Learning about the research process alongside the other members of my cohort in the HSRF has been a wonderful experience in terms of seeing the ways the different health sciences disciplines conduct research about the human health. For example, while one of the other members in my cohort conducts a more psychology-oriented study related to psychosis wit surveys and talking to patients, another member is studying the same type of psychosis through different methods like gene knockdowns and cell culture work. Working with people across disciplines reminds me that many of the health sciences issues that we as researchers are studying contain various faces to the problem and thus, we can employ various ways to study and contribute to solving it. This gives me the opportunity to diversify my understanding in different methods I can use for my own project while also stimulating ideas for how I can apply these methods to improve the strength of my project. I contribute to this sharing of different experimental methods that the cohort presents as well. 

One difficulty in taking part of an interdisciplinary team is the possibility that we inadequately communicate our findings and methods with the other members of our cohort. This can make it so that the peer we are trying to communicate our project with is unable to completely understand it and maybe prevent them from gaining the benefits of comparing research in the interdisciplinary community. However, that is a major focus of mine in what I want to improve on and master over the course of this program. Developing the skills to communicate our scientific findings is another major benefit of participating in the interdisciplinary team of the HSRF.

Some similarities I see a lot between my work and the work of peers is that some of them also study the abnormal effects of proteins or enzymes to an overall disease. Moreover, I’ve also noticed that many people use some combination of microscopy, cell culture work, PCR techniques, and perfusion/microdissection protocols. Although I don’t use all these techniques daily for my current project, I regularly see these being used in my lab by other members. Understanding these methods through the context of other people’s projects allows me to visualize how to apply them in health sciences research. 

Some differences I found between my work and the work of other peers in my cohort are that some of their projects include behavioral testing and recording of live mouse reactions to stimuli or tasks. I found these types of studies particularly interesting specifically when it relates to OCD because I don’t see that being used by anyone in my lab. I found these types of live behavioral studies because they are a method of understanding in vivo and in vitro studies in the context of how they manifest in real life and is the most functional type of study for other disciplines to visualize.