Hi 🙂 and welcome to my blog post. My name is Jackie, and I am excited to say that I am working in the Perfect Lab this summer. The Perfect Lab focuses on understanding fungal development and pathogenesis’s molecular and genetic basis.
I will be working specifically with the pathogen known as Cryptococcus neoformans which is a type of fungus that affects different parts of the body in organisms like the lungs or the central nervous system (consisting of the brain and spinal cord). My current project for the summer will consist of analyzing in a deeper context the cell capsule of cryptococcus and seeing if the variation in capsule size contributes to the level of survival of the pathogen cell(does it benefit or weaken it to survive?). The capsule plays a big part in the overall structure of the fungal cell because it serves as a protective cover against host phagocytic cells and interferes with host immune mechanisms which can eliminate the pathogen from the body system, therefore the capsule helps the fungal cell to grow and develop further.
The idea of conducting research right now is still surreal to me. Growing up, I’ve always had a fascination with science. Taking Biology in 9th grade opened my eyes to the many biological processes that take place in our bodies on a day-to-day basis, which wouldn’t have been discovered if it weren’t for the people who asked questions because they were curious to know what lies underneath what we can’t see. These people weren’t satisfied with understanding the basic facts like if a person gets a feeling of hungriness, it can go away by ingesting food or that when a person is ill with the flu, they will get cured soon. There’s so much that happens in our bodies that has to happen for us to get better and reach a level of homeostasis. The communication that our systems undergo and how the tiniest of organisms, our cells, contribute to that. It doesn’t happen by magic. These scientists were determined to seek the truth and the behind-the-scenes view that through research, it was made possible. They paved the way for us to learn more and even today, scientists/researchers are expanding on the knowledge already obtained to learn even more, and I’m excited to be a part of it.
It’s surreal that I get to do research, after having just finished my first year of college. Wow 🙂 !! However, it was also a bit intimidating at first because it’s my first-ever experience doing research from being in a lab and working with different tools/chemicals, to learning about new and complex processes that I hadn’t heard or seen before. But this feeling slowly went away as I was shown around the lab and interacted more with the people working in it, who are very friendly, patient, and understanding. In this past week, I’ve learned a lot from reading about my project and learning about tasks like how to make YPD agar plates, inoculate and make strains in them (which consisted of a lot of measuring and mixing) and make strains in them, how to do microscopic imaging of cells with the help of India Ink (I got to see the capsules of a colony that had been newly grown), calibrate and make many batches of a solution known as SAB MOP with a pH of 7.3 as well as I learned different techniques to which one can pipette and more skills in the lab (like how to set up my lab journal and the area I work in the lab).
This is the place where I’ve spent a lot of time working under this week and it’s known as “The Hood”. It creates a sterile environment to prevent contamination to occur. In this picture, I’ve filled about 320 tubes with the SABS MOB liquid (covered in tinfoil to prevent light exposure) through pipetting.
There’s so much that goes into growing the colonies of cells, and it’s been a joy to get to learn about it (see how each act connects/builds up to the previous one) and have the chance to do it on my own. My mentor, Dr.Tenor, gave me a glimpse of what’s to come in the following weeks, and I’m super excited and thankful for her hard work and patience in teaching and working with me until I feel comfortable conducting a lab task. There are a lot of concepts and processes that I still don’t know in the lab and about my project, which makes me anxious, but reflecting on everything that I learned this week and how supportive and reassuring people are in my lab…I know that even if (and when) mistakes are made, I will learn from them and grow to be more comfortable with myself and my skills because it is a learning process.
Moving forward, I am excited about what’s to come in the next seven weeks (all the learning and growth that I hope to achieve), and my primary goals for my lab experience is that I hope to continue developing research skills, learn about lab procedures and new materials/solutions, gain more confidence as a scientist as well as foster deeper connections with the people in my lab and my fellow BSURF cohort who have made it a great experience so far, and I can’t wait for what lies ahead for us all.