Alexandra S.

Walking into Fred Hutch on the first day, I didn’t really know what to expect. I was a little scared and unsure of where I was going. However, by the time we were in the lab that day we were excitedly taking photos and gazing at the beautiful lab around us. These past two weeks have given me the opportunity to learn about cancer, lab techniques and the many studies going on at the Hutch as well as meet all the other wonderful explorers as we danced in our timelapses while filming lab work.

This program has excited not only me, but my parents, especially my mom who listened to me recall my whole day on our way home. Although it took a while to get there, being on campus for two weeks has given me so many opportunities, especially in touring labs.

Dr. Stoddard’s visit

Whenever I have been asked about my future career, I have always been left giving a vague answer as I had trouble picking between all my interests. Dr. Stoddard’s talk (as well as that of Dr. Paul) highlighted how labs have so many different people working in them, and showed to me, for the first time, a lab blending multiple disciplines. Dr. Stoddard said his favorite thing about his job is that “you get to be good at a lot of different things”, and that piqued my interest.

“Structure determines function” is something that you might remember from a biology class. This is what Dr. Stoddard’s work as a structural biologist is about. By knowing the 3D structure of a protein scientists can find what it binds to, and then what it does. This gets so exciting because then by editing or making new proteins scientists can develop new treatments for cancer and many other immune diseases.

In his talk, Dr. Stoddard explained the process of researching protein structure, which in the early 90s took him and Dr. Strong (another scientist at the Hutch)  to the USSR! This is because crystallizing the protein is essential for their research, and NASA at the time, was promoting growing protein crystals in space, as it was thought that they would grow better with less gravity. However, after the accident with Challenger Shuttle in 1986, they had to figure out another way of sending experiments to space, and that was done through the Soviet space program. This, though not the main part of his talk, was very interesting as it was filled with jokes and showed how research can take you anywhere.

The picture is of protein crystals under a microscope!

After crystallizing the protein, comes the next step: taking images. This is done in two ways, x-ray and electron microscope crystallography. This is where knowledge of physics comes in, as it helps read the 2D diffraction patterns and interpret what the 3D shape actually is! Dr. Stoddard’s visit was especially amazing because it was followed by both a tour of the EM crystallography and the x-ray crystallography labs, where we saw a disco ball in Dr. Stoddard’s x-ray crystallography lab!

Dr. Stoddard in his lab and the x-ray crystallography machine!

Talking to Dr. Strong

Being at the Hutch gives you the opportunity to talk to many people, and though I am usually introverted, after Dr. Stoddard’s talk I decided to learn more about protein structure research. So, I overcame my fears and emailed Dr. Strong, who is actually very kind and not scary at all. He was actually very excited to share how his research can be used for treatment, and very clearly explained what biophysics actually means – applying physical concepts to solve biological questions.

My highlights just from our talk were seeing his 3D models of proteins that fit together like a puzzle and a tour of his lab, which as he said, was filled with clear colorless liquids. However, as boring as it appears from that, the Strong lab actually has so much going on. 

Final Thoughts

It has been a great experience to get to be part of the amazing community at Fred Hutch for these 2 weeks. This experience has shown me how diverse scientific research can be. I know my takeaways will stick with me for a long time. During this program I went a little out of my comfort zone and I really want to thank Dr. G and our wonderful TAs, Alex and Shayen for helping and encouraging me. I also want to thank all the kind speakers who took the time to come talk to us, and lastly, I want to thank my fellow explorers who made this an unforgettable experience.