Life and Health Science Internship

About the Internship

The Aoki lab is looking to gain a deeper understanding of how RNA-protein complexes on the germ cells of C. elegan worms function. The binding mechanisms has relevance to similar proteins that can be found in humans. This research lab provides the chance to learn about the fundamental research processes and explore the areas of biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics.

Workplace

As an Intern

As an intern, I have been introduced to a supportive lab culture filled with dedicated researchers who have expansive knowledge on the subject of the research. My main mentor in the lab, Carmen, has taught me how to perform every lab procedure necessary and allows me to work independently. My current strengths in this team are being supportive, communicative, and independent. As my abilities improved in the lab, I was able to start working on my project more independently and ask for help only when I encounter anomalies. However, I've continued to be supportive of the lab members and always ask whether there was something I could help with after I was finished with my tasks. Now that I've had practice in a biochemistry lab and familiarized myself with the work environment, I've found that I enjoy working in research. Moving forward, I would like to explore what working in a chemistry lab would be like and develop the practical skills in the lab so that I will be both proficient in biochemistry and chemistry lab procedures. There is a lot overlap in these areas, and being able to go between them will be extremely beneficial for my future career in research.

My Contributions

The goal of this internship is to understand the function and mechanisms of the RNA protein complex in the PGL-1 protein of C. elegan worms. For the spring semester, my project has been to identify worms with a protein tag gene insertion called SNAP, on a specific protein that binds to the PGL-1 protein called M01E5.4. Being able to identify and isolate these worms will allow the lab to continue exploring how this protein interacts with the PGL-1 protein, expanding the understanding of its function and its interaction with other proteins within the P-granule RNA protein complex of C. elegans.

The People

Arguably, the people in the lab is one of the most important aspects of a research lab. The members in my lab represent a range of age, ethnicity, gender, and academic background, which allows for a multifaceted discussion in the lab. For instance, I considered going to graduate school after completing my undergraduate degree, and I was able to have an open discussion with people who have completed, is completing, applying for, and considering a Ph.D. The differences we have also allow us to learn about one another and foster a positive working environment in which everyone is comfortable and able to complete task in a timely matter.

Internship Project

LHSI Presentation

Internship Goals

Goal 1: Understanding the culture and work ethic of a lab

Fall: I want to work in a lab setting for my career, but I have minimal familiarity with what that entails, therefore, understanding the culture and work ethic of a lab will allow me to experience the lab work environment before I commit to the career path. The lab activities that are helping me accomplish this goal are participating in lab chores, annotating all lab-related information in a lab notebook, and engaging with lab members on a weekly basis.

Spring: Throughout this internship, I have developed my lab skills in a growth-promoting lab environment, which has made me enjoy the experience enough to want to pursue a career in the lab setting. In the future, I hope to pay this forward as a mentor and foster a positive learning environment for my mentees in the lab.

Goal 2: Familiarizing myself with lab procedures, lab responsibilities, and lab safety practices

Fall: Since research is something that I am interested in, familiarizing myself with all of the lab procedures, lab responsibilities, and lab safety practices will allow me to become a professional and ethical researcher. The lab activities that are helping me accomplish this goal are keeping track of where all the lab equipment is, identifying hazardous materials, following experiment protocols to ensure the safety of everyone, and reading safety precautions before handling hazardous materials or instruments.

Spring: My time here has allowed me to develop skills in DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, bacteria culturing, preparing agarose gel plates, streaking bacteria on gel plates, replenishing reagents, etc., all of which involve following protocol and lab safety procedures. I will take what I have learned here to my next lab and continue to expand my practical laboratory skill set in biochemistry and chemistry.

Goal 3: Make connections and apply knowledge from the lab’s research topic to my interest in sustainability

Fall: I would like to come up with innovative solutions to our world’s growing issue surrounding sustainability, therefore, I would like to gain as much relevant knowledge as possible to build a web of ideas that can be connected to produce an innovative solution. The lab activities that are helping me accomplish this goal are participating in scientific discussions during journal club presentations, following experimental protocols to obtain expected results, and creating an experimental outline with goals and big-picture questions to answer during my internship.

Spring: The Aoki lab studies the function and assembly of C. elegan germ granules. To accomplish this, genetic mutations for proteins of interest have been made in the worm in order to study how it affects the germ granule. This has helped me identify a field of interest related to sustainability, which is studying how enzymes can play a role in catalyzing plastic waste. The enzymes can be studied through mutations of subunits within the enzyme to find how they affect the enzyme's function, which is similar to the work that I have done in the Aoki lab.

Post-Internship Goals

Now that I have accomplished the goals I've set for this internship, I have new goals that I look forward to accomplishing after the LHSI Program ends.

By the middle of spring semester I have met with multiple chemistry faculty members to discuss their research and the possibility of joining their research group. I was able to articulate what my responsibilities in the Aoki lab entailed and describe the skills that I have gained from the internship. During the summer, I hope to start in a new research lab, studying enzymes, and continue doing so in the 2024-2025 academic year. Hopefully, this will persuade or dissuade me to to pursue the Ph.D. in enzymology.

