My time with SEA PHAGES lab

In my first semester here at OSU, I took an intro Biology level course. Since it was such a basic pre-requisite for most majors, I didn’t expect much from it outside of a standard science course and lab.

What I didn’t expect was to find myself on the bank of the Olentangy River, collecting soil samples before the nearby geese would chase me away. The biology course I took was not just the normal biology lab, but instead was a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). In a coalition with the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science program (SEA PHAGES), our lab class was tasked with finding new bacteriophage species.

In short, bacteriophages are the predators of bacteria, and they can be used in many industries to combat antibiotic resistance. We did assays, titers, DNA extraction, and other protocols to characterize the populations of phage that we found. At times, it was frustrating, especially when plates didn’t turn out the way we wanted or repeating DNA extraction protocols, espeically at 7:30 in the morning. But I learned a lot about what bench research can look like during my time here. It felt good feeling like I was contributing to the field of science, even if it was on a small scale.

From here, now I definitely know I want to pursue research during my time at OSU – it just probably won’t be bench research in a lab. This Original Inquiry experience was a great, eye-opening experience into one of the many ways research looks like here at OSU. My next step probably entails pursuing a field research opportunity within the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences school, as many of their faculty study more soft skills in healthcare. I’m especially curious about cross-cultural differences between patient and clinician. Because of my heritage, I’ve seen people ignore medical advice, simply because they don’t believe the person who gave the advice; could this be attributed to the difference in culture or language barrier between them? I hope to find out.

In Ohio, we have just completed yet another election cycle. In a swing state, sometimes it can feel like election season never ends. I already know that in a few months, I’m going to start seeing 2020 campaign ads popping up on TV. But in today’s political climate, with more and more people charged about the candidates they support and the ones they don’t, it’s easy to forget about the common humanity we all share and only see the bias.

In psychology class, one of the topics we explored was how to combat the biases we all have. It’s not bad to have bias – in fact, it’s a part of human nature – but it is what we do with them that makes them bad. We learned about finding the common humanity between groups of different beliefs, and how that shared experience can reduce feelings of bias.

Moving forward, this knowledge is what really is pushing me to pursue a form of international study abroad over summer. I’ve traveled before, but this time, I want to go somewhere that will really push me to become more globally aware of how other people live. Through the Critical Language Scholarship, I hope to travel to a new place in 2020 and experience new, uncomfortable, life-changing interactions with others to hopefully find the common ground between us. Specifically – Tanzania. I would love to learn kiSwahili, the language spoken in East African nations such as Kenya, where my mom is from. It would be nice to speak to her in her own language and feel that connection with my culture even more deeply than before.