Lucia Luengo Gutierrez: ‘Working alongside brilliant and inspiring researchers was the best part of the course’

 

What is your name? 

Lucia Luengo Gutierrez

Where are you from? 

I am from the province of Salamanca in Spain

To which class you belong to? 

MSc in Translational Neuroscience, Class of 2019

Where and what did you study before joining Imperial College London? 

I studied for a BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Salamanca

How did you find your Master experience at the College? 

The master course was challenging, but fulfilling. It required long hours of study, but it provided me with a detailed knowledge of neuroscience delivered by world-leading clinicians and researchers

Which research project did you work on? 

I carried out my research project in Professor Simone Di Giovanni’s lab under the co-supervision of Dr Francesco De Virgiliis and Dr Elisabeth Serger. During my project, I focused on environmentally driven mechanisms to promote axonal regeneration after sciatic nerve and spinal cord injury. Working alongside brilliant and inspiring researchers was the best part of the course.

Where are you now?  What are you working on? 

I am working in Di Giovanni’s lab. I am currently developing my own project studying the different regenerative ability between the peripheral and central nervous system

What is the most important lesson you learnt as a Master student? 

I learnt that even when you are a master student, you can make a significant contribution towards outstanding discoveries in your field

How did the Master programme help you get to where you are now? 

The master programme was fundamental to get me where I am now. This is mostly due to two key factors: the knowledge I acquired during the taught modules, which inspired me towards pursuing a career in academia, and the research project, as it allowed me to work in the field of axonal regeneration