Throughout this summer, I had the time to focus my full attention on my research. I had the chance to troubleshoot my project, as some of my methods were not working initially. I discovered that one of our lab’s stock concentrations of TGF-beta, a cytokine I am using for my project, was contaminated. This caused my first two experiments to fail, as bacterial contamination leads to unreliable results. I tested every reagent I used in my media to find the exact source of my contamination. Once I discovered this, my experiments started to run more smoothly as I could just filter my TGFbeta, ensuring the bacteria would be removed. While this was frustrating while I was experiencing contamination in my experiments, it was incredibly gratifying to discover the source of contamination and help the rest of my lab also find the source of their bacterial contamination. Completing this troubleshooting would have been almost impossible during the school year, and I was happy to have the time to be able to pinpoint the source of my issues. While I did not complete everything that was in my original proposal, I ran significantly more experiments than I first planned to conduct, so I am still satisfied with my research progress. Research tends never to go as planned (as I have realized over the past three years working in my lab), but that is also why conducting research is thrilling.
Through the health sciences research fellowship, I also had the opportunity to connect with other students and learn about the research everyone in my cohort was doing. We are all very interested in our research, and I loved discovering everyone’s reasons for starting research. I appreciated the chance to talk to Dr. McDowell about his experiences conducting research as a physician. I better understood the type of research I could do with an MD compared to the research I could do with an MD/PhD.
Now that the Health Sciences Research Fellowship is ending, I am excited to take a short break before starting my fall semester. Over the next year, I will finish this project, submit my Honors thesis, and prepare my project for publication. I am excited to hopefully begin medical school next summer, continuing my pursuit of research and medicine throughout my future career. I am very thankful for the opportunity I had to have my research project funded, allowing me to focus on my research entirely. I would also like to thank the other members of the HSRF fellowship, it was a lot of fun getting to meet everyone and talk about our research!