How my experience as a HiLIFE trainee brought out the bookworm inside me

My HiLIFE traineeship has come to an end, and although it is sad to close a chapter, I couldn’t be more excited to share how my experience went.

I am Mireia Pagès Guitart, I just graduated with an MSc in Pharmaceutical Research, Development, and Safety at the University of Helsinki. In September 2023, I started an incredible project at Michael Jeltsch’s lab to tackle a huge sustainability challenge with one of the best tools at our disposal: science. You can learn more about it by reading my previous post, by clicking here. In January 2024, HiLIFE supported my investigation by awarding me the HiLIFE research traineeship. Do you wonder how it ended up? Keep reading!

After months of reading, testing, failing, achieving and, most importantly, having fun, I am happy to share that I succeeded in expressing GFP in vitro. Unexpectedly, it turned out that earthworms have inherent green fluorescence. Therefore we could not be sure whether the green color after in vivo imaging was due to our protein or due to the animal. Even so, my project was a big step forward to achieve our goal: developing a sustainable animal model for protein production and microplastic degradation. You might wonder: what now? I will continue my journey in Catalonia (for now) and my lab team will continue this amazing project… so be aware of a promising future!

Worm Imaging. How cool is it?

The HiLIFE traineeship made me realize I enjoy research more than I thought! Doing extra hours, having to check up on the cells during weekends, and messing up experiments doesn’t matter if you have science at your heart. During my experience, I thought about the thin line between a job and a hobby, and how my project became my pastime. Feeling this way towards research couldn’t have been possible without being surrounded by a comforting team. I am aware of how lucky I was to find a lab that matched my energy, sense of humor and enthusiasm for research.

Persian dinner by my colleague Honey, with my lab group. So delicious…

Joining a research group goes beyond the lab work. I was proud to join workshops, competitions, conferences and talks that were as important to grow as a scientist. The value of grasping every opportunity during my stay brought out the bookworm inside me. Nothing but good outcomes in my research and personal progress came afterwards. I encourage future HiLIFE trainees to make the most out of their traineeship.

Our lab team as “The Bunsen Burners” for the Research Program Unit competition 🙂

Over my master’s at the University of Helsinki and my stay at the lab, I have internalized many learning lessons from which I want to share three:

  1. Whatever you do, stay curious and skeptical, and, above all, enjoy the journey because there is no other destination (by my PI Michael).
  2. Sometimes you think you have been buried, but actually, you have been planted (by the activist Christine Caine)
  3. Surround yourself with people who are different from you: open your eyes and envision your view of this small world with big souls (by my friend Achmet).
Spring in Helsinki looks nice!

A chapter closes and another begins. Farewells are sad, but they remind you of the people that you have met along the way, and that you can proudly call them friends. They remind you of your social impact on new environments, and how people learn from you as much as you gain from others. Farewells are not a goodbye, but a “see you later”!

In catalan I would say: aquesta experiència no ha sigut bufar i fer ampolles, però res extraordinari ho és! – this experience hasn’t been easy, but nothing extraordinary is. 

Earthworms as the ultimate strategy to face microplastic pollution

Have you ever seen an earthworm make magic? These little creatures can, for instance, eat leaves and make them disappear! Earthworms are one of the few animals capable of decomposing organic material. So, even though they seem insignificant living things, it is hard to imagine a world without them. But, what if I told you earthworms could also make microplastics in soil vanish? What if they represent the ultimate strategy to face microplastic pollution?

I am Mireia Pagès Guitart, a Catalan biomedical scientist, a second-year student of the Master’s Programme in Pharmaceutical Research, Development and Safety at the University of Helsinki, and a new HiLIFE trainee! With the support of the HiLIFE Research Trainee Scholarship, my ambition was to engage in applying sustainability to science, a much-needed climate action.

Me working in the lab, performing a Western Blot. If I had known what my future research would be like back then, I don’t know if I would have believed it!

Even though my passion has always relied on combining both topics (sustainable science), this dream didn’t come true until I came upon Prof. Michael Jeltsch. He is another scientist fond of practicing sustainability, both in his lab and his research projects. What amazed me the most was the earthworm project that his lab team wanted to carry out: using earthworms as a microplastic degradation strategy.

Earthworm’s digestive system and microbiota

Before joining the group’s lab work, I did an extensive literature review on the earthworms’ digestive system and microbiota. This was useful to expand my background knowledge and have some insights on how to conduct the experimental part of the project.

Earthworm’s digestive system is mainly composed of the gizzard. The gizzard is an amazing structure responsible for grinding and crushing the food. Different digestive glands are also present and contribute to the digestion process by releasing proteolytic enzymes. In other words, these enzymes break down the ingested food into even smaller pieces.

Inside the earthworm’s gut, there is also the microbiota: a community of bacteria. The microbiota maintains the intestinal homeostasis and, most importantly, breaks down carbohydrates that the glands can’t digest, contributing to the digestion process further.

Surprisingly, it has been seen that the earthworms’ digestive system and its microbiota digest contaminants from the ground along organic material. Could this mean that earthworms would be able to turn microplastics into soil fertilizer? Indeed, this would be a promising approach to explore.

Two little creatures of our earthworm farm in the lab. They are making magic 😉
Picture taken by Michael Jeltsch

Microplastic degradation potential

On my first day in the laboratory, we designed the experimental plan. To make our dreams come true (creating microplastic-degrading earthworms), we should exploit the earthworm’s digestive system properties. For instance, if specific enzymes released by their glands are more effective than others, we could enhance their expression to improve the digestion process.

Overall, it was clear that we would need to modify the earthworm’s DNA to make them transgenic animals. Let’s imagine that we aim to enhance the expression of a certain enzyme. We would take the gene coding for such an enzyme, assemble it in a plasmid (=DNA) and place this plasmid inside a virus. This is known as a cloning step. Next, we would transfer the plasmid inside the earthworm by infecting the animal with the virus. Once inside, the earthworm would express the gene and activate the enzyme production. Finally, we would assess if the microplastics’ degradation takes place.

Gene expression and regulation: Overview of DNA Cloning, 2018 (Khan Academy): http://tinyurl.com/229ub9xb

The beginning of my research

Of course, every experiment needs a control before anything happens. For this reason, since I started my traineeship, I have made the mentioned cloning step with GFP protein instead of any enzyme gene (previous example). GFP protein is easy to detect on animals because it expresses green fluorescence. Using GFP will be useful for us to know if our experimental method on earthworms works at all: earthworms will emit green fluorescence if we are successful. If we are on the right track, we will be able to proceed with the rest of the project afterwards.

During this time, I have also got to know the lab team members and how they work. I give lots of importance to team building, so I am happy to feel that comfortable in this group. I have high expectations for all that I will learn, the lab techniques I will use and the skills I will earn. This traineeship will help me grow both as a scientist and as a person. And, if this project raises meaningful outcomes, we would have a powerful tool to fight one of the biggest issues that we are facing nowadays:  microplastics pollution. 

Studying in Finland is a worthwhile adventure. The snow gives light in the darkest times and the sun is much more appreciated than anywhere else. Also, the University of Helsinki provides plenty of opportunities to keep learning in the best way. All in all, it is an unforgettable experience. You will hear more about my traineeship experience and the research progress later this spring. Keep an eye out because there is more to come!

Again me, this time in nature, looking at sunflowers that probably have bloomed thanks to our little helpers, the awesome earthworms!