Wetlab for Dummies

Having never worked in a wet lab before, I can definitely say Mod 1 was… an experience. While most people were probably bored out of their minds, wondering why they had to practice the most basic techniques such as pipetting, I was slowly discovering a whole new world.

Thankfully my partner has tons of lab experience, and didn’t mind answering thousands of questions about what pipette to use, what exactly happens when I do this versus that, and tolerating my terrible pipetting technique (“cells don’t like bubbles Yvi! Stop making them unhappy”).  

I never thought that after just a couple of weeks, I would feel somewhat comfortable culturing and growing cells, inducing damage and then being able to visualize and interpret their repair by using cutting edge technologies that are still not even available for broad use. I find it amazing how the Engelward Lab was able to take a simple idea and reinvent the comet assay to create a new device with such a extensive range of uses. 

Despite messing up some of the experiments (are negative doubling times a thing?), knocking over the pipette tips (multiple times), and even having trouble finding the incubator on the first days, I found the lab part of the class to be very enjoyable. I love learning through hands on experiences and it is very satisfying to use the knowledge from lectures and past classes to understand the experiments you are doing and try to make sense of the results. Thankfully, I learned that I'm not alone in my "voluntary stupidity," and that not knowing what you're doing or what to expect is all part of the process. 

I also think the homeworks and the Mod 1 Data Summary improved my scientific writing skills. I noticed early on that I did not really understand the idea of writing papers around figures, the amount of thought that has to go into creating the slides, and how you have to think about presenting your data in a logical, clear way. The amount of support we receive from the BE faculty is amazing, and the amount of time and patience they put into guiding us to becoming good researchers, scientists, and writers is unbelievable. 

Looking at the new skills and experiences I gathered from Mod 1, I can definitely say they will be useful in the (near) future as I look for labs, internships and even jobs later on. Thank you to the 109 team for making this potentially very stressful and overwhelming experience into a very enjoyable one!