My Internship

PROJECT SUMMARY

Bone formation and resorption are conducted, respectively, by bone cells called osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Failure in the functionality of these cells has the potential of causing two main diseases: osteoporosis and osteopetrosis. These diseases, however, are quite the opposite of each other, with osteoporosis being characterized by weak bone that lacks density, and osteopetrosis being characterized by thick, dense bone. Though some treatment strategies are available in order to combat these diseases (mainly osteoporosis), there is still much more to be learned about their mechanisms and what might affect the cells that control them. The drug ‘Kinesore’ was chosen to be explored, as studies have shown that it reorganizes the microtubule network of cells, affecting the relative location of different organelles, particularly lysosomes, that play a role in bone resorption. This information provided evidence that the drug would affect the functionality of bone cells. Osteoblasts, from the OB6 cell line, and osteoclasts, from the bone marrow of mice, were treated with three different doses of the drug and a vehicle control, along with conducting a cell proliferation study. After treatment, cell staining and gene expression analysis was performed in order to assess the drug’s overall effect.

As the year has been wrapping up, it's been very exciting to see my project come together and create my 'poster' even though the showcase will be on our laptops. This is something I've been working at for months, so to see the research and data finally come together is really satisfying and it makes me really proud to be able to say "I did that!"

LEARNING AND SKILLS

Going into this internship, there are a lot of things that I don't know, and being comfortable with the unknown is something really important to me that I want to work on. I am looking forward to learning a lot of skills that are relevant to my fields of study while also learning how to work in a lab / professional setting. I think my willingness to take direction when I need it but also explore and take initiative when I feel comfortable will really help me learn as much as possible in this position!

The main thing I want to gain from this internship is learning lab skills, techniques, and machinery in order to better prepare me for the field I want to go into in the future. Classes and labs for school have already taught me a lot, and will definitely continue to in the future, but see research applications to certain lab techniques or the actual purpose of doing things is really helpful. So far in the lab I have already been walked through the process of making/running a gel and the process of PCR, and it's all very applicable to a lot of forensic science careers.

I think I am most excited about seeing growth in myself and my own skills or ability to think critically. I think from what I've learned so far about the research specific to the lab I'm interning at, I already can notice myself thinking about different questions that would be good to ask or things I'm curious about. I have also noticed myself applying what I'm learning in my classes to different ideas I have about what more there is to explore for a possible project idea. Understanding things and wanting to build on that is really exciting to me and I'm really looking forward to learning even more.

One area that I really want to see myself improve in (and almost always feel like I am constantly lacking in) is the ability to work independently. I think I get nervous about messing things up when there's a lot of new information to take in, which makes me feel the need to ask for clarification on seemingly easy tasks. I try to pay attention when being taught new things so I can do it on my own, but I second guess myself a lot and feel scared to make mistakes or get things wrong. I think something I can do to help myself is to ask more questions (even if it seems excessive) while being taught new things and force myself to do more things on my own to be more comfortable with it.

FALL: My internship fits into what I'm learning or have learned in my classes a LOT. Sometimes it's funny how much they align actually. Obviously classes like organic chemistry aren't really going to apply to a biomedical lab setting, but I do notice a ton of overlap with my genetics & molecular biology class, which totally makes sense. In terms of my project, I'm researching and seeking out a drug that focuses on lysosomal trafficking in osteoclasts. Understanding things like how different organelles function or how proteins can activate or deactivate certain processes really helps in figuring things out and researching this process. Another topic that we've talked about in genetics that was really interesting and applicable to my internship was genotypes and phenotypes. We discussed the topic of 'gene masking' which is essentially when two people can have the same genotype for a gene, but reflect this differently in their physical outcome of the gene (phenotype). This is something specifically seen in the recessive portion of the osteopetrosis disease, and is a really cool concept to have already had a background on while I was learning about it at my internship site.

SPRING: My experiences with classes and this internship overlapping have been extremely similar as they were in the fall semester! Even within the last few weeks, things we have been learning in my cell biology class have focused on mechanisms that are related to my project; specifically, how motor proteins are related to the microtubule network and organelle transport! I have had a really fun time making these connections, and also telling my supervisor how much all of these concepts are related!

