Jaslene Carreon

These past two weeks have been one of the most educational and insightful times of my life. Over the course of this program I’ve toured multiple real-life labs, tripled my knowledge in cancer, and listened to inspiring talks from researchers who cover a vast amount of different fields. The Explorers program has also allowed me to perform experiments and labs normally inaccessible to others my age. 

The lab that I enjoyed the most was definitely the CML spot lab. It was our final lab and was a culmination of all the previous experiments we had done the past couple days. Using our newly found knowledge of micropipetting, gel electrophoresis, PCR, and more, we tested multiple patient blood samples to see whether they had chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML for short. After running PCR on blood samples, we ran a gel with our samples and a control. Comparing the blood sample to the positive control, we were able to see which patients had the disease and which didn’t. Even though there was an answer sheet at the end, it really made me feel like I was doing something that was helping cancer patients. I could see myself performing 

some sort of similar procedure sometime in my future career.

For a couple of experiments, we got to make our own gels to run through electrophoresis.

I think one of my favorite places I was able to visit was the fly lab. I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this, considering how I normally despise bugs and those kinds of creatures. There, they test on fruit flies different kinds of mutations, crossbreed them, and see how they react. The lab was lined with shelves upon shelves of tubes containing flies with slight differences in genetics and age. We also got to do a fun activity where we tried to sort a bunch of different flies into male or female under a microscope. I somehow managed to be the most accurate in my group and won a free candy bar out of it. It was interesting to see how small creatures such as fruit flies could be used to help research the bodies of those more complex such as humans. 

A picture of the fly sorting activity in the fly lab. We had to use a paint brush to move them around.

On a different note, the most interesting lecture I got to listen to was the bioethics talk presented by Dr. Jeanne Chowning. I usually am never really interested in those kinds of things and thought it would be another boring lecture, when in actuality it was really insightful and made me really think about all the processes and procedures that go into research and experiments. She talked about the ethical principles researchers must follow when conducting their experiments and the ethical impacts some research might have. There was also an in depth talk about AI, and how those developments could affect the future of biology and medical research. While we as scientists strive to learn as much about the world as we can, there are also a set of moral boundaries and rules that we have to follow to protect our patients and those around us. 

A page from my lab notebook from the bioethics talk.

Overall, the Fred Hutch Explorers program has been an amazing experience and a great opportunity for discovering more about the fields and careers available at Fred Hutch. I’m sure that the things I’ve learned here will stick with me for years to come.