NL
DE
General information about internships at Physiology
The department of Physiology offers a broad range of internships for students related to biomedical and health science. Depending on the research question and type of internship, the duration varies between 3 and 12 months.
read more
Current internship options at our department
The current options of internships are listed here.
read moreCurrent internship options at our department
The department of Physiology offers a broad range of internships for students related to biomedical and health science. There are internship possibilities within the research groups of the Department Physiology. On the home page you find more information about the different research groups. Depending on the research question and type of internship (BSc. or MSc.), the duration varies between 3 and 12 months.
There are various academic skills that you will develop during your internship, such as literature study, setting up and organizing research, performing measurements, analysing data, and scientific writing. The setting will be different depending on the research group. Within the research group Molecular Physiology, there are various lab skills, tissue culture and analysis techniques in the lab. In the research groups Integrative physiology and Cardiovascular physiology it is possible that you recruit patients or perform measurements on subjects, you can also take measurements during a sporting event. These are just a few of the various possibilities at the physiology department.
The offer of available internship positions depends on the time of the year, duration and type of the internship and research group. The department publishes the available internship positions on the internship page of the Radboudumc: Vacatureladder stages voor studenten Faculteit der Medische Wetenschappen. For more information, questions or an appointment, you can contact student coordinator Leanne van der Hout.
Experiences
Read experiences from our students both internal and abroad.-
Harvard internship: Master internship Medicine in Boston (USA).
read more
Noëlle & Ingrid
When we, Noëlle van Leur and Ingrid de Jong, were informed about the long wait for our master in medicine, we decided we wanted to spend that time useful and therefore started searching for a research training internship abroad. Soon we heard about Physiomics and their collaborations with research groups all over the world. We contacted Physiomics via email and we met Prof. Dr. Joost Hoenderop a couple of days later. We had an interesting conversation about the requirements associated with a research training internship and our preferences. Based on that, Prof. Dr. Joost Hoenderop came up with several proposals. The Bonventre Laboratory of Kidney Injury and Repair - Brigham and Women's Hospital - Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, most appealed to us. It was partly thanks to the long-standing collaboration between Prof. Dr. Joost Hoenderop and Prof. Dr. Joseph Bonventre that we were both assigned an internship in Prof. Dr. Joseph Bonventre's laboratory. We were really excited and started preparing right away. We were warned that this would take a lot of time, but it turned out to be even harder than we initially thought, with obtaining a visa being the biggest problem. Thanks to the Physiomics staff and our study advisor we got everything organised just in time to start our internships.
Although we had written a Plan of Work during a two-week course to prepare ourselves for our internships, we had no practical experience with working in a laboratory and doing research in general. Fortunately, our supervisors abroad were really enthusiastic and patient in teaching us as much as possible in the twelve weeks we spent in the laboratory. We have learned a lot about the theoretical background and the practical implementation of various techniques, such as cell and tissue culture, immunocytochemistry, fluorescence microscopy and molecular biology methods, including Gateway cloning, bacterial culture, gel electrophoresis and DNA purification and amplification. Over time, we integrated ourselves into the laboratory environment and became more independent which gave us the opportunity to set up our own experiments. Noëlle's original proposed project was to explore if isolated Six2+ nephron progenitor cells are capable of forming mature nephron segments in the absence of associated FoxD1+ interstitial cells. Unfortunately this project had to be changed due to the unavailability of sufficient mice of correct genotype. With her new project she has focused on transcriptional reprogramming of mice fibroblasts to nephron progenitor cellin vitro.
The switch to another project was not easy but it taught us that doing research is not something that you can totally plan and predict. Ingrid focused on identifying co-culture conditions for the maintenance of the Six2+ nephron progenitor cell population. She also had problems with the availability of sufficient mice of correct genotype, but was able to complete her experiments once. The results of both projects are still preliminary but they gave us the opportunity to learn a lot about basic science research and master a wide variety of lab techniques. Besides these interesting techniques we were also able to meet a lot of international researchers and discuss topics such as research in other countries, the combination of clinical work and doing research and cooperation and competition between researchers. This made our abroad internship even more interesting.
During our stay in Boston we were also able to have some fun outside the laboratory environment. We went to New York, celebrated Halloween and went on a whale watching trip in Boston. After our internship we decided to travel along the east coast of the U.S.A. and visited Washington D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami and the Bahama's. Together we had a great time and made memories that will last us a lifetime!
-
Eline Berends did an internship at the department of nutrition, exercise and sports at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
read more
Eline
It all started 1,5 years ago when I contacted the physiology department at the Radboud University to inform if I could do my medical research internship under their supervision, because I’m interested in the field and they have a lot of connections with departments outside of The Netherlands. They have been really helpful and said I could chose whatever city or department I liked on their online world map and that they would try their best to make it work. I can highly recommend the physiology department if you’re interested in going abroad. Organizing and doing an internship abroad is going to require your own effort, time and sometimes even some blood, sweat and tears. But they’ve been a great help through it all.