I think experiences like this have been some of my favorite so far. When I can make a really cool connection or have a moment of truly understanding what's going on, it's really fulfilling. I have also really enjoyed learning new tasks in the lab and understanding how they can apply to my major and classes outside of my internship. Working hands-on with the mice has also been a really interesting experience that I really never thought I would have, but it's definitely been a good surprise this year and keeps things exciting!

The Big Picture

Of course on top of my project and personal work at the internship, I also got to help with and be a part of a lot of other projects going on at the lab. I got to participate in helping with a drug trial in a group of mice, where I helped give injections and weigh the mice. On top of that, I did things like re-organizing mice into new cages, learning how to dissect them for experimental purposes, and even doing x-ray scans. All of these things contributed to the pre-existing projects going on in the lab, and it was nice to feel like I was helping and had an impact. On top of that, no matter the scale or success of an experiment, any information that can be contributed to research is good. Though my personal project that I did doesn't provide all the "answers", it still provides useful insight and new knowledge on a drug that hasn't really been tested in bone cells before. Anything like this can be helpful in pushing research in the right direction!

THE WORKPLACE

Many people are my internship site are great examples to look up to as professionals and teammates. As much as we focus on completing tasks and the work-aspect of what's going on, there hasn't been a single day where I haven't just had a personal, fun conversation with someone. I think this is a really great aspect to bring to a team of people because it makes everyone feel welcome and makes you feel like you're more than just another employee. I think it's also really admirable when people you work with want to help you in ways outside of the workplace as well. For example, my car died the other day and I had someone from my internship help me jump it so I could go get a new battery! Things like that are what makes a good teammate and I can confidently say I'm working with some really great people at my internship.

Among these people that work with me at my internship site, there are a lot of people who are obviously a lot older than me and have been working in this field for a really long time. The amount of stuff they know about science is something that I feel like I'd be lucky to ever achieve! Sometimes I really can't believe how much knowledge some people have, or how they can just remember the details of certain procedures. I try to ask as many questions as I can, because I know they're the best people to talk to! I've learned a lot about the field in general and also obviously how to do lots of different tasks in the lab. 

My internship experience has been a little different than what I expected when I first started. I guess at the beginning I really didn't understand how long of a process it was going to be for me to figure out a project idea, or how self-directed it was going to be. I hate making decisions and have trouble feeling confident in my own abilities sometimes, so for it to be completely up to me and open-ended was kind of hard for me at the beginning. A few months ago I would've said that I'd prefer to just be assigned a topic for my project, but now that I've been researching I actually find it really cool and I don't think my internship experience would be the same at all if I wasn't tasked with researching. I really like it! Another thing that was a bit different than what I expected was that I thought I would be more busy. At the beginning I had a ton of training to get through, and could spend a lot of time researching for my project and learning new tasks in the lab. However, once that training was completed, and I'm really close to being towards the end of my project-search, I feel like things have slowed down and there's not as much to do anymore. I think this will change again once I start my actual project, but I would say it's different than I initially expected.

I think it's always a really cool experience getting to work with people who have different perspectives and experiences than you, but there can also be a lot of challenges that come with that. At my internship site, there have been times where it's been a bit of a struggle for me to effectively communicate that I'm just a beginner in many aspects of lab work, as this is the first experience I've ever had with something like this. Obviously everyone is always at different places in their life and career, but when someone's been working in the same field or at the same lab for years and years, I can completely understand why trying to look at things from a student perspective would be hard. I've been able to work with my supervisor and other people in the lab to try to establish where I'm at in terms of my skills so that everyone knows what I'm capable of and that I still need help with a lot of things (and that's perfectly fine!). With that being said, I think this situation has given me good practice for situations in the future where serious conversations need to take place with supervisors or coworkers, and I think I have grown as a professional by realizing this.

The workplace culture at my internship is overall very positive, and it's clear that everyone truly cares about working together for the larger cause. Communication is a really big thing that seems to be prioritized by everyone who works there, as there is a lot of office conversations about ongoing/future experiments, and they also have weekly lab meetings to touch base on where everyone's at with what they're doing. I can also tell that everyone is very devoted to what they do and wants to be productive. I think these values really align with what I would want to see in my future workplace, as I think working hard should be a huge priority, and that also goes along with communication on what needs to get done. I also really like that not only are the people I work with coworkers, but they're friends too. Every day, we talk about things like our families, friends, or funny stories that have happened throughout the week, and it definitely makes it a really welcoming environment.

