Eight weeks flew by—with the program coming to an end, I’m happy and proud that I made my first step onto the scientific journey. Through this immersive experience, I gained a better knowledge of computational genomics, improved my technical skills and most importantly, gained a more sound understanding of science and research. And it’s been wonderful having the opportunity to work with an incredible group of people—my PI Dr. Hartemink, mentor Kevin and other group members, who guided me and supported me throughout the process.
Looking back, I think it’s the “firsts” that made this experience challenging yet memorable and rewarding.
I looked at genetics from a statistics and computational perspective for the first time. I’ve been overwhelmed by gigabytes of genome-wide data since day one; however the more I work on my project, the more I appreciate the power of data—its potential to predict and to provide insights into fundamental biological mechanisms, in my case, chromatin landscape and ultimately transcription regulation.
I went to a lab meeting for the first time: completely disoriented, but believed that by the end of summer I would be part of the discussion. Disappointingly, that did not happen—eight weeks flew by too fast. But it’s reassuring that each meeting I was able to follow through the discussion more. It is also during lab meetings that I experienced science as a collaborative process—people contribute their specialty and insights into discussions, involve in the grant writing process, and share data/resources with collaborating labs. I can’t help but loving this community more and more.
I used UNIX commands and R for the first time. Despite the painful process of trouble-shooting, the frustration of staring at the screen and having no clue, and the somewhat disappointment that my research did not involve lab coats, latex gloves or cool biotechnologies, the rewarding moments of the tiny bits of progress kept me excited about each day.
I also gave a chalk talk, presented a poster, (and toured duke garden, watched baseball game, went on a canoeing trip) for the first time.
the list goes on, and bits by bits, that blank piece of paper where I started off is becoming more colorful.
So, thank you to Dr. G, KP & Paul, and an amazing group of fellows who I can now call friends, for making the Howard Hughes Research Fellows Program such a meaningful experience.
Boxes packed, air-tickets printed out, the apartment is once again empty as if the past eight weeks never happened; but I know that I’ve grown, and become more prepared for the exciting future explorations in science.
