“I came to the Bridge to Biotech program at CCSF because I felt stuck in life, and was looking for a path toward a better future. I was on my way to getting a degree in history from SF State, however, I did not feel motivated and I worried about my employability in the future.
I realized that I'd be able to get technical skills which employers were looking for, in a relatively short amount of time, and in a field that was booming. I decided to pursue the Lab Assistant certificate, designed to be completed in two semesters…I got an internship at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Diseases (GIND), working for the Finkbeiner Lab, under the mentorship of Dr. Lisa Elia.
I realized I had stumbled into something great.… My project under Lisa was to look at protein turnover in a neurodegenerative disease called frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We wanted to understand what was happening in disease models of cells... During this internship I met some of the brightest minds in this field. I was exposed to groundbreaking research, and got to see how the best minds in this field constructed their ideas.
I couldn't have done it without the Bridge program. Every week, we met for class to discuss where we were, and what we could do to get the most out of our internships. Our professor, Karen Leung, drove us to ask the big questions, and to face all our challenges head-on. Without the support of the Bridge program, this experience wouldn't have happened for me. I feel extremely lucky to have been through the program and encourage anyone with an interest in science to try this program, because you don't know what's out there until you dive in. This program will give you that chance.
I got hired after my internship…as a research assistant. Everyday I get to work on the big science questions in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, and I get to interact with some of the best mind in the field. For this I am extremely grateful and thankful of the Bridge program at CCSF. ”
