Student Blogs

A few days ago, I cracked open a fortune cookie with a message that I believe is extremely fitting of my experience working as a student intern this summer. It read, “Your road to glory will be rocky, but fulfilling.”

I think if I had gotten this fortune at the start of the summer, I likely would have scoffed at the message and it would have passed over my mind within the hour. I mean how rocky could the road be? It was the start of summer break meaning no homework, tests, quizzes, projects, grades, and presentations to fret over for a good amount of time. Contrary to the present time, as I ate lunch with my friend in the corner of UCSF’s Kalmanovitz Library, receiving the message towards the end of my internship made me reminisce on my many failures and small victories within the lab that brought me where I am today.

From an introduction to the SSRP program through my Biotechnology teacher, River Suh, to being assigned to work under the Mattis Lab at UCSF Parnassus, the summer of 2024 allowed me to fulfill many of my firsts.   

This summer was the first time that I was in a lab, the first time I worked under a biosafety cabinet, the first time I fed and passaged tumor lines, the first time I extracted DNA and RNA, first time I performed a plasmid extraction, first time I wrote my abstracts for my project, and not only were there many firsts, but I can also confidently say that not a single procedure went smoothly on any of my many firsts. My first few weeks in the lab were overwhelming, busy, and consisted of me and my lab mates trying to keep up with the routine procedures around the lab. There were several small details to pay attention to like how you should warm up the media before feeding the tumor lines or how you should never forget to bring your pipette and tips when going to nanodrop or else you’d have to trot all the way down from the ninth floor –something that I had to learn the hard way. Despite all the trials and tribulations I still felt the same exhilaration whenever I was doing an experiment whether it was foreign to me or not.

Undoubtedly, the things that helped me stay motivated throughout my time in the lab were the small victories. And because we repeated so many of the same procedures, I had written down protocols or what we called “recipes” for the experiments that were routinely done and we found small victories whenever we were able to complete them without the help of a mentor. Small victories include running, imaging, and scrapbooking a gorgeous gel with clear bands, seeing a high concentration of DNA or RNA when nano-dropping, and receiving desired results sent back from Sanger Sequencing. Throughout all of the ups and downs of research, I realized that maybe the “glory” mentioned in the fortune wasn’t entirely about the results from our experiments or our posters and abstracts. Rather, it was that, along that rocky path, we were able to find glory in the wealth of knowledge, perseverance, and connections that will continue to fulfill us beyond the duration of the summer internship.

I will forever be grateful to my mentors who welcomed me into their lab and my lab mates with whom I shared all moments of hardships and prosperity and even lunches. Thank you for making my first time in a lab an unforgettable experience.

This summer with SSRP, I wanted to explore the world of wet lab research. I've always been intimidated by the thought of conducting experiments because it always seemed like a scary place where things could go wrong. I decided to take the leap and see if it was something I could pursue. I applied for SSRP, eager to learn the ropes, and my SSRP experience changed my perspective! I realized lab research is not as frightening as I thought it was. It is for anyone who is curious, determined, and excited about cell research. One of the life-changing lessons I’m taking with me after my summer with SSRP is that hard work and inquisitiveness can open up many opportunities that you never thought were possible. 

This summer, I worked at UCSF Mission Center with my mentors: Jenny Lee, Ke Li, PhD, and Brian Shy, MD, PhD. My research involved trying to find ways to optimize a non-viral knock-in approach to editing Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) using CRISPR. For this research, we acquired, thawed, counted, and grew HSC’s, performed the experiment, electroporated the cells, and used a flow cytometer to analyze the results.

It took many questions and lots of explanation to fully grasp the science and methods behind my research throughout this summer, but I continued to ask them anyway. I learned a lot about gene therapy, gene editing, and stem cells. I also learned many skills such as cell culturing, pipetting, diluting, sterile techniques, working in a biosafety hood, using an electroporator, communicating my research and ideas, and opening-and-closing containers with one hand (the coolest skill of all!). I struggled at many of these skills when I first started but the more I practiced, the better I got, and with the patience and guidance of my mentors, I picked up many skills, and tips-and-tricks of the lab.

As I continue my journey as a student scientist, I will forever be grateful for this experience which has opened me up to new possibilities in science, increased my scientific knowledge, given me the confidence to continue on this academic journey, and taught me so many new skills. This experience has only made my passion stronger and made me more confident in my abilities as a scientist. I am not sure yet where exactly my research and academic paths will take me moving forward, but I know that my passion for biomedicine will shine through in whatever I pursue.

For a long time when I would hear the word medicine the first thing that would cross my mind was the classic Tylenol bottle that anyone can purchase at their local grocery store. It wasn’t until I was 12-years-old that I dealt with anorexia for the first time, realizing that the field of medicine is more than just a simple Tylenol bottle. Although this was a psychological and physiological barrier that I dealt with in a span of 4 years, I would not trade it for anything. I truly believe that it has shaped who I have become, alongside my long-term goals in assisting individuals dealing with similar if not different conditions through healthcare services and research. Intrigued by my experience, I aspired to learn more about the nervous system’s biology, chemistry, and psychology in order to advocate and help the new rising generations.

However, at a high school level, it’s not as accessible to gain hands-on experience into the field of medicine and science compared to undergraduate and graduate level. Being a SPARK intern and a part of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has expanded my knowledge to a whole new level as prior to this program, I had never done research in this field. Dr. Medina’s lab has allowed me to gain exposure on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of cell line that can be made from any living individual that can be differentiated into physiologically relevant cell types. Since they preserve the genetic features of an individual and self-renew, iPSCs are now being utilized to develop more advanced and efficient cell therapy solutions. In this case, iPSCs are used to model the differences in differentiation into insulin-producing pancreatic β cells (iPSC-β cells) in patients with statin-induced new-onset type 2 diabetes, a condition that lowers insulin secretion vs. the control. Why this condition occurs is still unknown, but what we do know is that it tends to be prevalent within statin users, one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for cardiovascular prevention.

Although working with iPSCs was never my topic of interest prior to joining this program, I have taken this opportunity as a learning experience. Science and medicine intersect, which is why what I have learned now might assist my journey in a year from now or maybe even ten! Whether iPSCs are used to create liver cells, beta cells, or even neurons, they all have a purpose in assisting the quality of life of individuals, driving my passion for research and medicine.