Hughes Mentor:  Maureen Hanson

Department: Molecular Biology and Genetics

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A Day in the Life of an Undergraduate in the Hanson Lab

Like many kids hoping to change the world, I had always dreamed of becoming a doctor… a Doctor of Philosophy, that is. It may not be the most glamorous or appreciated profession, but since I was a little kid I knew that I wanted to pursue a PhD in biology and eventually head up my own lab where I could do relevant, cutting-edge research. Of course, like any dream, getting to that level will take a lot of work, and the start of my future career has happened right here at Cornell in the Hanson lab.

Since I knew that I would want to do undergraduate research during my time at Cornell, and because I had federal work-study, I decided that the best course of action would be for me to get a paid job in a lab as early as possible. With that in mind, I searched Cornell job listings and found an opening for a position as a lab assistant in the Hanson lab. I started work immediately in the August of my freshman year… and unfortunately, there was nothing remotely intellectual about the media mixing, glassware cleaning, and sterilizing I was doing using the big, scary, high-temperature and -pressure autoclave. Then, during my sophomore year (after taking BIO GD 281 and concurrently with BIO BM 330), I was invited to get involved on a deeper level – I could start learning research techniques, with the eventual goal of applying them to my own project!

Nearly two years later, I am a Hughes Scholar, intimately involved with my own study of photosynthetic mutants in maize. My project is focused on one particular nuclear-encoded gene, PPR103, which codes for a protein that is targeted to the chloroplast, where it is presumably involved in the maturation of an RNA transcript from the chloroplast genome. Mutants for this gene are albino, which means that they are white since they lack chlorophyll, and therefore are unable to perform photosynthesis. The goals of my project include isolating and identifying the particular RNA substrate with which PPR103 interacts, and ultimately determining the precise function of PPR103.

In order to elucidate the answers to these questions, I have learned a variety of techniques under the direction of the postdoctoral research associate, Dr. John Robbins, who supervises me directly. In the beginning of my time in the lab, the work I did each day was closely monitored by John. Now that I am more experienced, a typical day involves getting into the lab between 9 and 10 AM, setting up reactions or doing whatever lab work is necessary for the day, meeting with John to discuss my progress, and then using my talks with him to help plan out what I will need to accomplish the next day. The techniques that I have learned include polymerase chain reactions (PCR), Southern and Western blotting, isolating DNA, RNA, protein, and chloroplast extracts from harvested tissue, molecular cloning, antibody design and purification, and biolistic transformation of tissue using the “gene gun.”

While I know that all of the bench techniques I’ve learned over the past couple of years will be immeasurably important in helping me adjust to full-time research in graduate school and beyond, I think that the most important lessons I’ve garnered from my time in the Hanson lab are less tangible. The organization and foresight required to multitask and use incubation or centrifugation times to the fullest, the innovative and critical thought processes necessary to tackle a problem from multiple angles, and the patience to deal with the inevitable frustrations inherent in the pursuit of novel scientific knowledge are just a few of the skills and attitudes I’ve gained from being involved in undergraduate research. My experiences in the Hanson lab have made me more confident than ever that I am poised to spend the rest of my life hovering over a lab bench, ready to share something new and exciting with the rest of the world.

A Hughes Scholars Guide to Doing Research in the Hanson Lab

The main focus of the Hanson Lab is to study the organelles of plants (mitochondria and plastids) and in particular a major theme is to look at the RNA editing that occurs in these organelles. The ultimate challenge is to identify the mechanism of RNA editing and how it ultimately affects photosynthesis. In the lab we work a variety of species including Arabidopsis, tobacco, maize, rice, and petunia. In order to be prepared for research in the Hanson lab it is important that you have a good foundation in molecular biology and some plant physiology is also extremely helpful. Some good courses include biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology and genetic engineering of plants. The lab is mainly run in small groups of people working on similar projects. This group usually contains a couple post-docs, graduate students, and possibly an undergrad. All of the hands-on help and day-to-day trouble shooting are done within your small group and only reported to the rest of the lab at weekly lab meetings. The lab utilizes all of the common techniques in modern molecular biology, such as reverse transcriptase, polymerase chain reaction, electrophoresis, blotting, tissue culture, ect, as well as some more sophisticated techniques like poisoned primer extension and gene gun vectors. Working during the summer is a lot easier than during the semester because there is a lot more time to plan your experiments and discuss science with the other members of the lab. If something goes wrong I can take the time to figure out exactly what the problem was and not rely as much on the other members of my lab for troubleshooting and assistance with techniques. The most valuable thing that I have learned from being in the lab is the ability to work independently and explore my ideas by looking for new literature that the other people in my lab might not have considered. Overall, it has been a very enlightening experience to work in the Hanson lab. I have gained enormous experience working with molecular techniques and also have a much better idea of my path in life.