Shafi, a new PhD candidate from Bangladesh recently joined the MECOH laboratory.

Shafi earned his BS in Fisheries and completed his MS in Aquaculture at Dhaka University. He has experience in molecular techniques, including DNA and RNA extraction, PCR, qPCR, gene expression, and chemical analysis, particularly antibiotic and heavy metal analysis. He worked as a research assistant and actively contributed to two significant projects: 'Antibiotics and pesticides contamination in wild and farmed fishes of Bangladesh' and 'Antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and resistance genes in fish and shrimp aquaculture in Bangladesh.' Currently, he has a strong passion for bioinformatics and antibiotic resistance, specifically in applying molecular and bioinformatics techniques to analyze antibiotic resistance patterns in clinical and environmental samples.

​Ph.D. candidate KyleYoung Low travelled to Sendai city, Miyagi to visit Prof. Daisuke Sano's lab to gain insight on critical techniques relating to his wastewater study. He is in the midst of optimising and selecting methods to extract and purify a diverse set of viral communities (viromes) from wastewater and the expertise shown by the Lab of Environmental Water Quality (EWQ) Faculty of Engineering in Tohoku University. This visit may prove to be a valuable experience for him. 

First, wastewater samples has to be collected from Matsuyama city's main wastewater treatment plant.

Then, the wastewater samples travelled together with its owner and arrived safely to the Environmental Water Quality Engineering Faculty, Tohoku University via the Shinkansen. 

The wastewater sampling protocol such as the EPISENS-S RNA extraction method was demonstrated by EWQ lab members, Marcus Sanchez and Dr. Ueki, with expertise. 

Of course, the greatest benefit of this trip is to gain first-hand experience on performing the method personally with close guidance from experts.

.Apart from experiments, it is also important to establish collaborative opportunities through discussions and research proposals. KyleYoung Low wasted no time to squeeze his presentation on "An Integrated Approach to Wastewater Viral Metagenomics: Metaviromics"

No trip would be complete without taking in the local scenery.