June 19, 2016
By: Murotiwamambo Mudziviri
My childhood impression of an ideal science researcher was a crazy old man, with white hair and fluffy beards. That image grew even worse when cartoons incorporated an element of solitude. Who would want such a life? Consequently, scientific research...
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By: Raj Borra
I cannot escape this feeling of nervousness. When I first found out that I would be placed in the Viventi Lab for the summer, I was both extremely excited and anxious. I had never done any type of research before,...
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By: Hannah Ahrendt
I walked into the West Lab on my first day, not really sure what to expect. Generally, when people think of scientific labs, I imagine they think of people in white coats conducting experiments on cells or mice and mixing...
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By: Elizabeth Snyder-Mounts
This summer I am working the Truskey Lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering under PhD Student, Leigh Atchison. This is my first time working in a research lab, and I am very excited for this opportunity. So far, the...
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By: Ricardo Matias
filename = ‘blog1.mat’; As someone with limited exposure to programming and coding, knowing that I’d be working with MATLAB for eight weeks worried me. I wanted to finish B-SURF with a greater understanding about how science is produced, and I...
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By: Megan Jiao
Whenever somebody asks me what I do for research, I always reply, “I’m killing worms” or “I’m torturing worms” just to see what sort of reaction I incite before I explain the driving purpose behind my lab in further detail....
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By: Emre Kiziltug
When I started my first week at BSURF, I felt very excited and eager to finally take part in a research project where I could explore and learn the different aspects of doing science. My only experience with biological research has...
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By: Courtney Hill
What do you expect from your summer research experience? Yep, that's right. You understood that title correctly. You see, like many of my fellow BSURF researchers, one of the main hopes I have for my summer experience is the humble desire...
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By: Melissa Horowitz
Having completed a year at Duke filled with science classes including biology labs and papers on genetics, I thought I had a decent grasp on what research involved. After a week of preparing an especially large experiment (studying germination in...
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By: Yilin Yang
Going in lab always gives me peace of mind: during my first year at Duke, whenever I felt stressed, I would just go to the plant genetics lab that I was volunteering in, get a PCR done, do...
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By: Susan Zheng
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 –...
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By: Ajile Owens
"Floor it?" While of course I'm not enrolled in Mrs. Puff's Boating School, this week me and Spongebob have shared this expression on more than one occasion. Specifically, whenever someone in my lab asks me a question. God forbid it's...
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June 18, 2016
By: Demi Zhu
“If you expect an experiment not to work, you’ll be pleasantly surprised when things work out.” Though he did not use those words exactly, my mentor Jonny told me that when I was still a lab assistant making plates and...
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By: Griffin Haas
My first week at Duke for the BSURF program has been fantastic. I've enjoyed meeting and connecting with the other students in the program, and have made many new friends. I've also very much enjoyed having the opportunity to be...
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By: Casey Kuka
"I think I made a mistake." These were not words I wanted to be saying to my secondary mentor, Haewoong, but, alas; I couldn't hide out at my workspace in the biosafety cabinet forever and hope things would magically resolve...
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June 17, 2016
By: Margo Orlen
Taped to the wall in my lab there is a poster with several pictures, each depicting what different people think scientists do on a day to day basis (shown below). While cooking meth like Walter White from Breaking Bad is...
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May 13, 2016
By: Ron Grunwald
Hard to believe, but there have been 25 years of Howard Hughes Research Fellows Programs, at Duke, 576 Fellows in total. What was supposed to be a 'seed' grant to Trinity College was renewed for 6 cycles as the premier undergraduate summer research...
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August 5, 2015
By: Adam Yaseen
Like I said in the week 7 blog, the last 3 weeks of the program, I was working 10-14 hour days and working on the weekend and I fell behind on the last two weeks of blogging. Not complaining; I...
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