Obrigado Portugal! ~ Dr. Prakrut Paidisetty

MBBS, Dr. Ulhas Patil Medical college and Hospital

Have you ever wondered, what the best activity is for a person who likes to brag, who has a moderate interest in research and loves to travel on a budget? You guessed it! It is what intellectuals call a research exchange. I had the good fortune, and the required CV to be selected for such an exchange to the magnificent city of Porto, also known as the second capital of Portugal. This was done through an organization called ‘Medical students association of India’, which you should totally check out sometime!

For full disclosure, I participated the research project titled, ‘In vitro effect of metformin and aspirin in colorectal cancer cells’ in the department of ‘biomedicine- unit of biochemistry’ at faculdade de medicinia da universidade do Porto- hospital Sao joao, Portugal. Being an MBBS student it was great to get familiar with intricate concepts of cell biochemistry, that weren’t usually taught in our regular curriculum.

So, basically we developed cell cultures of colorectal cancer cells on adherent culture plates and put them through various viability assays. Some of these assays were: –

LDH assay- Helps determine the amount of cell death in a given culture as the viable cells release lactate dehydrogenase when they die. It uses the principle of colorimetry and uses spectrophotometer.

SRB Assay- Sulphorhodamine B is a dye used to mark intracellular protein, and its measurement before and after administration of treatment leads to determination of cell growth. Also based on the principle of colorimetry and involves use of spectrophotometer.

Injury Assay-  Helps in determination of cell migration.

Some of the hard skills I learnt were: –

Disinfection and aseptic techniques to operate a vertical laminar flow

Pipetting

Culture medium change

Culture split

Viability Assays

During my month long stay, the viability assays showed that, though the individual effect of aspirin and metformin did not cause significant reduction in growth, but the combination of the two drugs did cause a significant decrease and conclusion of the published paper does suggest that the combination of metformin and aspirin may benefit PI3KCA-mutant CRC cases which currently have a poor prognostic.

I would like to now highlight a few points I observed in the research setting in Portugal. There was an abundance of equipment and raw material in their labs, which is in stark contrast to the usually resource strapped labs of Indian medical colleges. The process was slow paced and the guides had a very easy going demeanor, again a contrast to the fast paced and all hell will break loose kind of mood in India. I believe these factors enable a conducive environment for out of the box thinking required for research.

I wouldn’t do justice to this article if I don’t mention the culture shocks I faced, as it was the first time I visited a European country. Did you know, there are no ceiling fans in Portugal? Also to my surprise and later regret, there were no toilet faucets! I guess it made sense because the general food showed no evidence of spice being used, and the most they could do was black pepper. However, this made all their culinary enthusiasm focused on desserts, and boy do they have some of the greatest sweets known to mankind! For any travel enthusiast who wishes to visit Portugal, you would regret missing out on pastel de nata and bolas de berlim.

Proper public hygiene, civic sense, low population density and efficient public transport makes Portuguese cities like Porto a welcome sight for travelers. Orthodox vegetarians might face issues because, like any other western country, the Portuguese greatly enjoy their beef and bacon paired with beer and wine, so consider yourself warned.

Finally, I would like to encourage all the MBBS students and aspirants to participate as much as possible in extra-curricular activities like joining organizations such as MSAI, which give you the opportunity to enhance your CV, make fruitful contacts and give you the experience of a lifetime.

References: –

1.Gonçalves J, Pinto S, Carmo F, Silva C, Andrade N, Martel F. Additive Cytotoxic and Colony-Formation Inhibitory Effects of Aspirin and Metformin on PI3KCA-Mutant Colorectal Cancer Cells. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2024 May 15;25(10):5381–1.