Week 4: Experiences are the Best Souvenirsby Shaira Bhanji
“[India is] like a wave; resist and you go under, ride it out and you arrive at the other side.”--The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 6:30 AM, Saturday, June 23rd: After a three-hour car ride, we awake to find ourselves at the entrance of Mysore Palace. With its fairytale-like architecture and fake-looking green gardens, it could be Disneyland. We lose ourselves in bold colors, high ceilings, and intricate architecture that saturate the former residence of the Mysore Kingdom’s Wodeyar family. I daydreamed about getting married in the Wedding Hall; the beauty of its stained glass dome ceiling surrounded by gold and turquoise pillars is enough to make even the plainest bride look stunning. After a casual play date with the ground’s elephants and camels, we arrive at Chamundi Hills to find monkeys enjoying orange soda. A lavish temple and bird’s-eye view of majestic Mysore await at the top of the rocky hill. * * * 8:00 PM, Friday, June 29th: I drift in and out of sleep between road bumps, the itch of bug bites, or blaring Bollywood music at rest stops en route to India’s east coast. We’re in the rural outskirts of Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu when I wake up for the last time eight hours later—sticky from the bus’ lack of AC. We watch the sun by the boardwalk overlooking the Bay of Bengal; enjoy pancakes India-style at a fan-cooled, tropical rooftop restaurant; and stroll along the French-named streets lined with fruit stands and Parisian-style buildings. The city is surprisingly calm as it awaits the arrival of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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Week 3: Dr. Janice Leeby Rabeea Ahmed
Recently I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Janice Lee – an astronomer at the STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute) – about her ventures into astronomy and why she chose a career in science. Most of our discussion was based on her journey into astronomy. The most important aspect of the discussion was Janice's emphasis on exploring different career paths before settling down with one. I found this quite similar to my undergraduate exploration of courses because I studied a very wide selection of courses and participated in a plethora of different activities until I finally realized that my ultimate fascination was with astrophysics and computer science. Week 3: Lab time in Germanyby Pin-Wen Wang
At work, I belong to the optics group, working generally with, well optics. Right now the main areas of research in our team are LEDs and nanoparticle photoluminescence. I’m working on the latter, but I’ve dabbed a little in LED making as well. My supervisor, and Ph.D. candidate, Daniel, is perhaps the best supervisor anyone could ask for. Having studied in England, his English is almost perfect and carries a signature British feel to it. It must be the accent or something, but he has a real knack for teaching lab techniques. Although he is usually busy on a day to day basis, be it preparing for a conference or helping others think of new ways to do their experiments, he somehow always has time for me. After teaching me the basics of the lab, how to use the lasers, and how to analyze data, he was quick to let me run free, and I love it. He gave me all the tools I needed to start doing research, creating experiments, and thinking about the data, but he stepped back to really make me feel like I was in control of the research. I respect him so much for his knowledge, but I respect him even more for his character and patience. Week 3: Diabetic neuropathy – A Small British Carby Juliet Snyder
At times I feel like I have to compare my lab to a small British car. I say British car because our PI, or Principle Investigator, is a very British man. The car comes from the fact that my lab is focused on Diabetic neuropathy, with each lab member focused on a different facet like the different components of a car engine. The lab is composed of four main members– undergraduates (that’s me!), graduate students, post-docs and lab technicians. Typically each graduate student, post doc and lab technician has their own projects that they work on, working together with the PI to come up with a plan for testing in order to try out a new treatment or test a new theory. The undergraduates are then liberally sprinkled around the lab as the minions of those heading the various projects. Week 3: Interview with Dr. Rebecca RajAssociate Professor, St. John's Research Institute at St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore, India
by Shaira Bhanji 1. Describe your role at St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences. I have three faculty positions: one in the medical college, one in the research institute, and the other in the hospital. At the medical college, I am an Associate Professor in the Nutrition Division, where I teach classes. At the research institute, I focus on nutrition research, and in the hospital, I head the Clinical Nutrition Unit. In addition, I oversee the cafeteria at the institute. 2. What does your current research involve? What do you love most about your research? Mainly, my research in pediatric obesity—finding out the determinants and risk factors of it. Being a nutritionist, I understand that childhood is the most important phase for growing. I also do a lot of body composition and energy expenditure studies of both adults and children. 3. Have you lived in India your whole life? Yes. All my schooling was in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and then in Bangalore, Karnataka. Week 3: Introducing Julie Oh!by Stephanie Wang
As an undergraduate, one of the best things that a lab can give you is good mentorship, whether it is from a principal investigator (PI), a graduate student, or a postdoctoral fellow. After joining the Wagers Lab, I was lucky enough to be paired with Juhyun (Julie) Oh. Julie is currently a rising G4, meaning she’ll be entering her fourth year of graduate school this upcoming academic year. Julie is in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) program through Harvard Medical School and specializes in the subfield of Translational Medicine. The undergraduates in the Wagers Lab joke that our PI, Amy Wagers, is an incredible matchmaker. Each match between grad student/postdoctoral fellow and undergraduate has gone exceedingly well, and I can’t say any less about my match with Julie! This past week, I was able to interview Julie about her experiences. I found her responses to be both encouraging and enlightening, and hope you may glean some kernels of wisdom from them as well! Week 3: Fortune Lab Spotlight: An Interview with Richa Gawandeby Nzuekoh Nchinda
