During my two weeks in the explorer’s program, I have done so many new and exciting things. I loved being able to listen to all the guest speakers and tour the labs. It let me see so many examples of what a future in biomedical research could look like.
In one of the lab tours, we got to learn about C. Elegans, a type of small worm. Because they reproduce fast (about 4-10 eggs from à worm per hour), they are used to study the effects specific genes have on an entire organism across generations. Because of certain genes the scientist either inserted or deleted, some of the worms could only move in circles, or could only move their heads. There were even worms that were made to be fluorescent, which made it possible for us to see the worm cell neurons underneath an ultraviolet light!
In a different lab, we learned how to tell the difference between male and female fruit flies, and about some key genetic characteristics to spot under a microscope. We even got to take turns sorting the fruit flies under a microscope (I was able to sort 8 males and 14 females).
The lab experiments were another highlight. Wearing my fancy lab coat and using the special scientific equipment made me feel like a real researcher. The CRISP-R experiment was my favorite lab. Before the actual lab, we learned about how the CRISP-R process was found in bacteria that were able to edit genomes (another thing I learned is that some of the most interesting science is found in the most unsuspecting of places). We did a small CRISP-R model using printed out DNA sequences. In the CRISP-R process, à protein (cas-9) in our case looks for à certain nucleotide sequence called the PAM. Once the PAM is found, the protein checks to see whether the DNA sequence in that area matches the RNA it carries. If it does, then the cas-9 splits the DNA, allowing for nucleotides to be either added or removed. It's à whole lot of fancy acronyms and long words to describe something that we were able to do in under 10 minutes.
In the lab, we cut a strand of DNA into two segments, using the CRISP-R process we had just learned about. This was especially exciting to me, because CRISP-R and genetic engineering has always been something that was interesting to me. Its potential to help people seems endless. In my mind, CRISPR was some ultra-complicated process that I’d never get the chance to do.
The lab wasn’t the only place where I was learning a lot. Our guest speakers also had valuable and interesting stories about their lives and their paths in the biomedical research field. While they had many diverse backgrounds, they all ended up working in this field, and loving it. One speaker that stood out to me was Raabya Rossenkhan, who specialized in infectious diseases. Like a lot of the speakers that spoke to us, she had always been interested in biology. She had started off by wanting to be a doctor, like I’m thinking about now. However, she soon found that she got too emotionally invested in patients to be a doctor without it taking a toll on her mental and emotional health. That was very validating for me to hear, because that is one thing I also struggle with. She switched her path to researching infectious diseases, to try to find solutions for some of the diseases people in her country were facing. Her talk felt very personal and honest, and she answered all of our questions in the same manner that she told us her life story. From her talk, I learned that being a doctor might not be the right choice for me, and that there are a bunch of other fields that still [smth smth my interests or whatever].
Another of our speakers was Hailey Pritchett. She worked in public health, managing a team that looked for gaps in care across different communities. She had also started out by wanting to be a medical doctor, specifically a brain surgeon. However, after learning about the impact she could have in public health, she switched tracks. She was also very honest in answering our questions, and didn’t shy away when we asked her some that were difficult to answer. From her, I learned that what you want to do now may not stay the same, and that it would be important to let your strengths and your passions lead you in your career. She also shone some light on things we might want to consider when choosing our future exploits, such as finances, future family desires, and the kind of work environment we wanted to have.
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