Queen Máxima inspects zebrafish embryos
On Wednesday the 4th of September, Queen Máxima opened the renovated tropical greenhouse complex of the Leiden Hortus Botanicus. At the occasion Máxima met with IBL-PhD student Mahin Ghorbani from Iran and talked with her about her work on drug discovery from Iranian medicinal plants using zebrafish embryo as model.
Queen Maxima was very interested in Mahin’s work and personally lifted a Petri dish to observe some zebrafish embryos close-up. Mahin explained the queen about the relationship between the fish and the plants and that she used the zebrafish embryos as a model for drug discovery in the research group of Prof. Mike Richardson.
Queen Máxima was also interested into why Mahin had come to the Netherlands. She explained her that she had been seeking opportunity for international collaboration and that Leiden University had attracted her interest because of the education system and academic quality. The queen replied by stressing the value of international collaboration, especially with Asian countries, for new research ideas and developing innovative technology.