Invitation for Advanced Training Course 5
We are pleased to invite you for the Advanced Training Course 5 (ATC5) in Girona, Spain.
Our ESR 7 Amina Khalid spent her third secondment at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. She was there for two months and focused her secondment on the learning models for population extrapolation. She collaborated with our other ESRs - Niamh (ESR9) and Susanna (ESR13), during her secondment. About her experiences, you can read in this short report.
I am ProRisk ESR 7. My PhD is to use physiological traits of individual fish as effect endpoints by simulating different exposure scenarios and develop an understanding of how these traits can be used to assess risk at a higher biological scale (population). I had two months of secondment at the University of Sheffield which I spent learning models for population extrapolation.
My original plan was to start the secondment in late August, but due to visa delay, I had to change my plans slightly. In the meantime, I was able to attend an interactive workshop for creating deliverable D4.3, and I met with the ESRs of work package 4 to brainstorm and finalize the content.
During my secondment, I met with Lorraine Maltby and the ESRs (9 and 13) on a regular basis. We discussed the best type of model for my work, as well as its feasibility and limitations. We used individual-based models (IBM). There was no IBM available for the mosquito fish (Gambusia holbrooki), my study animal, so we used Zebrafish IBMs instead.
I divided my time between learning two zebrafish IBM that could potentially be used. The first half of my secondment was spent learning the IBM, which is more lifecycle oriented. Susanna (ESR 13) helped me out with this. I met with her several times to discuss all model-related matters.
Since IBM-lifecycle does not take bioenergetic inputs, the endpoints I have been using in my experiments. Therefore, I chose the other model, IBM- Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) which I learnt in the second half of secondment with the help of Niamh (ESR 9). She assisted me in better understanding the DEB and how to extrapolate laboratory results from individual species into population structure.
Sheffield is a multicultural city that is extremely welcoming to students, and I thoroughly enjoyed my secondment there.
We are pleased to invite you for the Advanced Training Course 5 (ATC5) in Girona, Spain.
Our ESR, Simon Schmid spent his cumulative secondment in January 2022 and July 2022 at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA). His visit was focused on the establishment of and measurement using a LC/MS method for the quantification of carbohydrate metabolites. This method was planned to be used to quantify these metabolites in exposed Daphnia magna. At VUA, he cooperated with our ESR Diana Ilyaskina (ESR6). You can read his experiences in this short report.