May '24
I presented about my process of designing a project and attempting to execute it. I also finished my paper and fulfilled the outreach requirement for MARC by writing a short picture book about the microbiome. As the year closes out, I am eager to resume my study hopefully in the near future!!
April '24
After facing many setbacks, I realized the research cannot be rushed, and with my current time frame the results would most likely be be inaccurate. I decided to focus instead on designing a great study I can one day do hen I have the time and resources.
January-March '24
Shifted my focus to funding a way to to research in the MA lab. I decided to look into using c. elegans as a model organsim. I reached out to a researcher who works with C. elegans at the Buck and began designing a project with her guidance. Then I began my research process - starting cultivating populations of c. elegans, setting up a spot in the lab, etc.
November '23
I continued looking for research opportunities and broadening my scope of interest.
September '23
This month, I was focused on connecting with a mentor as opposed to working on publishing my paper. I heard about specific research being done by a microbiologist at Stanford on a science podcast, and I reached out to him and got a response. He connected me with member of his team and now, I have a meeting set up in a couple of weeks.
August ‘23
I returned to my review paper and revised, looked back at the papers and studies I had used before as sources. Also began looking for academic journals that allow highschool submission.
June ‘23
I presented my project proposal! I continued to try and make plans to go to Germany for a couple of weeks to do research, but in the end, I decided that although it would be an incredible opportunity, it was just too rushed and not a worthwhile effort.
April ‘23 - May ‘23
Brainstormed a project idea, and drafted my project proposal; wrote a brief background paragraph, methods section, created graphs with hypothesized outcomes and conclusions explaining the importance of this research. Then I designed my poster!
February ‘23 - March ‘23
Our class peer edited each other's papers and created our final draft. I continued reaching out to people and finished up my review paper. I spoke with a researcher in Germany who offered to mentor me, and I began to try and make preparations to make that possible.
December ‘22 - January ‘23
Wrote the outline for my lit review, then began drafting. Had a couple more meetings with researchers, one with a professor at Yale, and another with a doctor at UCSF and incorporated what I learned from them into my paper.
November ‘22
Emailed a professor at UC-Berkeley but have not received a response so far. In addition, I began to accumulate papers to write my literature review. I originally focused on literature reviews to start building an outline and then slowly honed in on smaller findings and hypotheses referenced and looked at papers on those.
October ‘22
I reached out to a researcher at UCSF and connected me with a different researcher. I emailed both people and got a response from one, who expressed he would be happy to help connect me with a possible mentor. I made a connection with a very busy microbiologist at Columbia, who I had contacted months before but never received a response. Sadly, I have not gotten a reply from this prospect so far.
September '22
Brainstormed possible research paths, considered feasibility. Began reading broad literature reviews on immunology and then eventually on the link between nutrition and immune function. Started a running list of researchers, professors, writers of papers, etc. to contact.