking my previous supervisors for labs or companies that could use my experience, then I reached out to those that I thought did interesting research. Currently, I am working on developing an automated data processing pipeline for solving biological complexes using data from electron microscopes with a specific focus on solving Ribosome complexes. ”
Have you experienced any culture shocks or differences with working at a lab in the US versus the Netherlands?
“There are many differences; for instance, I've been given more freedom here to determine the direction of my project and update its aims as I progress. I have also found that decisions and lab working culture tend to be a bit more ad-hoc in the US, which is something I had to get used to. This means that generally research can be less structured here and being a self-starter is more appreciated. On the other side, you have more freedom in choosing what you do, and resources to achieve these goals are often more easily granted. Overall, I am enjoying being part of a group that is doing such cool and diverse research! ”
You’re our first intern to be matched with a mentor! Can you tell us how that’s going?
“Being matched with a mentor who has faced many of the same challenges of working in research at UCSF has been incredibly useful and enjoyable. I find that the program did a good job of finding a match with aligned experience and desired future direction, which means that our meetings have helped me get a good perspective and handle things.”
How’s the social aspect of life in the Bay Area?
“Living in San Francisco, I try to do new things and meet new people as often as possible, which is not a hard thing to do in this amazing place! There are so many fun and nice places to go for dinner or drinks, and there are plenty of activities to do. An example is the Thursday evening drinks at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, where you can have drinks and enjoy music while looking at all the cool things and animals in the museum! ”
You recently shared some nice photos with us. Tell us about one of your trips or adventures from your time in California?
“An experience I recommend to everyone that spends some time in the Bay is to take the California Zephyr to Denver, Colorado. This great Amtrak train has a cool observation car for sitting in during the day where you can lounge and watch the diverse and beautiful landscapes go by - going through, among many places, the beautiful Sierra Nevada, then the deserts, and at the end plenty of wildlife in the Rockies. You really see a good set of the types of scenery you can find in the US in a super unique way - truly an experience to remember!”
“Being matched with a mentor who has faced many of the same challenges of working in research at UCSF has been incredibly useful and enjoyable.”
