SJU to DEN
Travel day started bright and early with the annoying sound of my alarm at 3:00 am that made sure I arrived on time at the airport for my 5:00 am flight. After what felt like 3 eternal flights and 2 bags of pistachios, I made it to Denver. My first introduction to Denver was a very friendly Uber driver who took me to where I'm staying this summer. On the ride to the apartment, we had an interesting conversation about the history of the Denver airport and the different conspiracies behind it. After being dropped off, I checked into the apartment and met up with my roommate. After getting settled, we realized we needed some things for the apartment and ran errands to get supplies and food for the week. After a much-needed shopping spree and food, we went back and got everything ready for day 1.
Block to Lab
Week 1 was a standard first week: meeting the research assistants (Melissa and Garrett), the PIs (Nate and Amy), doing safety training, and getting a feel for the lab layout. The purpose of the first week was to get a sense of the different research projects and to have a better understanding of what I wanted to do during the summer. This included a lot of shadowing Melissa and Garrett to get a better understanding of their day-to-day experience while learning about the purpose behind their work. By the end of day 3, I had a solid understanding of what I wanted to do for the summer. Week 2 was a lot more hands-on. After getting acquainted with the lab, I got a lot more freedom to do work. My first “big” project I got to work on by myself was cell staining. Cell staining is a technique researchers use to make specific parts of a cell easier to see under a microscope. Different dyes or fluorescent markers can attach to certain structures within the cell, which allows researchers to identify and study them. Depending on the stain being used, it can provide information about cell health, cell type, or the location of specific proteins. Although the process was very tedious because it required a lot of attention to detail and careful timing, it was exciting to finally perform a technique on my own. Week 2 also involved a lot of readings. Both of the PIs in the lab sent me different research papers for me to analyse to get a better sense of each of their projects. This part was quite difficult for me due to the complexities of each project, although I do have some background from my science classes, these projects apply those (and other difficult concepts) to a much greater capacity. However, I do think that the block plan has altered the way I process information so much that I'm able to grasp difficult concepts (at least to some extent) in a short amount of time.
City to Mountain
Week 2 ended in a very exciting day; Nate and Amy put in an effort to not only expose me to the lab but also to different exciting things around Colorado. For this outing, the whole lab took a trip to the Rocky Mountains. It was a very beautiful (but tiring) experience. I got to hike up multiple trails and see animals I had never seen before. I got the experience to do something outside the lab as well as get to know everyone a little better. Overall, these past 2 weeks have been very successful. I got to meet new people, learn new things, and adapt to a new environment.
