Uncategorized

My primary mentor, Dr. Marc Caron, was out of town this past week, so I interviewed the lab PI, Dr. Larry Barak, instead. Dr. Barak has been working in the Caron lab for almost 23 years now. He majored in...

My PI's name is Dr. Christina Williams, and I was one of her students last semester in Neuro 101 course. Dr. Williams got her B.A. in Biology and Psychology at Williams College in 1975 and went to Rutgers University Institute...

For this week's blog assignment, I interviewed my principal investigator, Dr. Ken Poss, to find out more about his beginnings as a scientist and to gain any advice he may have as I begin my scientific career. Dr. Poss began...

Dr. Alejandro Aballay grew up in Mendoza, Argentina - only a couple of hours away from Mount Aconcagua (the highest mountain in South America). While growing up in a very well educated community, he often participated in scientific and philosophical...

This week I sat down with my P.I., the lovely Dr. Ann Marie Pendergast, for an interview about her journey to a happy, successful career in the sciences. What was your childhood like and how did it shape your career...

   Prepping an E. coli culture    Working on some plasmid designs (

Hi all, Just a few moments ago I interviewed my principal investigator, Dr. Warren Grill. While I did take some notes,  I did not record the interview so this is merely a summary of the discussion rather than a transcript....

Salutations everyone! So my primary mentor is unfortunately out of town this week, but instead this post gets not one, but TWO interviews from the people who have both taught me everything I've learned since Day 1: the most senior...

Sitting down with Dr. Sheila Patek for this interview, it was clear to me how much this scientist loves her work. She carved the time for this interview out of an incredibly busy schedule, running from meeting to meeting in...

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing (Wernher von Braun) Since I was young, I have always been always obsessed with everything alive. The mimosa leaf that wrinkles when touched, the leaf insect that sneakily...

Good evening Internet! It’s been a crazy and challenging week. Honestly, a month ago I had no idea what to expect when it came to working in a lab. Would I be observing animal behavior? Humans? Fish? Flies? Would I...

This week has been my first real foray into the world of research, and from day one I feel like I've hit the ground running. I am working in the Blobe lab in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology,...

(Look, mom! My very own bench space!) Most of my friends from back home thought I was pretty crazy for “sacrificing” most of my summer to work in a lab. But, really, I feel that I would be sacrificing so...

I guess the first year of college is a labyrinth for everybody to some extent. We all have countless questions, endless curiosity, as well as apprehension for the unknown future. It is a period of time for us to explore...

Hi all, My first week in Dr. Warren Grill's lab was a huge learning experience. On my first day I sat down with my secondary mentor,  Brandon Swan, and he explained  my assignment to me; figure out how to analyze...

Greetings internet! Wow, to think that it's been a week already... And to make things sound even more ephemeral, we are continuously reminded that our 8 weeks will fly by just like that. Keeping that in mind, I hope I...

When we gathered for our first official morning meeting as Howard Hughes Fellows, we were given—in addition to coffee and an immensely appreciated breakfast—a few handfuls of useful advice, encouragement, and assurance about scientific research, its methods, purpose, and benefits....