Today was the first day of my internship at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS)... and it was a pretty interesting experience. I went into the lab at 8:30 AM and came out at 7 PM; I've never spent this long in a research lab, but I have the feeling that those hours will be the norm for the next two months. I first went through an orientation with NCCS, signed a couple of documents, and received my name tag. Then, we went upstairs to the research labs and I met with the PI (or "boss" as the lab-mates call him.) I have to admit that it was strange to see a small, old Chinese man as a scientist nonetheless a PI-- in my mind, he seemed more like a sly businessman. It may have been the way I was conditioned, growing up in America and all, and I'm glad my research experience in Singapore will break this mindset. Research is an international field, and I hope to also break the stereotype of the white, male PI by leading my own lab in the future. Continuing on, the PI seems to overestimate me (perhaps my CV builds my image too much or the fact that I'm from UC Berkeley automatically makes me capable) and gave me a rather complex and difficult project. In these couple of weeks, I am to study the 20+ human wnt genes in 12 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell types... very daunting considering the fact that I am only a 3rd year undergraduate student and have yet to take a college course on molecular biology. Hopefully I can receive help from the postdoctoral fellows-- they're very friendly! The one I work with directly, Jian, seems to be a bit of an oddball; he is forgetful and not what I'd imagine a postdoc to be. In my previous lab, both the postdocs were extremely capable and brilliant and could do everything. But then again, they were 8+ years into their fellowship, and Jian is only in his second year. He is a bit smug and seems iffy about helping me, but I know he is kind at heart. The other postdoc is very open and kind (I forget his name... Chinese names are difficult to remember!); while Jian left me on my own to go on his lunch break with his colleague, I bumped into this postdoc on my way to lunch and he gave me a tour of the campus, offered advice on careers, and ate lunch with me. He even took my lunch tray for me to the counter! Either way, both are very kind and they will be amazing mentors throughout the duration of my time here. I am a bit sad that I am working under Jian, because he is less friendly, but I will get to know him and all will be well! I met another one of my lab-mates, a Malaysian woman who also spoke Cantonese; she was also very kind, but I did not speak much with her as I spent most of my time with the PI and the two postdocs. There are also two other interns, but they are in JC (which seems to be high school in Singapore) and I still have yet to get to know them. I met one of them, a 16 year old girl, and she was very cute in my opinion. But yes, back to my day. I started with the orientation and then met with my PI. He had a meeting to attend, so I was left to the hands of my lab-mates. I spoke about the research with Jian and skimmed through a couple of papers about wnt and HCC. Jian then led me through western blotting (a molecular technique to detect proteins); this took up most of my day. In between the time gaps, I met with the PI again and we consolidated my research project. We found the primer sequence for the wnt genes and after checking that they match 100% with the gene bank online, I sent them to Jian who will later send them somewhere to have them constructed. In the meantime, I will probably continue the western blotting with Jian and my readings. Work was definitely tiring, but fulfilling. This internship will completely drain me with its heavy workload and the two courses I am taking will finish off what's left of me... but I know I will learn and gain a lot from this experience, so here goes!
No comments:
Post a Comment