I chose Nikolai Nordsborg’s research team at the department of nutrition, exercise and sports at the university of Copenhagen in Denmark. My research internship was about blood doping and I’ve stayed in Copenhagen for 3 months. The reason I chose this department is because it's research topics are so different from what I would normally learn. I'm used to learning about medicine related topics and we never get the chance to learn about exercise physiology or anti-doping. Also, the research is very clinical, so you’ll be interacting with subjets a lot and that’s something I really enjoyed. Also, although Danish is the native language of Copenhagen, they all speak English very well.
During my free time I enjoyed the city a lot. It’s really beautiful and full of cool neighborhoods to explore. The only thing is that the housing market is tough. If you plan on going to Copenhagen, you should really start seeking housing as early as possible. I recommend joining the Facebook groups and even search on Airbnb (this is actually how I found my room).
If you’re in doubt wether you should go abroad or not: don’t hesitate, go! I can highly recommend Nikolai’s department and Copenhagen. I absolutely enjoyed my time there!
IMCS International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science
The International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science (IMCS) of the Department of Physiology of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre facilitates the acceleration of the academic career of young, talented students in Biomedical Sciences by a unique 1-year program. read moreIMCS International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science
International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science
The first step in most successful academic careers start at student level and often relate to the exposure to highly motivated, enthusiastic and world-leading scientists, who provide the student the opportunity to perform a research internship in a stimulating scientific environment. The International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science (IMCS) of the Department of Physiology of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre facilitates the acceleration of the academic career of young, talented students in Biomedical Sciences by a unique 1-year program. Several students from Nijmegen have already taken this opportunity, which has typically resulted in the publication of scientific papers, presentations at (inter)national conferences, and even job offers for a PhD-position.
What is the International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science?
The IMCS is based on a long-standing and fruitful collaboration between researchers of the Department of Physiology and the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences (Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU)). Whilst there is a strong overlap in researchandteaching between both universities, the differences in state-of-the-art technology, access to patient groups, and facilities make a unique synergistic collaboration. This program will therefore offer the student:
- A high-quality, synergistic collaborative project in the field of cardiovascular exercise science in NijmegenandLiverpool
- Attending the Ultrasound Summerschool, involving lectures and practical hands-on work supervised by world-leading scientists from LJMU, RUNMC and other universities.
- Supervision by world-leading professors in laboratories with unique and state-of-the-art facilities in a motivating environment
- Participate in the MSc-course 'Clinical Exercise Physiology' at LJMU
An overview of the IMCS program
Stage 1. In October, the Department of Physiology organises the annual 4-week course ('Clinical Exercise Physiology') that is usually attended by 30 MSc-students of Biomedical Sciences. During this course, we will heavily discuss the state-of-the-art knowledge in cardiovascular exercise physiology. Also, an LJMU professor will visit Nijmegen to give a lecture on his research, but also introduces the International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science. Students receive assignments that eventually result in a scientific debate on cardiovascular topics.
Stage 2. Students are invited to apply for the International Masterclass in Cardiovascular Science by writing a motivation letter why they want to join the Masterclass. Subsequently, the student coordinator of the Department of Physiology will select eligible students for the Masterclass.
Stage 3. In March/April, students will start a 4-month internship at the Department of Physiology.
Stage 4. Early July, students will attend of the Ultrasound Summerschool. This Summerschool is annually attended by 25-30 (inter)national students and researchers and deals with the physiological regulation of cardiac and vascular function, physics of ultrasound and practical performance of (the basics of) echocardiography and vascular ultrasound. Lectures are given by world-leading scientists. This 5-day Summerschool provides a unique networking opportunity.
Stage 5. After the Summerschool, students will start their LJMU-based internship. The content of this internship is closely related to the internship performed in Nijmegen (see above). Also, students can follow the MSc-course 'Clinical Exercise Physiology' at the LJMU during their internship.
Stage 6. This Masterclass provides the opportunity to significantly increase the chances for the participants to successfully apply for a PhD-track. To achieve this goal, monthly meetings are planned with the students to discuss progress, job/grant opportunities, and CV building.
Stage 7. Finally, the project will result in writing a manuscript that will be submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal. The student will play an important role in this process. Moreover, opportunities will be examined for the student to attend an international meeting to present his/her results.
Contributing scientists
From the Department of Physiology, Maria Hopman, Dick Thijssen and Thijs Eijsvogels are involved in the IMCS program. They contribute to teaching commitments, initiation of projects and internships and supervision of all candidates. Tim Cable, Keith George, Danny Green and Dick Thijssen are the leading scientists from LJMU that contribute to this one-of-a-kind program.
Additional information and applications?
If you would like to meet one of the involved scientists for more information, you can contact us by sending an e-mail to the student coordinator (info@fysiol.umcn.nl).
