14 Jun Kaila Rebolledo Unda – UCSD George lab – week 1

Hello everybody, my name is Kaila, I am interning at UCSD, and I cannot believe it has already been the first week.

MONDAY 6-08-26

Today was our first day, Stella and I arrived early to get our badges. After too many missed turns, we got our badges and went on our way to meet our mentor. Molly Brenna met us with a big hug and began excitedly showing us around. The campus was big, but it was pretty. We went building to building, getting introduced to all the different people we would be working with. As we finished the tour, we put on our lab coats, and Molly showed us to the rat cages.

The smell was something that I had been aware of, but it didn’t hit me how harsh it would be. I had to step out of the room a few times, and our mentor was very understanding. We went back to the office and munched on a few doughnuts while we helped out with some maintenance. Lunch time came, and Stella and I had the amazing opportunity to eat lunch on the grass with the sun shining.

Once we were back in the lab, we immediately went right back to it. Molly showed us how to clean out the cages and how to check on the rats. The way they drink water is with these little jellies called hyrogel, which were very interesting to Stella and me.

TUESDAY 6-09-25

The second day started with us cleaning the cages for the animals and wiping everything down.

The doughnuts Molly welcomed us with

At 10, the lab meeting started. Oliver George hosted a Zoom, and everyone in the lab had to mention what they did this week, what they’re doing next week, and what their struggles were with. This was super interesting to watch cause it showed the real struggles that labs face and how they use problem-solving to get through it. The meeting finished, and we headed out to lunch in the field.

Stella and I are having lunch on the field

Molly sent me out to the Skaggs building, and I met Selene Bonnet Zahedi, another one of my mentors. She began explaining her experiment on mice and nicotine. She’s in the final stages of her experiment. The software would light up specific neurons that were activated as the mice got more addicted to the nicotine, but as human error has it, the brain slices are not perfect, so my job was to line up the model to the slices that she had made. If she started explaining the software, I had to sit there in a bit of confusion, knowing that there would certainly be a big learning curve. I spent a few hours goofing around with what each button does and how the effects are on the brain, models, and most of the day was spent just playing around and getting familiar with the brain itself.

WEDNESDAY 6-10-26

We drove in Bright early that morning so that Stella could help out with the Von Frey test. Since the room could only hold two people, she was the second person taking notes. Molly had me clean out the cages, and once I was done, I went straight back to the Skaggs building. I met my mentor, and she showed me another project that I will be working on because the brain-slicing software was being updated.

What each brain scan looks like

My next job was to look at videos of the mice during one of the tests and count how many times they peep their heads over the edge. This was important because she believes that it will change between each cohort of rats. She handed me a very cute clicker, and we started working.

Salene showed me the real-life brains that we are running through the program right now, and I was very shocked to see how small they were. The texture was also not what I fully expected, as I felt sort of like mochi. She then showed me the room where the experiment in the videos that I’m watching took place.

When I came back from lunch, I continued watching the videos of the mice, and once the brain program was fully updated, I began. I started getting the hang of it, and I was able to make really good-looking models a lot faster and with more confidence. They ended pretty quickly, and Stella and I are headed home.

THURSDAY 6-11-26

The next day, we did the same thing and came in early. I was hungry, so I stopped by the food court, grabbed a muffin, and went to Skaggs. Her other volunteer was there. We greeted each other before we all started working, and I began counting the mice in that building and room. There is a very loud fridge that nonstop makes extremely loud and annoying humming noises, so everyone in that room basically has to wear headphones to ignore the humming, so while we worked, it was all individual for lunch.

I was talking to the other volunteer, and she was telling me about all the cool things to do in San Diego, like all the beaches, and especially all the farmers’ markets. Once I came back after lunch, I began working on the brain slices and was able to definitely see an improvement in my accuracy and speed.

The brain program I am working with

When Stella was done, she came to get me, but me and my mentor where working on this really tricky slice. I had been working on it for a while, so I started seeing funny shapes like a buff owl mediating, and the three of us had a good time while doing something hard and tedious.

FRIDAY 6-12-26

On our final day of the first week, we didn’t have to come in as early, but I immediately went to the Scaggs building and was able to meet my mentor. We talked a bit, and she showed me all the cool trinkets. She got from conventions, which I had no idea existed. There were a bunch of funny, cute science jokes, and I was very proud when I was able to figure some of them out and giggle at them. I was very proud to bring her some food that I had made at home. We were dismissed at around noon on that Friday.

swaggy stickers and merch

this first week has gone by so fast and i am so excited for what more weeks will bring.