Hughes Mentor:  Lee Kraus

Department: Molecular Biology and Genetics

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A Day in the Life of an Undergraduate in the Lab

When I tell people I ended up doing research in the Kraus lab because I did not like wearing eyeglasses, I naturally get a puzzled look. I wonder if the unbearable eyestrain I feel from wearing glasses is a yet unknown genetic susceptibility. My parents didn’t like the idea of poking at one’s eyes to insert or remove foreign objects, so I knew I would need another way to finance my contact lenses project. I got a job making solutions at the Kraus lab and bussing trays at the Statler. After working my freshman year at the Kraus lab and deciding to quit sophomore year, I was asked by the PI, Lee, to think about being one of his advisees in the MB&G Department and even doing research in his lab. Still undecided in my Biology concentration at that time, I eventually chose MB&G when I requested Lee as an academic adviser. He also became my research adviser when I joined his lab in the Spring 2005 semester.

That semester was a hardening period. I was not used to coming back from lab 11 o’clock in the evening and just starting to study for classes. Besides the time commitment, it was a true test of patience and endurance. I was assigned a cloning project. Little did I know that many attempts had been made in the past to clone this particular sequence into the vector with no success. Gratefully, by Fall 2005, my research adviser and I decided on a project for me and I said good riddance to cloning. Spending about 12 hours a week in the lab my junior year, I was finally able to create and confirm a doubly knocked down cell line using RNAi. I was to perform transcription and acetylation assays on these cells, which I have gotten to only now. Of all my years in college, junior year was by far the most challenging. Taking 18 credits in the Fall as well as running a service program, I was (literally) running back and forth from lab, to study centers, to nursing homes, to board meetings, to bake sales. Creating the knock down lines meant making the viruses that would introduce the RNAi to my target cells. The protocol requires going in at 24, 36, 48, 60 hrs to collect viruses. I would ask my volunteers to drop me off in lab after coming back from our Friday nursing home visits. I remember one occasion when I organized a visit across my cell phone while exposing a blot in the dark room. I use time during incubations to cram for my Physics exams and I don’t recall ever having a chance to study for a Genetics prelim. It was a constant battle with time. I had to learn how to get everything from the lectures since I would not be able to spend any outside time on the course.

I don’t know if this is good or bad but I definitely gave more respect and time to my research than my courses. I started to enjoy the lab lifestyle more than the student lifestyle. Attending subgroup meetings and discussing our weekly results felt more real than learning about particle-waves. Perhaps it is my appeal for the practical rather than the theoretical. Doing research makes me feel like I am contributing to the body of knowledge rather than just memorizing and regurgiating it, which is often the expectation in classes.

If I thought the semester in the lab was intense, the summer has surmounted my expectations. There were Saturdays that I spent 10 hours in lab and Fridays when I left lab 2 in the morning. Thankfully, this is a ridiculous lab so there was always a few people who kept me company. I don’t think our lights ever go off. There were also those occasions when I get a chance to have a midnight chat with my PI and exchange tales of our wild adventures from college. I am convinced our lab cannot be topped for personality. There is not one person in this lab without something especially unique and outstanding in their character. I consider myself super lucky to be in this crowd. Everyone is always so ready to help find a reagent or perfect a technique. Holidays and birthdays always guarantee a lab celebration, summer barbeques abound. Over these two years, they have become my second family, and the lab has become my second home (literally, we have toasters, coffeemakers, water boilers, two fridges, and tons of food in the kitchen). The reason it has become my home is because others have made it theirs too. Seeing someone else having dinner in the lunchroom invites me to bring my own dinner into lab too and share quality time with my labmates. Then we hit the cell culture hoods together and chat about life over the wooing sound of the aspirator. The highlight of my night comes after I step out of the Biotech Building. I’m glad I invested in a bike light. Zooming down hills in the crisp summer night is so exhilarating after a full day in lab.