Hello everyone! This is Kiana Manson, and I’m here to update you on the final weeks of my internship here at ChakraTech in San Diego, California! I have had so much fun learning and getting experience, both in the lab and recreationally. After going to Pride for the first time at the end of July, I felt more confident in my sexuality and was able to come out to my parents. Pride was so much fun, and I had a wonderful time meeting new people and walking in the parade. In addition to this, I also discovered that I love the queer community here in Hillcrest, and I am thinking about one day living there after I get my doctorate. I also played some beach volleyball adult leagues, which was a new and super fun challenge for me as an indoor player. I have truly found a home in the winding hills and sandy beaches here, and I cannot wait to come back again next summer!
Before I was able to get into the lab, I had to work on two things. To start with, I had to create a lab orientation presentation to introduce my other lab mates to what procedures we would be working on for our initial proof of concept. The presentation was challenging because I had to learn about quite a few techniques I had never done or seen before. I also had to create a list of all materials that would be needed for these initial experiments. My supervisor set me up with a salesperson that promised to take my list of materials that I created from the VWR catalog, which is used for ordering lab materials, and finding the same thing on the list but at a lower price. I would also do this so that I could compare the items he chose with the ones I found.
Check out this brief video of mixing agarose for making our agar plates.
Although these two tasks were difficult, I believed that I was able to tackle them relatively well due to the skills I have been building upon this past year at Cornell. I have been getting better and better at research presentations, and my last presentation now was my best one yet! However, I still have much to improve on, such as making sure I format my slides to appeal to all audiences and making sure to only include the important details relevant to my topic. As this internship is coming to an end, I feel as though I learned so much, not just about science but what it means to do research. I can’t wait to come back to Cornell to apply my newly learned skills in the classroom!
ChakraTech and their inventory from General Atomics
One of the events I went to was Morning with Aquillius, which was a coffee networking event where biotechnologists and other research scientists met over artisan Mexican coffee to talk and exchange information. One of the people I met there was in community service and taught environmental science to younger kids in an extracurricular program. They would take them on field trips to various parks and museums, all completely for free! I also met someone who worked in selling lab equipment to startup biotech companies, and I connected her with my supervisor Dr. Chawla, who was in need of more up-to-date lab equipment. Also, my supervisor took me and a couple of project management interns to General Atomics, which is a lab that specializes in military technology for both federal and private organizations. One of the employees was closing down their project and, as a result, had a bunch of lab equipment and chemicals that he needed to get rid of. So, we brought three of our cars and loaded them full of equipment, which included tons of different chemicals and glassware. We enjoyed cataloging all the different materials, and I learned a lot about how to safely handle chemicals and glassware.
Aquillius Interns at the Morning with Aquillius networking event
Morning with Aquillius event featuring Xula, a Mexican coffee brandEven though I didn’t get to be in the lab all that much, I still found my experience here in San Diego to be life-changing. I was able to accomplish what I set out to do, which was to learn what it was like to be a researcher in the startup biotech industry. Not only did I learn more about my career, I also discovered a lot about myself. I would like to enroll in San Diego State University’s graduate program, and to study something within the topic of genetics. I want to live in California probably for the rest of my life, and I have found a culture I really want to be a part of. Without Cornell, I wouldn’t have been able to have this wonderful experience and discover so much about myself, so I will be forever grateful.
Thank you for sticking with me on my journey in San Diego!