Today (May, 1st 2013) was my last day of internship of the year! Time passed by so fast and I couldn't believe I have come so far! I made aposter and we interns presented our research during lunch today in Kellas Commons. Many people came and we explained our researches to them. Not until I repeated myself over and over again did I realize how much I actually learned. What seemed so incomprehensible back in November now made perfect sense to me:)
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| A screenshot of my final presentation poster. |
That afternoon I went to RPI for the one last time. Eun Ji gave me a general view of some cool stuff she was working on in other labs. Guess what are those?
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| Frozen bovine (cow) cornea! |
On the project on malaria prevention in fetus during pregnancy, Eun Ji was trying to extract and modify a compound from bovine cornea that could bind to specific receptors on placenta to block
parasite-encoded variant surface antigens to bind to those receptors and transmit malaria to fetus. Later, I also helped prepare some dye for silver staining that is used widely in protein detection in gel.
In the end, I said goodbye to both Eun Ji and Namita. I really had a wonderful year doing STEM
internship at RPI! From the people I
worked with, to lab environment, to the actual lab work, it gave me a taste of the life of a
scientist. The uppermost thing I would take away from this experience in
addition to a plethora of laboratory techniques is the “qualities of a
scientist” – precise, robust, patient, inquisitive, inventive, and inspirational.
Not everything will
yield the result we want, and we just have to keep trying. This experience
makes me more certain about my goals. In the future, I would like to
participate in more research focusing on molecular biology to enrich my
experience and widen my horizon! Last but not the least, I will be working in another lab at Cornell this summer on intracellular communication, which I am very excited about! I will keep posting interesting things and events, so stay tuned!:)
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| When I grow up... |
