While working at this internship site, I fully expect my lab skills to increase in variety and number. I have some experience in lab; however, I am not a professional in the lab environment and I have a lot of room to improve. What I would really like to get out of this lab would be to successfully complete complex lab experiments and learn how to make appropriate figures from the data that I have generated.

Aside from what I hope this lab experience will offer me, I hope that I may also be of value to my internship site. Once I begin to master the basic skills of protein induction and isolation, I hope that I can swiftly begin to work on Dr. Mayo's current cancer research. I would like to get involved in this research as soon as possible, so that I might be published before the end of this year. If I were to become published, that would not only make me an attractive candidate for medical school, but it would also mean that I have obtained quite a bit of knowledge in my employers cancer research.

For this year, I am most excited about continuing on my current work to hopefully obtain publishable data. This means that I will be required to put a lot of work and effort into the current research I am taking part in, which should not be too difficult.

In all honesty, I do not believe that my internship has taught me anything that I am currently learning in my classes, other than a few things here and there. I believe that when I get to my biochemistry course I will be more in tune to what is going on in the lab I am currently involved with. Many of the things that I do and will hopefully continue to do are much more complicated than anything that I am currently being taught at university. However, I am thankful for the classes that I have taken and am currently taking, as they have definitely laid down some of the basic foundations.

As of right now, I believe I have a good skill-set for a starting research intern. I currently hold four jobs and believe that this takes quite a bit of time management as well as responsibility. With my current experience in research, I understand and am told that I have a good listening skills, as I am usually on top of things and frequently ask questions. In addition, I came into the lab with knowledge over basic techniques such as bacterial induction and sterile techniques. Even though, this previous knowledge has helped me a lot, I have learned so much more throughout my experience. For professional development, I believe that the only area that needs much improvement is my oral communication, as mentioned previously. I have always struggled with speaking and formalizing information in a professional manner. I tend to insert many filler words into my speech and also make small, subtle jokes where they are often not needed. Professional speaking is extremely important to me and my future because I intend on going into a highly professional field where I am required to deliver and explain information in a formal manner. I believe I can best work on this by preparing for the LHSI event occurring later into the second semester of my sophomore year. I tend to be nervous with public speaking, so this will be a great opportunity for me to measure my progress.

Aside from learning about the extensive cancer research that my supervisor has been doing for many years, I have also learned many valuable skills as well as lessons. I have learned how to make gels from scratch, purify proteins, induce large quantities of bacteria, and analyze gene structures through online tools. All of these things are extremely interesting and necessary to understand for the continuation of my education within the Mayo lab. Other than lab skills, I have also been taught by my supervisor that practice makes perfect and if something does not go according to plan, it can be repeated for more optimal results. Developing this optimistic outlook has been the best part of being an intern in this specific researh lab.

My favorite part about my internship experience so far has been my ability to continue with optimism, even after failing at something. I feel like this internship in general has really been about the learning experience and not necessarily been about receiving a publication or discovering something that could change hundreds of thousands of lives. Sure, that would be amazing, but it is not the purpose of LHSI. So, to be specific I would say that my favorite part of my internship experience would be when I thought that I had broken a $2000 piece of equipment. At the end of the day I had learned that I hadn't caused the machine to break, it was just tired of the wear and tear and called it quits. This also just happened to be the day that I had decided to use it for one of my experiments. It taught me a valuable lesson, though. This was that I should not immediate blame myself for when things do not go according to plan. Things happen sometimes and unfortunately, often times there's not much to do about it other than learn and continue on.

As mentioned previously, I have improved significantly on my active listening and decision-making skills when it comes to working in the lab. When I say decision-making, I do not mean deciding to use a 100mL beaker or a 250mL. Obviously, I would choose the 250mL beaker. Anyways, what I mean is that I have to be able to develop a back-up plan if something does not provide the optimal results. In order to do this, I have to make the best decision possible as of which route to pursue that could potentially provide the best outcome. I have a long way to go before this skill is perfected; however, I do enjoy the critical thinking and problem-solving process combined into one.

How did your contributions impact the larger project or goals at your site? Why did your work matter to getting the bigger job done?

• • My contributions in research have been on a small scale when thinking about the big discoveries that PI’s and technicians make. Even though this is true, I constantly remind myself that I am only able to work 5-10 hours a week, whereas the technicians and other employees work full-time! When considering this it makes my achievements as an intern look much bigger and significant. The work I completed was largely looking at how mutated forms of the MDM2 gene impacted binding to other proteins and thus the functionality of the cell. I was able to use specific lab techniques to demonstrate that some mutated forms of the gene show preferential binding to some proteins over another. This may seem minuscule, but in the big picture it narrowed down and even eliminated other pathway possibilities.

Which skills have you used this year and where else would you like to grow?

• • I believe I have used collaboration, independence, communication, and responsibility all throughout my time in research; however, I would have liked to gain more independence. Since I do not have a degree or have a significant amount of training in the research I am doing, I often feel like I am given instructions on what to do, but I do not absorb any of the information on why the procedure or experiment is done the way it is. This is oftentimes frustrating because it becomes difficult to troubleshoot when you do not know the specific details of the experiment. If placed in another research position, I would like it to be in the field of chemistry, as I am extremely interested in synthesis. I feel as if I took great interest in my PI’s research, I would be more inclined to spend hours learning the material and their previous publications/accomplishments in their field.

