Tuesday, September 02, 2008
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Posted by: Andrew Gamalski
My Summer Research Experience
By Andrew Warren
When I first saw the internship list the Siemens Scholarship Network website, I knew that I wanted to work in Dr. D'Souza-Schorey's lab at Notre Dame, and getting the chance to do that has been an amazing experience. Siemens gave me the opportunity to be supported over the summer and do real research, giving me invaluable experience and a different perspective on an academic community that I'd eventually like to be part of.
The lab I worked in this summer investigates changes in cellular morphology (from epithelial-mesenchymal transitions to cell migration and invasion) as caused by the ARF family of GTPases. The fact that these cause such marked and distinct changes in morphology is of particular interest to the field of tumor research.
In Dr. D'Souza-Schorey's lab I've been given the chance to do original research that contributes towards the lab's goals and actually matters. Perhaps the best part of this experience was Dr. D'Souza-Schorey's excitement and willingness to have me work independently on my own project and be part of the group that is her lab. I know several of my friends have been placed in labs to do internships and they aren't given a chance to do their own research or critical thinking - they work under a post-doctoral fellow or a graduate student who has them do work but not their own thinking. I was given the chance to make my own hypotheses, formulate experiments, perform them, and analyze the results - actually work using the scientific method and not just be guided somewhat blindly through the process. That is perhaps the most important facet of what I've done this summer.
In research, like many things in life, one can only improve through practice and having the chance to make mistakes and learn. Though somebody can learn protocols or ideas in a classroom, it really takes experience to understand how to perform a protocol, how to fine-tune it, and how to interpret results and understand why certain things are happening. A lot of the time science is more about explaining an odd result than having a hypothesis work perfectly. A successful scientist can see beyond an experiment going poorly as a mistake and investigate the real reasons for the unexpected results. This takes a lot of practice and I feel like this summer gave me a great opportunity to gain a better understanding of what it takes to be a researcher. I really owe thanks to Siemens for giving me this great opportunity.
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