I have never been more glad to be gay because it has allowed me to be a part of this amazing introduction program. I am so grateful that this program allowed underrepresented peoples such as myself to find their way into the STEM fields and have the wonderful experience I had within these short two weeks. The main goal in this program was to gain lab skills and dip my toes into the field of scientific research to see if it was something I wanted to pursue. This program did that and so much more and I wish it didn’t have to end so soon. Not to mention the additional lab coat I was looking forward to taking home so I could use it in my next Halloween costume (by the way I’m planning on dressing up as Dr. Doofenshmirtz from the kids show Phineas and Ferb).
Of course, during the program we touched on the basics of an introductory course into biology such as work with micropipettes, electrophoresis, CRISPR, PCR, and other lab equipment and learning about Fred Hutch’s specialty cancer treatment such as CAR-T cells, immune systems, B-cells, lymphoblastic leukemia and myeloid leukemia. Aside from these things, I was surprised at how much I learned from activities outside of our typical classroom and lab work such as our tours of the lab facilities and guest speakers we had brought to meet the program. Things such as ethics in science, how to be a resilient scientist, and the paths and tips these scientists used to succeed were all extremely helpful. These guest scientists, our program TAs and the scientists in charge of the program were so wonderful to meet and they gave me much more confidence in myself as a young student looking towards the STEM field.
But oh. My. Gosh. The lab tours are the highlight of my time here because of the living organisms labs. It seemed odd for cancer researchers to have a wall full of flies in all stages of life but after visiting and talking to the researchers in charge, it makes so much sense. Because of the fast life cycle and simple genome of these insects, it makes it a prime subject to test the way proteins interact and the way the immune system uses these proteins to patch tissue damage from this green laser. Similar to the flies, the zebrafish have a short life cycle, easy reproduction, and are transparent in their early stages. This allows researchers to modify their DNA and give them mutations which can be seen with physiological changes in their early and later stages of life. The worms, called nematodes, were slightly different in the fact that the focus was on neurons and how they work together in a system to process information and their behavior.
I want to say that the 2022 cohort was the best because we got to meet Dr. Anthony Fauci but of course I can’t dismiss all the amazing students from the past years. I’m so excited for the second session to experience all of these things and find their own passion in whatever field they pursue. Thank you to all the people who made this program and this experience possible for this generation of scientists!
