Day 9: Cambridge Biomedical Research Center

Have you ever wanted to spend a day at Cambridge? Well, me too! Today all of us here at LIYSF had the amazing opportunity to split up into various groups and journey to Cambridge or Oxford. I went to the Cambridge Biomedical Research Center at Addenbrooke's Hospital. In 2015, the hospital received 400 million pounds in research funding. Also, a grand total of 92 Nobel Prize winners have gone through Cambridge.

Here I am with Hadas and Shahar from Israel! 

My group was very fortunate to have the head nurse talk to us about the research going on at the Cambridge Biomedical Research Center. The slide shown above describes a study where patients with severe peanut allergies were given increasing doses of peanut protein for a specified course of time. By the end, 19/22 patients were eating five peanuts daily without reacting! Giving incremental doses of peanut protein to these patients actually increased their tolerance to peanuts, helping them live without fear of having a severe reaction in their day-to-day lives. 

After our lecture at the Research Center, we were free to spend the afternoon around the Cambridge village. My, this was a beautiful place. I toured around the village with two people in my group, Miguel and Angela from Malta, a tiny island past the tip of Italy.   

Here we are in front of the Addenbrooke Hospital!  

One of the aspects of Cambridge village that I loved were the many hidden courtyards. Often, all I had to do was walk through a small gate and the resulting view included window boxes overflowing with flowers, copious amounts of ivy, and a perfectly manicured lawn.  

Going for a boat ride along the river is a very popular activity for those visiting Cambridge. A punter (the boat's driver) provides a river tour of the campus - the act of riding one of these is called "punting."

The bus ride back from Cambridge to the Imperial took a whopping three hours due to traffic. Thankfully, I had the wonderful Angela from Malta to talk with the entire ride. While many people took naps, we talked about a few of our favorite things back home, and I now have a long list of books to order from the library! Some of her top recommendations were "For the Love of Physics" and "That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles." 

The fact that there was lots of traffic actually worked in my favor, as grinding to a halt meant I had ample time to take photos! Here is the Tower of London. This is where the Crown Jewels are kept on display. After a quick dinner, I got together with four other students to rehearse for a little something special we are working on for tomorrow night's International Cabaret. I can't let you in on our secret performance just yet. It's a surprise... Stay tuned for details in tomorrow's post!

- Vivienne