Having a great mentor is key to getting the most out of an undergraduate research opportunity. At Sarah Fortune’s lab, it’s been such a wonderful experience working under Richa Gawande, a fourth year graduate student in the Biological Sciences in Public Health (BPH) program at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). She was kind enough to sit with me and share the experiences that have led her to where she is today. Why the Fortune lab? “[It] gives a good balance of excitement and rigor. Straddling the basic science and translational global health line is really important to me,” Richa said. She stressed that the Fortune lab gives her a good balance between basic science, great energy in the lab, diversity of projects and translational research. Translational research is a key part of her interests because it is a way of conducting research that makes findings applicable to the population that is under study, and it encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration. Richa’s motivation for coming to HSPH is to acquire the skills to become part of a sustainable research community focused on developing settings. Week 3: Interview with Dr. Kristopher Irizarryby Natalie Punt
“Intelligent, fast-paced, with a take-no prisoners style of research”, is how my new mentor, Dr. Irizarry, was first described to me. Working with Dr. Irizarry over the summer has compelled me to agree with the description. However, I would like to add another descriptor- extraordinary. I sat down with Dr. Irizarry to ask him about his background, scientific interests, and future direction. Natalie: What was your background starting in high school? Did you prepare for a scientific career? Dr. Irizarry: In high school, I was interested in science and math. As an undergrad at RPI, I mainly took math and science classes that I was interested in, e.g. physical chemistry, quantitative physics, biochemistry and biophysics, and put off declaring a major. My first undergraduate research project was studying how to inhibit cocaine addiction in rats. The project worked well and I was in the lab on Saturdays taking care of the rats. But, I disliked the animal research and ended up doing my senior thesis in Dr. Salerno’s computational biology lab modeling the theoretical structure of Nitric Oxide Synthase. 7/30/2012 0 Comments 18.085: My Summer at MIT - Week 3Week 3: An Interview with Dr. Gilbert Strangby Amy Beth Prager
Professor Gilbert Strang is the Mathworks professor of mathematics at MIT and an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University. He is widely known not only at these institutions for his superb mastery of applied mathematics but all over the world through his many textbooks and most of all his Open Course Ware lectures. He served as President of the Society of Applied Mathematics and has won too many medals and international prizes to list or even easily count. It is a great honor to interview him today. He is best known for his classic text on finite elements. After writing this book, he decided to focus more on linear algebra. He describes writing his linear algebra text as a" wonderful adventure" and says his motivation for writing the text was that, at the time, most math courses were missing the importance and beauty of the subject and had to change. At the time, Strang recalls that most courses emphasized proofs above all else, with no emphasis on applications. He believed that for math majors, even for theoretical mathematicians, this was not the correct approach. He states quite emphatically that there is a whole world of students that need and use linear algebra, and he is there for them. 7/30/2012 0 Comments You Think What You Eat: Link between mental health, DNA and malnutrition - Week 3Week 3: A Talk with Dr. Gallerby Riana Balahadia
Hey Scientistas! This past week has been a very productive one so far. We’ve been working at Dr. Galler’s office in Brookline, looking through the file cabinets and organizing the data. Luckily, I was able to catch an interview with Dr. Galler in between patients. Check it out! How did your interest in child malnutrition lead to the Barbados Nutrition Study? I’ve always been interested in studies about developing countries and poverty and in children. But it was somewhat accidental. I was actually studying neurochemistry and ended up working with a professor who encouraged me to set up a rat laboratory for him. Four years later, when I was a resident, my mentor passed away and I salvaged his data in order to continue working on prenatal malnutrition in rats. But a new opportunity arose: to work on a human study in parallel to my rat studies. In the beginning of 1973, I received funds and visited countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to search for a place to set my study. I serendipitously ended up in Barbados through a recommendation from a friend who knew Dr. Frank Ramsey, my future collaborator. Up until his death 3 years ago, Dr. Ramsey was a local Barbadian who was very involved in public policy and was the head of the medical school and Nutrition Center. He was a trained pediatrician in Barbados interested in doing research on malnourished children. And I was on the other end in the U.S. with a neurochemistry background in rat infant and prenatal malnutrition. It felt like a meeting of minds, and so we joined forces. That was how the Barbados Nutrition Study began. |
The Lab JournalWelcome to the summer internship series of 2012! Follow 9 Scientista bloggers through their summer internships to catch a glimpse of what it is like to be a scientista^TM. By Title- India Presents: A "New World Symphony"
- Through The Lens: The Intricacies Of Diabetes - Do Nanoparticles Glow? - Using Unusual Animals to Study Human Disease - Using the Hubble Telescope - You Think What You Eat - Experimenting With the Life of a Scientist(a) - 18.085: My Summer at MIT - Science Heals: A Summer of Global Health Research By BloggerRabeea Ahmed
Riana Balahadia Shaira Bhanji Nzuekoh Nchinda Amy Beth Prager Natalie Punt Juliet Snyder Pin-Wen Wang Stephanie Wang Archives |
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