Marije Boele

June 2010 

Hi, I’m Marije Boele. I’m 21 years old and am in the last year of the Medical Diagnostics course at the Hanze Higher Vocational College (HBO). In this last year I have done a 10-month work placement (stage) in the research section of the Dept. of Genetics, in the UMCG. My research was aimed at finding genes involved in hereditary colon cancer. Different mutations have been found in the MSH2 gene in UMCG patients and I tried to determine the pathogenicity of these mutations because a better diagnosis can be made if the effect of the mutation is known. I also set up an assay in which 96 mutations can be built into one reaction in a gene. This method means that both mutations in genes involved in colon cancer and mutations in genes in cardiomyopathies can be tested. These mutations will be investigated for their pathogenicity in the future.

I chose to do a work placement in research to broaden my knowledge and skills in this field. At the start of the period I had to learn a lot because much of the theory and many of the techniques were new to me. So it was good that my practical work and completing my course were in the same town. This work placement gave me the chance to learn a lot and develop myself because the work was so varied. In addition, everyone in the lab always had time to help me and explain things.