Learning

Communication

Fall: There are various ways in which I am improving my communication during this internship. For example, in personal communications, I have been able to communicate my needs and ask questions to my lab team members and supervisor. I am also improving my scientific communication, which is accurately and concisely explaining the research we are working on as a lab and what my responsibilities are specifically. I hope to be able to continue improving my scientific communication skills by gaining a deeper understanding of our research and practicing expressing what they are.

Spring: My overall communication skills have continued to develop over the course of my internship, however, my scientific communication skills have exponentially grown in the past couple of months. When I was meeting with principle investigators from other labs, I have been able to precisely articulate my project in the lab, its significance, and the skills that were required. Communication is a skill that I value and hope to continue working on because I believe it is as important to be able to articulate what I am studying to other people as it is to accomplish the task itself. I will do this by reading more publications and examining how the authors effectively communicate their research.

Independence

Fall: I am currently working towards performing tasks in the lab with more independence. I have been tasked with performing lab procedures to follow up on an experiment that has been done by my supervisor and other lab members. I hope that eventually, I will be able to perform follow-up procedures in a much more timely manner and with less guidance from the other lab members.

Spring: In this semester, I have seen a clear development in my independence within the lab. I am able to perform most tasks with total independence and only ask for help when I encounter issues I am not able to resolve myself. For example, I had abnormal gel electrophoresis imaging results that I did not know how to interpret so I asked my mentor for advice. On the other hand, I've encountered issues with contamination and low DNA concentration in my purified samples, which I have been able to assess and resolve myself without involving my mentor more than notifying my results and my plans to address the issue. I hope to carry this skill to my next lab by proactively asking for projects I can work on independently and asking for help when it is necessary.

Relevance to Biochemistry Major

Fall: This lab internship taught me so much about biochemistry before I even started my biochemistry classes, which has given me a solid foundation on the topic that will enable me to excel in my biochemistry course and deepen my overall knowledge of the topic. Additionally, this internship has introduced me to a professional lab culture, an experience that I would not have been able to get through any course in my degree plan, but is extremely important for my career plans.

Spring: This internship has continued to teach me the necessary lab skills in biochemistry, however, I have also gained a lot of knowledge in molecular biology and microbiology lab techniques. Last semester, I had focused more on DNA extraction, PCRs, and gel electrophoresis. This semester, I have expanded beyond that and done bacteria culturing and streaking, and learned about the western blot process.

Career and Academic Goals

Before I began this internship, I had a vague idea that I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in a field within chemistry and work in research. However, I was not yet able to identify a field of interest and I did not have experience in a research lab be certain that it was something I genuinely wanted to do. This internship has made me feel confident about pursuing a Ph.D., and it has helped me identified enzymology as my field of interest. My current desire to pursue a Ph.D. in enzymology has to do largely with the positive experiences I've had with my mentors in the Aoki lab and the excitement I get when I think about enzymology and its application in sustainability.

Successes and Challenges

Successes

Throughout this internship, I have been exposed to new practical lab skills and was allowed to refine the ones I already had. I developed better scientific and intrapersonal communication skills while learning what being a supportive teammate and an independent individual looked like in the lab setting. A few examples of my successes include:

Being able to perform lab protocols such as DNA extraction, PCRs, gel electrophoresis, and worm maintenance independently and in a timely manner
Maintaining equipment and following procedures to restock necessary supplies such as agarose gel plates, bacteria cultures, lysogeny broths, buffer solutions, and many more
Learning about gene editing using CRISPR and understanding the anatomy of C.elegan worms and the significance of RNA proteins in their germ cells.

Aside from the practical skills I've gained, a significant lesson I've learned from my successes is perseverance. All of the successes I've had did not come by on my very first attempt. Instead, it took consistent effort to improve myself and be able to make accomplishments despite making mistakes and getting poor results along the way. I believe that this mentality will be beneficial for my career as a researcher.

Challenges

The successes that came with experience in this internship do not exist without having encountered numerous challenges along the way. Before I was able to successfully complete routine lab protocols and procedures, many of my trials failed. Since I am only in my second year of my undergraduate degree, it has also been difficult to understand the focus and the big picture of the research and being able to communicate it well to others outside the field of specialty. A few examples of the challenges I encountered include:

Having trouble explaining to friends and family about the focus of my internship
Receiving blurred or unreadable gel electrophoresis images that may have been caused by error in settings, loading of the DNA, the PCR step, or the DNA extraction step.
Facing issues with handling magnetic beads in DNA purification

There has been many challenges throughout my internship, however, members in my lab have been extremely patient, kind, and understanding through every step. They always made sure that I felt comfortable asking questions or asking for help when I hit roadblocks in my tasks. Often times, when I face challenges, they'd explain what went wrong and why, and they'd offer empathy and talk about how they've also made the mistake before, which offered me great consolation.

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