Week Ten

I have completed my research program! It has been an amazing experience, and I am so grateful I received this opportunity. This summer has allowed me to see that I do enjoy laboratory research, and that I have an aptitude for it as well.

I have been invited to continue researching in the Padaith lab in the fall, and I am quite excited. My main goal in scientific research is to find treatments for mood and neurodegenerative disorders and diseases that severely affect quality of life. Right now, I am studying a rare neurodegenerative disorder - Autosomal Dominant Leukodystrophy - and if I could help find a treatment for it, that would absolutely incredible. I think it is remarkable the impact that medical research can have on people's lives.

During the beginning of the week, I was still analyzing samples and collecting data for my project. Once I was done with that I was primarily working on my presentation and one last experiment for my project that would not be done in time for my presentation, but is important for the project itself. There will always be new information or data, so at some point you have to find a cut off point and keep that information for the next presentation, paper, or grant. One of the hardest parts of assembling my presentation was finding a way to include all of the information that I wanted and needed to within a ten minute window, which was the time allotted for each presentation.

Figure 1. Presentation Day.

The day before I was going to be presenting, I went to practice in the room where it would happen. I got to meet the newest assistant for the department my fellowship is through, and we talked for a bit. When I told her I went to Chatham, she recognized it immediately because it is her partner's alma mater. Such a small world! The assistant herself is also a poet, as am I in the time outside of my scientific work, and it was great to be able to meet a fellow artist when I didn't expect to at all.

It was very interesting to hear about the other fellows' projects through their presentations. I have learned so much about neuroscience and what different research areas are encompassed in the field. Not only did the projects of the fellows cover many different scientific disciplines, but we represented majors including chemistry, biochemistry, cell biology, and psychology. Many of the fellows were conducting trials of drugs on cells like I was, some were working primarily with mouse and rat models to look at the impact of brain damage or diseases, and one fellow was working with human subjects on computerized tests of cognitive ability.

The Padiath lab members as well as other people on my floor also took me out for food a few times to celebrate the end of my program, which I appreciated. I am so happy that I have found such wonderful and caring people. I was also able to spend time with the other fellows in my program, and it was nice to hear about their backgrounds and future plans in a casual setting, outside of their presentation. Other than realizing that I enjoy lab work, I like the community I have seen in scientific research over these past ten weeks. I get to meet so many brilliant and kind people from so many different backgrounds. I have also been able to meet people from so many different countries just on my lab floor, and it shows me that science has the ability to connect us all.