Hughes Mentor:  John Lis

Department: Molecular Biology and Genetics

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

Many undergraduates are hesitant to start research because they wonder if they can have a life after they add research to their already-hectic schedules. It is true that starting research is a big decision, as it requires a lot of time and effort. But at the same time, research is exciting, fun, and immensely rewarding. I would like to share my experience as an undergraduate in the Lis lab, with the hope that I will convince more than a few undergraduates to join a lab.

I joined the Lis lab at the suggestion of Dr. Feigenson, my previous research advisor. Although I enjoyed working at the Feigenson lab, I felt that the research topic didn’t fall directly in line with my interest and wanted to try something different. The Lis lab studies the mechanisms involved in transcription regulation. As such, at least having taken BioBM 331 and 332 before starting research at this lab is helpful. I think the Lis lab is perfect for anyone with interest in biochemistry or genetics that want to learn more about transcription regulation.

My project during the school year involved working with Drosophila melanogaster to determine if transcription factors tagged with GFP (green fluorescent protein) are able to function normally. This is useful to know because tagging proteins with GFP can give rise to in vivo fluorescent proteins, which may be followed in a living system. My project involved devising a crossing scheme that would result in fruitflies that express only the GFP-tagged transcription factor and none of the wild type protein. The fact that I had taken BioGD 281 made the process go a lot smoother. I also learned to use a GFP microscope in order to visualize the GFP-tagged proteins in the larvae.

Because the Lis lab is very big with people working on different aspects of transcription regulation, I was exposed to a variety of different projects. My own project for the summer was related to but very different from my project during the semester. Even my research organism was different: I went from working with fruitflies to working with E. coli and yeast. This gave me a chance to pick up a whole new set of laboratory skills. The new project involved creating strains of yeast that express something called RNA aptamers, which were designed to interfere with the way transcription factors interact with other molecules. Just some of the many procedures I became familiar with are: PCR, gel electrophoresis, plasmid prep, DNA purification, transformation of E. coli and yeast, and making competent cells. Doing research during the summer made me realize how exciting research is, although things do not always go as expected. I learned that I really enjoyed doing full-time research without being interrupted by classes.

An advantage of working in a lab is that you have a chance to interact with graduate students. You are able to get a glimpse of what life in a graduate school might be like. Moreover, the graduate students can serve as a good resource. I learned most of what I know about working in lab from graduate students. They have also helped me greatly with other aspects of scientific research, such as learning to give a good presentation. Another thing you will get to experience by joining a lab is the lab group meeting. It is true that as an undergraduate, you cannot expect to understand everything that is being said at these meetings. In fact, you are doing very well if you understand even half of it. But there are those occasional times when you hear something you learned in class and understand what is going on, which can be a very rewarding experience. I find that what I do pick up at lab group meetings stay with me for a lot longer than what I learn in a classroom setting.

All in all, working in a lab as an undergraduate is not as daunting as it may seem at first. However, I do advise anyone thinking about starting research to learn to use even small fragments of time well. This is true especially for anyone that wants to do research during the semester. For example, you may need to sacrifice the time you spend talking to your friends during lunch to score some flies or to start a PCR. If you are ready to make such commitments, you are ready to begin your undergraduate research career.

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

I am currently a rising senior in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I have been working in the Lis lab for about a year. I joined the lab during the fall semester of my junior year of college and spent my first semester working with a graduate student, familiarizing myself with the lab, and learning techniques, while receiving credit through BioG299. I began working on a project at the end of that first semester, and continued work on that project during the spring semester (receiving credit through BioG499) and this summer (while participating in the Hughes Program).

I began looking for a research position by reviewing the descriptions of faculty research, available through departmental websites. I also used the search engine on the Office of Undergraduate Biology website. I compiled a list of about thirty promising labs and emailed the six professors whose research interested me most. Most replied that they did not have the time or lab space to work with me, but a couple replied that they would like to meet with me. I met with these professors to discuss their research, and how I might participate in it. I then chose the lab that interested me most.

I chose to work in the Lis lab primarily because I am very interested in transcriptional regulation, and wanted to learn more about it. I was also drawn to the Lis lab because I was interested in learning about aptamers (single-stranded oligonucleotides that have been selected to bind with high affinity to specific target molecules), as well as using them to study transcription. My project deals most directly with RNA aptamers, but the logic and applications of my project and other work being done in the lab are best understood with a good general knowledge of molecular biology. The knowledge I gained in my molecular biology class (BioBM 332) and past research experiences have been useful to me. I think, however, that a student interested in these topics and motivated to do some reading would not require any specific courses to work in the Lis lab. I think that any student particularly interested in transcriptional regulation or in aptamers might enjoy working in this lab.

I don’t really have a standard day in the lab because the things I do in lab vary as my project progresses. Initially, I spent my time cloning plasmids to code for mutant proteins. I then transformed my plasmid constructs into E.coli cells, induced expression of the mutant proteins, and purified those proteins from crude extracts of the cells. I am now using these purified proteins in binding assays with radioactively labeled aptamers.

During the summer, my days in the lab start between nine and ten am, and end whenever I have finished the experiment or procedure that I have been working on that day – usually between five and eight pm. I attend weekly group, subgroup, and journal club meetings. During the school year, I do all the same things in lab but progress is much slower and more stressful because I have to schedule all my lab work so that I will be able to run to classes at the appropriate times. I usually don’t go to lab until after my morning class(es) and also try to leave lab by around six pm so that I have time to study and do homework. It’s not always possible, but I find that it is best to have at least one block of at least three (consecutive) hours of free time for lab work each day of the week.

Faculty Interviews: Dr. Lis

Professor Lis grew up in Willimantic, Connecticut, which he describes as a decaying mill town. In high school, he made a choice between with two alternate career paths. He could either enroll in college, or take over management of the local Tastee-Freez ice cream parlor. He chose to attend Fairfield College, a Jesuit school. He recalls that watching Mr. Wizard on TV originally got him interested in science, and influenced his decision to major in chemistry at Fairfield. As an undergraduate, he participated in research over the summer at Fairfield, and also at a medicinal chemistry lab at the University of Connecticut. These summer experiences as an undergraduate inspired him to pursue research as a career. After graduating from Fairfield, he completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Brandeis University in only four and a half years. At this point, he arrived at another career path decision, and went into academia instead of industrial chemistry. He held a post-doctoral position at Stanford University, where he worked on Drosophila gene regulation and chromatin structure. His work there was supported by the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation. The biochemistry department at Stanford had an especially exciting atmosphere at the time, as this was the time of the inception of recombinant DNA technology. In 1978 he came to Cornell. He feels that it has really been a privilege to be a professor here, and was not aware that such wonderful opportunities existed when he first became interested in research. Today, Professor Lis studies transcription factors in Drosophila. He has a son, and his wife, a population geneticist, is a research associate who also works in the Biotechnology building here at Cornell.