Viborg Week 7 Alanna

It has finally hit me that this is the last week of work. After taking numerous blood samples, pipetting hoards of plasma, analyzing and preparing data, and completing a paper I finally have the time to truly explore all the facilities that Foulum has to offer.

Last week I went out to the swine research facility with Birthe, a veterinarian whom I have been working with, to watch an experiment pertaining to piglets and their response to E. coli. This was a great experience for me because it allowed me to see first hand what a research veterinarian does and how they juggle the responsibilities of research.

Every Wednesday Birthe, Jens (a scientist involved with milk studies), Lene (a lab technician), and myself go out to the cattle research center to take blood samples and liver biopsies. It wasn't until last week that I found out Birthe was a veterinarian. The only way I found out was because I noticed that Birthe was the only one doing the liver biopsies. After a few weeks had past I asked her if you needed a special certification to handle biopsies and she told me that usually the veterinarians take it even though many senior scientist have the skills necessary to do it. I only bring this story up because I think there is certainly a level of modesty here compared to the U.S.

On a side note, that is the one thing that I find incredibly interesting. It seems that people in Denmark are not so interested in their titles. Everyone responds and introduces themselves using their first name only. No Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Dr. is ever used. There were several instances in which I did not know how to address my colleagues and I found that odd. It's nice that no one is so caught up in themselves here that they loose sight of their overall purpose.

Today I went to the mink farm with Birthe. We looked through the mink that had died in the past few days. She had to make a proper diagnosis for each mink's death. The dissection is really exciting because you never know what you are going to find inside. Most of the minks that we saw today had died from an enlarged cyst. Many of them had enlarged organs, discolorations, and/or some kind of blockage in their system. During the months of May, June, and July mink mortality is very high because the mother often dies of either complications before, during, or after, they give birth to their young, which takes place in May.

Aside from my happenings at Foulum hopefully after next week I will be able to talk more about our travels. Due to weather restrictions and lack of time we've only made a few day trips to cities around Denmark that have been mentioned earlier in our blogs.