Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

I used to think that scientific research only took place at shadowy workbenches occupied by a single goggle-wearing figure wrapped in a white coat.  Enclosed in a small, windowless room, the scientist was, in my mind, literally a prisoner of his work.

Of course, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Image from www.sysbio.harvard.edu

This here is the Northwest Labs, where I spent five weeks at the beginning of this summer working in a molecular biology laboratory. An enormous glass-walled building, it is comprised of four floors above the ground and four below.  It functions as both a teaching and a laboratory space and is extraordinarily spacious and well-lit.

There are many comfortable social spaces scattered about the building, such as the popular "Red Couches." Additionally, every Friday, the FAS Center for Systems Biology has its “Happy Hour” where free food and drink is served, and members from different laboratories come together to chat, fill their bellies, and blow off some steam. 

And who says science geeks can’t be athletic?  Currently, a bunch of guys from my lab are participating in the MCB summer volleyball tournament called the Rhino League.  Named after the two iron-clad rhinos that guard the front doors of the Bio Labs, this summer-long tourney is no walk through the Yard.  Evidence of its intensity: my PI (Principal Investigator) from last summer sacrificed his shoulder to save a ball and sat out for the rest of the tournament with a sprain.

Needless to say, the hermit scientist of my imagination would have a hard time living here.

My current lab is composed of three MCB graduate students, three postdoctoral fellows, and two undergraduates.  Led by Vlad Denic, an assistant professor of MCB and our PI, the laboratory studies various membrane-associated processes.  I’ll talk more about the specifics of my own research in a later blog post.  For now though, let’s talk about traveling.

Science is a lot about discovering—discovering processes and mechanisms, uncovering truths once hidden from us.  Yet, the world is so vast and so complex that tackling such undertakings on one’s own can be overwhelming and draining.  This is where science meetings come in. 

At these conferences, travel happens in two ways.  There’s the pleasure of finding oneself in a physically new place and then the even more exhilarating feeling of being able to roam the depth and breadth of one’s scientific field.

This summer, I attended my first science meeting, located in Norman, Oklahoma: Evolution 2011.  As a rising junior, I was part of the group of 25 college students who were given travel fellowships to travel to OK and experience Evolution.

Called Undergraduate Diversity Students, we were definitely just that, hailing from as far as Alaska, Hawaii, and Peru and representing at least seven different ethnicities. 

As part of our participation in Evolution, the Undergraduate Diversity students had to present their own projects at one of the night poster sessions.  For me, this was definitely one of the highlights of the five-day conference. Explaining my research to others, talking to scientists in the field who actually recognized my findings, engaging with professors in the evolutionary biology field— it was so exciting to feel like I was a part of the research community!  Additionally, we were each assigned mentors—current graduate students, postdocs, or professors—to share with us their lives and to encourage us to pursue a career in science. 

Science is no longer a lonely calling.  The places you’ll go, the things you’ll see—the world is wide open!

When else would I ever get the chance to visit Oklahoma? :)


Sidenote: I would highly recommend applying for the Undergraduate Diversity fellowship! As far as I know, the NSF funds college students at various conferences, Evolution being only one of the many out there.