My lab partner and I were eagerly watching the door for two guest speakers to arrive. I felt sweaty and my heart was beating rapidly despite the fact that I simply had to sit and listen. When the two men entered the room, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had the pleasure of sitting in the front row while Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Lawrence Corey answered students’ questions. All I could think about was how my parents weren’t going to believe me when I told them who I had seen. Also, I felt so cool because Dr. Fauci and I had matching standard black KN95 masks.
Even if we had not met famous scientists, the Fred Hutchinson Pathways Research Explorers Program is one of my favorite experiences I have had in my life. The program is extremely well organized, and the students are treated very well. The program opened my eyes in many ways. It was my first introduction to conducting scientific research. We got to use techniques like PCR and CRISPR and diagnose patients with cancer in the lab. In addition to working in the lab, I also got a better scientific understanding behind these techniques and processes and about cancer in general.
Before the Pathways Research Explorers Program I knew that there were tests related to people’s blood that could be used to detect cancer. And that was it. With the program, the lab work and lectures helped me to understand much more. In an experiment, we used gel electrophoresis to separate variants A and B of cancerous DNA, a negative control of non-cancerous DNA, and four patient samples of DNA. With gel electrophoresis we were able to separate the samples based on the number of base pairs they had. We also included a DNA ladder of 100 base pairs to measure the lengths of the other DNA strands. Variant A was at about 25 base pairs and variant B was at about 35 base pairs based on our comparison of their location to the 100 base pair DNA. Our negative control did not contain the cancerous genes so did not show a number of base pairs. Looking at our results, the first patient sample had moved the same distance as variant A, and the third patient sample had moved the same distance as variant B. With this information we were able to diagnose the first patient with variant A and the third with variant B. This lab was some of the first “real work” I have done scientifically. Being able to understand how some cancer diagnosis processes work made me feel that what I learned is important and valuable.
Some of the other highlights were the guest speakers who were very helpful to me in gaining more knowledge about potential college and career paths. My favorite speaker was Dr. Raabya Rossenkhan who shared about her pathway to becoming a lead researcher in infectious diseases and vaccines at the Fred Hutch. Being very interested in her field, I found the detailed information about her job and how she got to that job very informative. Additionally, I didn’t know that her specific type of work existed, as I thought people in her area of work all worked in a lab or heavily with math. I found her job to be something I would very much like to look into as a potential career.
In addition to all that I learned through the Pathways Research Explorers Program, I also had a lot of fun with the people here. I have made new friends who I will keep in touch with. Especially my lab partner! I loved being surrounded by peers who share my same excitement and curiosity about science. With a wide diversity of backgrounds, I was able to learn a lot from my peers as well as mentors. All the mentors and teachers in the program have all been exceptionally kind and helpful and have made me more knowable and excited about science. I would recommend this program to eligible students who like science as this wonderful experience has helped me grow immensely.
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