Julia finished her research internship in Cape Town
Studying mucosal immunity in South African children with respiratory infections
Hi everyone,
I’m Julia Kiefmann, and I recently completed the first year of my Master’s in Medical Biology at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. As part of my first year internship, I joined the Muco-Kids study under the supervision of Lilly Verhagen and Marieke van der Zalm.
My project focused on studying immune responses in South African children with acute respiratory infections. The research is part of a collaboration between Radboudumc and Tygerberg Hospital, which is affiliated with Stellenbosch University in Cape Town. Tygerberg Hospital cares for many children from underserved communities, where respiratory infections are a major cause of illness. During my internship, I worked with paired blood and saliva samples to investigate polyreactive antibodies and better understand how immune responses at the respiratory mucosa differ from those in blood.
I started my internship in Nijmegen, where I learned how to perform Luminex assays and became familiar with the techniques used throughout the project. After that, I travelled to Cape Town, where I processed and analysed the clinical samples. I was welcomed into a fantastic team and quickly felt at home in the lab. Working with researchers from different countries and backgrounds taught me a lot, not only scientifically, but also personally. I was given a great deal of independence and responsibility, which made the internship both challenging and incredibly rewarding.
One of the things I enjoyed most was being part of a truly international collaboration. Seeing researchers in South Africa and the Netherlands work together towards the shared goal of improving child health really showed me the value of global health research. It was inspiring to contribute, even in a small way, to research that has the potential to improve our understanding of respiratory infections in children worldwide. This experience strengthened my interest in global health and highlighted how much can be achieved when expertise and perspectives from different countries come together.
Besides my laboratory work, I also had the opportunity to write a review article together with Lilly and Marieke. Seeing our work published during my internship was an incredible milestone and something I am very proud of. It was a unique opportunity to contribute not only through laboratory research but also to the scientific literature at such an early stage of my academic career.
Outside the lab, I made the most of my time in Cape Town by exploring the city and its beautiful surroundings. The combination of breathtaking nature, vibrant culture, and the warm people made it an unforgettable place to live for a few months. I completely fell in love with South Africa.
Looking back, this internship has been one of the highlights of my master’s so far. It allowed me to grow as a researcher, develop my laboratory and scientific writing skills, and experience what it is like to be part of an international research team working towards a common goal. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and hope to continue contributing to global health research in the future.
