Welcome readers to my blog and yes you read the title correctly, except just consume a healthy amount.
From introductory biology courses when we get to tertiary structures of proteins you might recall something called hemoglobin that is found in RBCs aka the Royal Bank of Canada, no it actually stands for red blood cells. You might also recall that hemoglobin is the reason red blood cells are red and that the presence of iron that comprises hemoglobin is the reason why they can transport oxygen through the body. However, have you heard of ferroptosis? (Does this sound similar to apoptosis to anyone?)
No? Well me neither before getting into BSURF and working with Dr. Chi and the Chi Lab. The Chi lab focuses on genomics to approach the signaling and adaptations to stress by cancer cells when exposed to different environments and stress conditions with a current focus on ferroptosis. This process as alluded to is similar to apoptosis as it a form of programmed cell death; however, it is distinct in that is iron-dependent.
Upon first seeing this process in an article sent to me by Dr. Chi, I was quite intimidated from not understanding all of the unfamiliar jargon used and was scared that I would be thrown face first into the deep unknown. However, this anxious feeling was quickly abated upon arriving to the lab being warmly welcomed by everyone in the lab. Furthermore, rather than the deep unknown the first week has been spent on working on a strong foundation starting with the basics and starting to learn and perform techniques, some of which I have experiences in and others not. These include: extracting DNA, using the NanoDrop (machine that calculates concentrations of DNA, RNA, etc), creating an agarose gel and running the extracted DNA through it, extracting RNA and performing qPCR. With this I have great appreciation to my mentor(s) Jerry and Ssu-Yu for leading me and answering my seemingly never ending questions patiently despite their own already busy schedule.
Thus when asked what I expect from my research experience this summer I aim to end this summer with a greater tolerance in designing and operating experiments independently and data analysis with a solid foundation of various skills and techniques. With this I also wish to have been able to contribute to further the studying of ferroptosis and/or other cancer related stress expressions.
