Work, Think, and Act like a Scientist

A lot of words characterized my first week here:

  • I was excited to begin my first real research experience.
  • I was nervous that I would make tons of mistakes.
  • I was appreciative for everything everyone has done so far – Dr. Grunwald for making this program possible, Jason for supporting us and giving advice, Duke professors for sharing their research experiences, my secondary mentor Matt for guiding and teaching me, and the Poss Lab for letting me work with them this summer!

Conducting real research is a lot different from learning science in a classroom. When I work in the Poss Lab, I’m not conducting experiments everyone has done before in their organic chemistry classes. Real research is open-ended. There are no clear, numbered steps and I never know what I’m going to get. Thus, over the summer, I hope to be able to work, think, and act like a scientist. What does this mean?

I hope to work like a scientist. I hope to be able to understand what real research is like and to gain a deeper understanding of the scientific process at play. I already feel like I have learned a great deal this week. Whether it was learning new lab techniques (I did my first PCR this week…and my second…third…I lost count) as well as understanding the fundamental concepts behind regeneration (what the Poss Lab focuses on), I hope to not just follow protocols and to transfer colorless liquids with a pipette, but to truly understand what is going on. I also expect to make mistakes, in fact I already have. I don’t expect all my experiments to be successful- whether it was my DNA not running properly on gel or my bacterial transformation failing. What’s important, however, are the valuable takeaways in learning from my mistakes.

I also hope to think like a scientist. I hope to always be constantly asking questions (thank you to Matt for patiently answering the endless amount of questions I had) and to be learning something new every day.

Lastly, I hope to act like a scientist. I am excited to continue to build upon my genuine interest for biology. Not only will I be doing what I enjoy every day, I will also be delving deeper into regeneration research as I hope to contribute as a member of a team of researchers at the Poss Lab as well as build long lasting connections with these talented scientists.

This first week has already been everything and more and I look forward to explore what’s to come in the next 7 weeks.

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