Anam Hakim

In this picture I was micro pipetting some color dyes to make a color wheel. This was one of the first labs I did in this program.

In this picture we just got done looking at the zebra fish aquariums and learning more about their use in labs and how more and more scientists are using zebrafish instead of mice in their experiments. 

In this picture we were learning about how your immune system fights off any bacteria that enters your body and what type of antibodies it releases. This was a game we played to we can visually understand what goes on in our bodies and how antibodies help us when we are sick.

From the past two weeks that I have attended this program here at Fred Hutch, something that

stood out to me as a highlight would be learning about project violet. I first read about the

scorpion venom and how it helps with tumors when i was 13 years old and that's how i got to

first know about the hutch. This was a highlight for me because I think it is fascinating about

how scientists can take venom from one of the deadliest creatures on this planet and help make

it be one of the greatest accomplishments in cancer history. We also got to visit the lab and read

some of the stories of kids that have died and left behind a piece of art which was a really sad

reality of what a tumor can do.

Another highlight I had in the past two weeks here at fred hutch was learning about one person

in the world has been cured from HIV/AIDS since the disease was first discovered. HIV is a type

of disease that nobody till this day has been completely cured of except for that one person. It was amazing to learn about that person who had been cured becuase he went through cancer

and HIV and was at the edge of death. But thanks to bone marrow transfer and the mutation in

his cells and the donors that, he was able to cure from HIV.

At Fred Hutch there there is all kinds of science you can do. Before I came i thought of the

traditional careers you could do if you go into the science/medical field, but after being at the

Hutch for 2 weeks I learned more about the different type of careers and career paths people

took to be here. I learned that you don’t always need to be a chemist or biologist or even a PHD

student to be considered a scientist, and that there are other possible opportunities you could

work for and still be working at the Hutch.

Biology isn't what I thought it would be. In my experience I thought that there is basic biology

you learn in highschool and then the biology you learn in college which goes more in depth

about the subjects we learned about in high school. But being at Fred Hutch for two weeks i

learned that being a scientist just doesn't involve being a biologist and a chemist but it's more to

that. I also learned what it's like being in a space where they’re job and work is taken seriously

but also a space where people come together like family and make it a loving warm space. It

was a memorable experience to be a part of a place where it was educational, professional,

along with a place where you can feel comfortable and come together as a whole.