Apart from teaching, I’ve been fortunate to supervise three Master’s degree student projects this spring. The degree projects start in January and go on for one semester.
The students have all been working on computational projects related to beta-lactamases. They have either simulated antibiotics or inhibitors in different beta-lactamases to get a better understanding of how different classes of drugs bind to these enzymes, but also to understand the binding mechanisms of enzymes from different classes of beta-lactamases. Although these enzymes are tricky to simulate, all students managed to get interesting results, and deeper insight into both ligand-binding and enzyme function. In all, a very rewarding semester for both the students and me.
Supervising final-year students was a new experience for me, but it seems the students matched well with their projects, and supervision went well. Now, I hope I can get such high-quality students to join my lab again next year. Meanwhile, we will try to find some time to finalize these projects and get the results published. Hopefully we’ll find some time after the pending summer break!