No biology class was about to prepare for me for what would happen during the last
two weeks of my summer. It’s been 2 weeks and my brain is filled to the brim with knowledge! On the 20th of August I came to Fred Hutch with little to no knowledge about what causes cancer. It is now the 31st of August and I know more about cancer, cells, cures, and much more. The highlight of my amazing experience here was the interesting presentations about the animals they use to perform tests on. During this presentation we talked about Zebrafish and Fruit Flies. I am very interested in animals so this presentation instantly caught my attention. I became ecstatic on the inside when I heard that they were also going to give us a tour of the Zebrafish lab. During the Zebrafish presentation, I found out that they use this fish instead of mice now for many reasons. For example, their immune system is similar to ours, they have 70% of the same genes, and they’re cheap and easy to take care of. After the presentation, we got to go down to check out the Zebrafish and I thought it was really cool! I got to lightly touch the embryos and see their blood pumping through their body! I have never seen fish embryos that closely, so it was really eye opening to observe them under a microscope. I also thought that the mutant embryos were really cool and fascinating! The normal embryos would try to flee whenever I touched them, but when I touched the mutant babies they would spin in circles wildly as they tried to get away. At first I thought that I was spinning them around but then I was told that they swam away differently due to genetic changes. We have advanced so much to the point where we are able to change the color or shape of most living things now and being exposed to the Zebrafish really showed me that. I have never seen mutant animals before so it was really interesting. In the other presentation we were able to take a very close look at some flies with a microscope. It’s amazing how the people are working with flies at Fred Hutch to find cures to cancer. Most people would look at flies with disgust but after this presentation I am fascinated with the work we have done with them. I did some of my own research afterwards and found out that the people at Fred Hutch are doing amazing work with these flies. Their discoveries have helped shape our understanding of cancer and what we can do to eliminate it. Their immune system is very similar to ours, so testing on flies helps gives us a perspective on how it would possibly work on us. This experience made an impression on me because I have never been exposed to so much knowledge about cancer in just one day. It has made me question my future career. I no longer wish to become an obstetrician and instead will think more about what I want to be. Additionally, it has made me realize that we have evolved so much to the point where we are soon going to be able to cure even more dangerous diseases and cancers. The people of today are working hard every single day to save many lives. They go through a lot of failure but they don’t give up. Finding a cure isn’t easy, it takes a lot of time and effort. I didn’t know how frustrating it was to constantly fail and mess up an experiment everyday until I came here. I thought I was smart but now my view has changed, I still have so much more to learn. This just makes me want to work harder to achieve the impossible, I want to be involved with a career that will save lives in the future. Being at Fred Hutch has left a great impression on me that I will carry for the rest of my life. I can't wait to tell my family, friends, and teachers about the amazing time I had at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Comments