To accomplish this goal I am going to interview with a start-up company, Anagin, to better understand challenges and opportunities in the business field as an IU faculty scientists compared to academic research. I will also be balancing work given as an intern with classes to continue to be successful in both areas and grow my time management and organizational skills. Finally, I get the chance to communicate with leading IU scientists and entrepreneurs to learn about innovation within different areas of life science. With Dr. Portonovo's “Bench to Bedside” program I will better understand the reasoning and science behind tasks preformed in a business or lab setting and how they are impactful to the community. By growing my professional skills and behavior I will be more prepared to enter the working field.

After working within the LHSI program for a semester:

I have been able to achieve my goal of developing great time management skills. Since I was working in two separate labs with classes, I had to find enough time to maintain good grades and still keep up with my work load. By using good communication skills to let my supervisors know when I needed extra time off for breaks or final exams, I ended my semester with a high gpa and a vast amount of new lab skills that I can apply to this upcoming semester. The professional skills that I have been able implement within this internship will continue to aid me in future jobs, like research and development in pharmaceuticals, where I have a high work load to complete on top of a personal life.

After finishing the LHSI program:

I have grown all of the skills mentioned before on top of becoming more comfortable in problem solving. As I gained independence in the lab it was more likely that smaller issues would arise that I had to fix on my own. This ability was very scary to me since I am someone that does not like to fail, but as I grew as a professional, I realized that failing is part of learning. I used any mistakes I made as a way to grow and ensure that I could become better in the future because of them. 

While working at the chemical genomics core facility under the supervision of Dr. Waffo and his team, I will begin to learn how they provide IU researchers with specialized scientific services to support ongoing research. I will also be given different research articles to read and process so I can better understand the reasoning and processes behind experiments expected of me. Finally, I will learn techniques under the supervision of Dr. Zeng to experience essential processes and instruments used in the core facility such as synthesis and NMR machines. In the start up company, Anagin, I will be learning new techniques working with cellular assays to develop new meathod to treat known diseases like PTSD and chromic pain. Knowing how these different techniques are done and applied within the life sciences will allow me to be more confident and independent in a future internship/career.

After working within the LHSI program for a semester:

In Dr. Waffo's lab, I learned the whole process of working with nucleic acids. After I received training the first couple weeks of class, I was able to preform the process of an RNA isolation to completing a DNA synthesis and all the steps in between by myself with only the aid of a printed procedure. On top of this responsibility, in December at Anagin, I was tasked with preforming a tissue dissociation and cell preparation completely independently. The procedure went very well and the media I changed kept all the cells healthy. This was a very big step for me to show what I have learned at the company and allowed me to utilize many skills that I have developed. With me being successful on my first independent preparation, I have gained more confidence in the lab and knowledge on using sterile technique that will benefit me and the work I will preform in future drug development companies.

After finishing the LHSI program:

My biggest accomplish of the entire program was being able to pick up my own project of maintaining cells at Anagin. This project allowed me to come in at my own hours, even if one of the supervisors weren't in the lab to oversee everything I was doing. This was my first experience being on my own without a protocal and solely working on instincts. This made me much more confident in my abilities and is something I can take with me to future jobs.

To be successful in this area, I will create a presentation of research conducted during my internship in a way that is visually appealing and scientifically accurate. I will also be able to verbally communicate my findings that explains details outside of visual aid to express a deeper understanding of material learned. These will both be completed during the intern exposition at the end of the year in April. During my internship, I will be keeping notes of research and findings to make as accurate of a presentation as possible. Having good note taking skills and overall strong communication is important in any field of work and will be vital in allowing me to be successful wherever my future takes me.

After working within the LHSI program for a semester:

I have been working on better communication skills by using a notebook to document all of my important procedures, key dates and big ideas I have learned. This has allowed me to keep track of all my learning and has helped me know when to ask question about certain topics I am unsure of. On top of this, I have began working on larger projects to talk about at the end of the school year during the internship fair. To keep accurate data I have started documents and excel sheets to make note of good points to talk about. Finally, I have been able to participate in helping create a poster, seen under the "My Internship" tab of this portfolio, with Dr. Waffo's lab about different usages for phage biology. This was a great way for me to learn what information is necessary when making educational posters and how presenting the ideas works best.

After finishing the LHSI program:

The final aspect of the LHSI program was to create a presentation over the work I have conducted and the things I have learned. Completing this task taught me how to communicate my research in a way that professionals not in my field understand the messages I am relying. This is such an important skill to have since presenting research is a big part of being a scientist. Growing my communication skills in a professional manner will be useful no matter what type of career I pursue, scientific or not.