I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer working at Duke. I will be working in the lab in the fall so I will possibly continue blogging and give you more details about my work study experience. I recommend the Howard Hughes to any high school students who would like to get more insight into the world of research. If you have any questions about the program or BME feel free to contact me. Well I must go now and pack for my vacation…
ciao for now,
Racquel
Still waiting on my experiments to work out… the cells grow when they want to and and at a very slow rate. I did complete a flow cytometry on some of my cells and send them to a lab for results and I will report those back as soon as I can.
Racquel
This past week we had seminars and discussionson ethics and proper behavior for research. Due to my experience in a lab, I had reviewed a lot of the protocol and understood the expected behavior for a lab. I have been working in Dr. Truskey’s lab for almost three weeks under Melissa’s instruction and now I have another boss Steve Wallace who I will also be mentored by. Both of them do similar work with endothelial cell adhesion… but I digress…
This week we watched films and read articles about the ethical dilemmas of research. Although we the movie was mainly concerned with the discovery of AIDS and the many ways in which the rapid spread could have been possibly prevented, I thought of the power of money. The movie was made over ten years ago and it was very eery sitting and watching as the dreams and fears of all the characters were my reality. The millions of people with AIDS is something that I have sadly just come to accept. I have not known a society that was not in fear of such a powerful and devastating disease. I am not sure what I can do about this but I am sure that something has to be done. My acceptance of reality is shameful.
Saddened yet inspired,
Racquel
Due to illness I misseed the seminar I was unable to present my interview about my mentor Melissa. So here are a few quick things about my mentor…
Melissa graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. His favorite class was biology, least favorite was physics and she hated Matlab(an engineering program used for computers… I share the sentiment). She has worked in the Truskey lab for almost three labs and has published papers about trypsin(a chemical used for breaking the integrands that allow cells to stick to slides).
Melissa has wanted to be a researcher because her father researches at Dupont. After seeing this she decided to be a researcher after changing her mind from being a cop, then a vet, then a pediatrician, then being premed, and finally(after a year in college) she decided on BME. She likes this lab the most out of anywhere she has every worked and hopes to continue doing cardiovascular research in the future.
Well that is all for now… I will post later on tomorrow.
Good night,
Racquel
After many hours of passing cells, counting and replating cells (some stained with Cell Tracker Orange) Melissa and I followed Joel (another member of the lab) as he repeated a procedure for testing cell adhesion. With five trials and a history of success with a different cell type(moncytes) we thought that we would try our best to test our endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) for similar behavior. Sadly, we did not get results that we desired and we were forced to accept defeat. Although I wasn’t shocked by the results(then again I had nooo idea what I was looking for anwyay), I was disappointed by how unsuccessful we were. On the contrary, neither Melissa and Joel were not phased. I guess with time I will be able to accept this as a setback and not a failure.
I lovvvvvvvve my lab! I am working in the biomolecular tissue and engineering lab of George Truskey in the Biomedical Engineering Department. Right now I am learning about cell adhesion and the co-culture of endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells within arteries. Although complicated at times, I have enjoyed reading about the research done on the subject. One great thing about my lab is how laidback it is. I enjoy working with my boss Melissa B. and I like how she treats me as if I was an equal and not a mere intern. I have learned /refreshed my knowledge of how to make media(I worked in a lab last summer also), plated cells, and counted them using a hemacytometer… Another great thing about my lab is how many women there are. Of the six of us in the lab, two are men, and four are women(including myself and a Pratt Fellow). It is really inspring to see how successful these women are and their dedication to their work. Tata for now!Racquel
HI EVERYONE!! My name is Racquel Q. and I am 19 years old. I am a rising sophomore at the wonderful Duke University. Although I most recently hail from Brooklyn, New York I have lived in England, South Carolina and Georgia(my dad was in the Air Force). I love running(although my exercise has fallen off after coming to college) and dancing and I am involved in the latter within the Duke community during the schoolyear. My participation in the Howard Hughes Reserach Fellowship comes from my desire to do medical research later on in life. Although as a child I claimed that I wanted to be a doctor, as I grew older I realized that I was not really cut out for the job. Two of the key factors that helped me to decide this was my participation in the National Youth Leadership Forum(a 10-day program in which high school students can shadow doctors and get a hands on experience with the field… you can learn more at www.nylf.org). The second factor was the hit television show Grey’s Anatomy. As corny and slightly weird as that sounds, watching the gory tales of patients freaked me out and watching the stress of an intern I realized that perhaps I wasn’t really ready to take up the struggle. Perhaps I based this on a non-legit source but I figure if I can’t handle the special effects, real blood won’t be any better. Anywho, that is just a bit about why my interest in HHMI came about. I want to remain involved in the medical field but behind the scenes. I hope to gain an appreciation for research and learn more about what I can do for those who are sick in the world.