SUCCESSES & CHALLENGES

SUCCESSES

One of successes so far has been finding a lot of good things within my research for my project. When I find a drug that seems really applicable to our purposes at the lab and might have effects that we would like to see, it's really good to get feedback on this and usually it's positive things! Even if it ends up turning out that the drug might not be a good option to use in a cell culture study for my project, there's always valuable information that can be gained, and I really listen and turn to my supervisor for a lot of help and knowledge in this area. It's really nice that our conversations aren't just "No, this won't work," but rather "This won't work, but ________ was a really good idea! Here's where we can go from here." Research can be frustrating and discouraging, so I feel really good that I can still have a positive attitude and be motivated to keep looking for more answers all the time. Another success I have had has been being able to complete things on my own. As I've mentioned in a lot of my other responses to things, I really love to second guess myself and not feel confident in my ability to do things correctly on my own. However, I've been getting a lot better at this, and I take it as a success even if it's something small. One resource that's helped me with this has been having physical copies of procedures to look back on so I don't feel like I have to remember steps, reagents, amounts, etc., and worry about screwing up. One of my coworkers keeps a binder with all of the lab procedures in it, and she lets me use it when I need it! The other day we were in the middle of doing a task and she left to go to lunch, and I was still able to complete it on my own even though it was my first time ever doing it! Things like these have continued to happen over the course of the fall and spring, and even though I have faced many challenges, I get really excited every time I'm successful. Especially as I've started my personal project at the lab, I've seen myself become more independent, and it's super rewarding to see the end result of an experiment and say "Wow, I really did that!".

CHALLENGES

One of my biggest challenges so far has kind of been feeling motivated to to continue researching. As I mentioned above, it's all very exciting and I have a positive attitude about it, but when I have slow days in the lab and am tasked with just researching, reading books, reading articles, etc., it can feel really slow from time to time. I think this is because of the long chunks of time I'm in the lab for. 2 days a week for really long blocks works really well when we're doing certain lab work or I'm splitting my time between a lot of things, but when I know 10-2:30 is just going to be reading on my computer it can get discouraging and I feel unmotivated sometimes. I try to combat this by taking breaks (which my internship team always encourages) or asking for other tasks to do to break up the day a little bit. Another challenge has kind of been with my emotions towards animal research. I understand the importance of science completely, but I didn't really know many of the details about research using animals before I had this position. At my first day at my site, the first thing that I watched a coworker do was sac (kill) mice because they needed to collect a bone sample. After watching that, I almost felt traumatized in a way since it was so sudden and without warning, and I really had a moment where I said to myself "I don't know if I can go back there." I really struggled with this and trying to get over that experience/memory for a good couple weeks, but I'm really glad I stuck it out because I really like my site and the experience I've had at my internship so far. But regardless, going back to the main challenge I was talking about, it does take a lot emotionally to work with live animals, see them in pain, and have to eventually sac them when they are no longer needed for our purposes anymore. It's pretty desensitizing in a way. However, I have gotten better though about vocalizing when I am/am not comfortable performing certain tasks!

Looking back on some of the challenges I wrote about previously, I am even more proud of the work I have put in to verbalize when things aren't going great for me at my site, and when changes need to happen. Just recently I had to have a tough-er conversation with my supervisor about how there have been some struggles for me in the lab, and it was really hard to talk about because I'm very used to just dealing with bad situations and saying "it is what it is", and seeing no solutions to the problem. I think as I've gotten older and started to become more of an adult, I've grown to better understand that bad situations don't need to remain bad. Sometimes action can be taken to make improvements, and I was proud of myself for taking action in this situation!

Now, at the end of this experience, I can really look back proudly at the way I handled a lot of the challenges I faced at my internship. Even though there were times I struggled, I think this was one of my very first workplace experiences having to talk to a supervisor about issues I was facing professionally, and I was really proud of myself for being able to do that successfully.