Overall, my internship experience has gone far better than what I expected it to in the beginning. When going into my interviews for the internship position, I noticed that many of the sites seemed to have interesting topics they were researching; however, the faculty that I spoke with did not seem like a good personality match with the type of person that I was and still am. The last interview I had was with Dr. Mayo, and he was thankfully who I had ended up matching with. During the interview it was easy to tell that Dr. Mayo was extremely nice and had previous experience with nervous LHSI interns, so it made me feel much more comfortable. As I began working in the lab, I quickly noticed that my expectations were not accurate. I forgot that LHSI allowed students to have a learning opportunity, so when Dr. Mayo began walking me through things and showing me how to operate certain equipment I was very much relieved that I wasn't left on my own.

After spending time observing my supervisor in the workplace, I have noticed just how professional they are. For example, I notice how efficiently he is able to communicate with me and others. It seems like a lot of people know him and enjoy him as a person. In addition, he also knows where everything is around the lab and around the building we work in, as he should since he has been working there for so long. It is still understandable why I might be misplacing things or unsure where I may find some items; however, I would really like to become more familiar with the lab and other labs within the building so that I could ask for help if I ever need it.

The thing that surprises me the most on a day-to-day basis is the fact that the lab I work in contains me, Dr. Mayo, and a new lab technician. I find this extremely surprising because many people that I have spoken with tell me how that are not able to speak with their supervisor often because they never see them. I typically see my supervisor everytime I come into work and I am so thankful for that because of how helpful they are! Having the ability to interact with my supervisor has allowed me to learn much more about IU, including their medical and research programs. Dr. Mayo has given me incredible advice and has even given me the opportunity to travel out of state to a conference. I would not change my internship site for the world!

How would you describe the workplace culture at your internship site using some of your responses to the questions in the article?

• • If I were to describe the workplace culture of my current workplace using the article provided, I would have to say that the day-to-day work can be tedious; however, once something new is uncovered, many new opportunities open up, making the work much more interesting. The rate at which new opportunities pose themselves are in fact directly proportional to how much time is put into the work itself, which may indicate why I have had a medium amount of exposure, as I am not a full time employee through IU. Another way I would describe the culture of my workplace would be independent and laid back. Independent is another descriptor that fits my work because I often find myself in the lab alone, as there are only three total employees in my lab. I also am given instructions on how to do something once and I then have to do it by myself from then on. I would also say that my workplace is pretty laid back or even lenient because I do not have a strict schedule on when I am supposed to come in. My supervisor does this, as I have a pretty busy schedule so I just come in whenever I have time.

How would you describe your ideal workplace culture? Discuss any differences between the workplace culture at your internship and your ideal workplace culture.

• • Although leniency is nice when you have a dense schedule, it allows too much flexibility with the amount of work I dedicate to something. In my future workplace, I would like to have more professionalism and more accountability when it comes to staff attendance. In addition, I also enjoy collaborating with others and need to have that in my future career, as I am extremely extroverted in nature.

In what ways have your attitudes and beliefs been impacted by engaging and working with people from communities or cultures that are different from your own? How have you grown as a professional as a result of these interactions or where would you like to continue to grow?

• • By interacting and working with people who have different work cultures than mine, I have become more aware of my specific work preferences. Specifically, I have come to learn that I would prefer to work in an environment where I am constantly able to collaborate with others either by sharing my ideas, caring for others, or even both!

As a intern who is completely new to being in a research lab, I am proud to say that I have not yet gotten a bad result on an experiment I have done. Yes, I have not gotten the most optimal results on some experiments, and yes I am given guidance by my supervisor on everything I complete in the lab . However, every piece of data that I have obtained I have been extremely proud of because I completed it and followed the procedures correctly. For example, I have completed bacterial induction, gel analysis, protein purification, and binding assays all with the expected results.

Even though I have generated good data, I am still not sure how that data was able to be generated. When I say this I mean that I am still not quite sure on all of the detailed concepts of everything I complete in lab. This is very different for me because usually when I complete labs for lectures, I understand the material and am able to explain what is occuring when I am manipulating an experiment. Working in a lab as a new intern has been a much different experience because I am not taking a couse or attending lectures that cover what is occuring on the molecular level of the proteins I am analyzing. This is frustrating to me because I am the type of person who likes to the have the answer to everything, especially things that I am generating data for. So far, this is the biggest challenge I have faced while working in the lab. I am overcoming this issue in small amounts, by reading up on information related to the research and taking note of the various terms my supervisor mentions so that I am able to define them later on. This is a problem that I will not be able to fully overcome throughout my time as an LHSI intern because there is a vast amount of information that requires a higher education to comprehend; however, I am making it a goal of mine to more thoroughly understand the experiments that I am given and why I use certain solvents or reagents.

Over the course of this internship, I have improved extremely on my biggest was challenge. This was understanding why I was doing something the way I was, or why I added this reagent and kept this other thing on ice. To turn this challenge around, I have been researching procedures or protocols outside of lab and getting a better idea of what is going on. This has proven to be extremely helpful to me in the lab because I am able to trouble-shoot if something goes on!