Some of the many proud accomplishments and successes I have notcied so far was being able to communicate and understand the terminology used at my site in regards to rare bone diseases and mechanisms. This is something I unexpectedly struggled with during my first semester. Whether it was reading articles or asking questions, I was hesitant to use vocabulary that was unfamiliar to me. As I began to be more comfortable in engaging in conversation about the disease and understanding research articles my confidence as a student sky rocketed. This confidence helped me expand on idea's that would later determine my LHSI project as well as being more open to sharing and explaining my ideas to other classmates and LHSI interns. 

Another accomplishment is the many procedures have carried out during my internship. These include, bone marrow extraction, TRAP stain, RNA gene expression, TB stain (Bone Reabsorption), and genotyping! Not only is physically doing it and being sucessful a great accomplishment, the most important part is being able to understand the how and whys' of the experiment. 

One of the biggest challenges I had to face was determining a method and/or drug to possibly test in hopes of increasing bone reabsorption in osteoclasts. Thankfully, after many ideas, I landed on Disulfiram a drug that may improve lysosomal activity. After finding my big idea a new challenged I faced was finding time to conduct experiments and get everything rolling. Unfortunately this semester many of my classes align, meaning all of my tests are scheduled around the same time. One week I'll have three tests and the next week only one. Time management since then, been really difficult. I have been struggling to fit time to study as well as keep up to commitments such as LHSI and Riley Hospital volunteering. My site has been more than understanding, but I would like to be able to plan my studying a bit better to really enjoy my experiences instead of stressing the day away.