Before starting the Pathways Explorer’s program at Fred Hutch, my plan to become an accomplished scientist seemed unreachable. In my mind, scientists were scary, professionals who published big, important papers and won Nobel Prizes after years and years of hard work. I went into this program with the idea that my future contributions could never be as significant as what has already been discovered. After spending two weeks in the Explorer’s program, do I now believe I can single handedly find the cure for cancer? No, of course not. However, if my time here at the Fred Hutch has taught me anything, it would be that scientific breakthroughs can be made by anyone and everyone.
See, the Explorer’s program really believes in showing young people that there is a place in science for everyone. They really emphasized this idea through the guest lecturers and tours of the many labs on campus. I believe that the reason for these tours and lectures is to not only show explorers potential career paths, but that collaboration and diversity are crucial to better understanding our world. I learned that even though independent projects are still needed in science, breakthroughs cannot and have not been made without collaboration of people within and outside of science. The two lecturers that planted this idea for me were Dr. Barry Stoddard, and Dr. Brian Minalga.
Dr. Stoddard spoke to explorers about the use of x-ray crystallography in the study of protein structures. During his lecture and during the lab tours, he mentioned the friendly rivalry between crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy, both of which study protein structures. He told us that even though crystallographers previously liked to refer to electron microscopy as ‘blobology’, the two sides of identifying protein structures need to collaborate to work towards their common goal. Where crystallography is best suited for smaller proteins, cryo-EM prefers larger proteins. Without one of the other, we would have never discovered all of
the structures we have now.
A few days before that, Dr. Minalga gave us a lecture about the importance of diversity and representation within clinical trials. That topic alone could be its own blog post, but the takeaway I want to highlight from their lecture is that biomedical research needs the people as much as it needs the scientists. Without representation in clinical trials we would never understand the way different diseases and drugs affect different communities. Dr. Minalga also showed us that there are other jobs within science that doesn’t necessarily have to involve working in labs. They explained to us that they are a social worker working with HIV at a cancer center, and that even though those words don’t typically go together, it doesn’t make what they do any less valid. Essentially, what i'm trying to say here is that through the Explorer’s program, I learned that even jobs that are less STEM related play a significant role in research and discovery.
To summarize my rambling, the Pathways Explorer’s program helped me take biomedical research off its pedestal and made me realize that scientists are people like me. I now know that accomplishments in science aren't made by a handful of bright individuals, but by a lot of people who build off each other to better understand our world.
Dr. Stoddard and the X-ray microscope during one of the lab tours. Photo credit to cohort member Josh
Session 2, 2023 cohort group picture