I can’t believe my summer with BSURF is coming to an end?!?! It seems as though it was yesterday when I first stepped inside the Perfect lab, kind of nervous but mostly excited too for what the summer would bring.
Walking into the Perfect Lab that first day, I was walked through the procedure of making YPD agar to fill inside Petri dishes. I had no clue what YPD was or why it was needed for my experiment. Turns out that YPD is an important factor in my experiment, it’s the food that the cells that I work with need to grow. From then on, my mentor, Jenny, began introducing me to new procedures and machinery which at the time was terrifying because, for one, I didn’t want to break/damage any equipment and two, it was a lot of new things at once to handle but with time and practice, that emotion transformed into enthusiasm as I was able to master the techniques and carry the experiment on my own without doing too much damage. Jenny’s reassurance made me feel comfortable with the idea that mistakes and failures in science are something that is inevitable and one just has to learn and move on from it. Whether it’s the machine’s fault because it won’t want to cooperate with you, or a contaminant has infected your strain, or you pipette the wrong concentration of a solution into something that needed the right concentration, and it’s irreversible, so you got to start back from the beginning, it’s all okay because rest assure you won’t be the first or last person in the laboratory working history that has done it. With that being said, some mistakes were made along the way, but that didn’t stop me, and it’s amazing to see how far I’ve progressed in the lab.
There’s a specific moment I can recall that I felt I experienced my “Harry Potter” moment, and that was when I was practicing to pipette. Jenny told me that each pipette is different, not just the fact that there are specific ones needed for a specific liquid measurement, as people have various ways to grip and press on them which brands take into account. I was still new at pipetting and there were some pipettes that I had more trouble using, so she had me try out different ones until I found the one that was the right one for me to utilize, which brought me back to how Harry tried out different wands until he found the wand met for him. Just as wands help create different spells for wizards, pipettes enable scientists to create different solutions in the lab because knowing the right measurements is important. Too much of a substance or too little can throw the experiment off course. I can proudly say I’ve mastered the art of pipetting, which a testament to that is that I’ve pipetted onto a 96-well plate and a 384-well plate. Pipetting into the 384 well plate was the biggest test to my capability, as one needs to have A LOT of patience and be accurate while doing it because otherwise, bubbles can form or some of the tips in the multichannel pipette may not intake the same amount of the solution onto it. I also now know how to use a microscope and a robot for high-quality imaging, which I am proud to say because learning it was a struggle as different steps are required along the way. I have gained so much knowledge and with that, gained confidence in myself that I can do science, despite how much of the journey is unknown to me.
I owe the success of my project to my mentor Jenny, P.I Dr.Perfect, and other valuable members of the Perfect Lab, who stood by me every step of the way and guided me with their wisdom to me so that I could grow more as a scientist. As many of the lecturers highlighted in their talks, the community inside the lab is a contributing factor to a project’s success because that community needs to be supportive, fun, friendly, patient, and encouraging with each other for everyone to have a good time and enjoy the scientific discoveries along the way which I did find within the Perfect Lab.
Outside the lab, that community that the lecturers talked about, I found it with my fellow BSURFers as well. I am happy to say that I made new friends this summer that I hope to carry with me through the rest of my journey here at Duke. From Bachelorette Sundays, and boba & food outings, to trips like going canoeing, hanging with the Lemurs, or the movies, I enjoyed the time I got to spend with you all, and I would like to thank you for adding fun to this experience. In the beginning, we were all adjusting to a new environment, from being in a lab for the first time or learning to be the independent adults we are and tackle meal prepping, budgeting, giving a chalk talk for the first time, and even timing our bus pick up. We shared some of that anxiety, and it was nice to know that I wasn’t alone in it and that we could share as well as together found ways to cope throughout the journey. We explored Durham together and had lots of laughs along the way. I would like to y’all, my fellow BSURFers, for making this summer a memorable one for me. Congratulations to everyone on overcoming the challenges, making the most of the summer, and on your projects which are all mind-blowing. We all have overcome so much, and it’ll be great to see our final products tomorrow 🙂
I am beyond grateful for the lessons I gained, both inside the lab and outside with our morning faculty talks and journal club lessons. The lessons that took place in our temporary BSURF classroom were an enjoyable way to start my mornings because they were very engaging. From learning about the various phenomenal research projects which Duke Faculty members are working on to gaining a lot of advice useful for my future like knowing how to go about dissecting scientific papers, and programs to apply for in the future, as well as how to improve how I present/communicate my findings in a scientific setting. Because as Dr.Grunwald emphasizes, “What you do in a lab doesn’t matter unless you are communicating your findings to others.” I will carry these lessons with me always. One of the most important lessons learned by experience is how to recover from a capsizing experience and don’t forget about snakes’ special gripping abilities!
Finally, I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr.Grunwald, Dr.Harrell, Grace, and Kehali for making BSURF a possibility. Thanks to the passion and hard work you put in, your guidance, support, and kindness for us which made BSURF an unforgettable experience! You all taught us what it means to be a scientist and provided us with the tools we needed to make our projects happen. Thank you! BSURF was a truly transformative experience and has laid the foundation for me to pursue research, which I hope to continue in the Perfect Lab.
Thanks to BSURF, this will be a summer I won’t forget and an experience forever impacting my journey at Duke. I will recommend future freshmen to apply and hope that they can be immersed in the way I have. Thank you all, and I wish you all a great remainder of the summer.
