26 Jul Izzy Giroir – Neuroscience at Ye Lab, TSRI – Week 6

Welcome back to my blog! Unfortunately, this was the last week of my internship and therefore, this is also my last blog. This has been such an amazing experience, and though I’m sad it’s over, I’m so appreciative that I was given such an opportunity! I will admit this week was a bit slower due to Kaili and Leyao (my mentors) preparing for their presentation on Friday, as well as Kaili working on feedback and reviewing her recently submitted paper (yay Kaili!). Nevertheless, it was still an interesting and productive week!

Monday (July 20th) – 

Monday started off with the usual lab meeting. This week, two undergrads were presenting on papers they had read. They primarily explored the effects of hunger on long-term memory, which I found pretty interesting! The findings had concluded that starvation led to a decline of memory. After the meeting and lunch, I shadowed Joe, another undergrad here at the lab. He was doing cell transfections – the first step of producing AAVs. He did this by distributing three different plasmids into already established HEK293 (kidney) cell cultures. As he worked, we also talked about UCSD – which is where he goes – and I got more of an insight as to the collaborative nature of the university, as well as the many different research opportunities over there.

Tuesday (July 21st) – 

Tuesday was a fairly slow day for the lab as a whole. I spent most of my day reading papers on AAVs (such as how they are produced, their many different uses, etc . . .), as well as working on some SAT practice.

Reading papers on my laptop and working on SAT prep in my notebook.

Towards the end of the day, however, I joined Melaina in the downstairs lab and she gave me an overview of click chemistry and how it’s used in CATCH. CATCH stands for Clearing-Assisted Tissue Click Chemistry and is the process used to locate where drugs specifically bind in the body or in the cells. To do this, they attach a small chemical “handle” to an alkyne drug. Then, when they inject the drug, it will bind to its target (such as a receptor or an enzyme). Next, they will inject an azide that is fused to a fluorophore – a fluorescent molecule. This azide will specifically find and “click” onto the alkyne drug in a rapid chemical reaction. Then, you can use a confocal microscope to look at where the fluorescence is expressed and therefore locate where the drug has bound. I found this area of neuroscience really cool as well, as the effects of drugs on the brain have interested me a bit this past year!

Wednesday (July 22nd) –

In the early afternoon, Kaili had me demonstrate and teach how to do perfusions to a new undergrad intern. We ended up doing a total of five perfusions, with me doing three and him doing the other two. While it was a bit odd to be the one teaching, it was nice to have a small bit of responsibility and it felt good to know that Kaili trusted my (still very new) abilities. Afterwards, I spent the rest of the day reading some papers on click chemistry and CATCH to get even more of a grasp on the concepts and how they work. In the evening, I got to catch up with my dad, who had flown in earlier that day!

Thursday (July 23rd) –

Thursday was once again fairly slow, so – to fill the time – I worked on creating a calendar/timeline for my senior year with various deadlines for applications and scholarships. Towards the end of the day, however, I went to watch and help Melaina dilute and distribute antibodies to some brain tissues.

Friday (July 24th) – 

My last day in the lab was also, coincidentally, the day that Kaili and Leyao were presenting their work in a seminar! I found it cool that my internship ended full circle where I got to watch everything I helped with being presented. In the afternoon, I started to work on my Pintern presentation and briefly viewed some confocal

The gifts that Kaili gave me!

images with Melaina. Right before I left, Kaili came in with a gift to say goodbye, which was very sweet!! To wrap up my six weeks, I said goodbye to my mentors and all of the others at the lab I had worked with and gotten to know.

Saturday & Sunday (July 25th & 26th) – 

Saturday was an eventful day! My dad took me

Sunset at Ocean Beach.

out to get crepes for breakfast. Then, in the afternoon/evening, we went to Ocean Beach where we ate dinner, watched the sunset, and took many photos. Today, my dad and I said goodbye to my aunt and uncle in the morning, then started our long drive back to Montrose.

Once again, I would like to say that I’m so grateful for this wonderful opportunity! This internship has definitely given me a lot of insight into what I want to pursue in my studies and my career (in a good way)! Thank you to Sarah, Trang, Kaili, Leyao, Dr. Ye, Melaina, Zimu, my aunt and uncle, and all who have read my blogs!!