For my STEP experience, I worked as a student research assistant over the summer in the Long Lab at the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. As in this lab, we specialized in working closely with both mouse and and bacteria models to study Cystic Fibrosis (CF). I Personally worked with both of these models, and also assisted around the lab with the other researchers.
This lab research experience was truly a life changing experience for me. At face value, I learned invaluable research techniques which will help me for the rest of my life. As a pre-med student with dreams of attending medical school, this gave me great insight into what the medical field is like, but through a different lens. This is the academic side of medicine, one that I had not been exposed to all that much in my life, and it allowed me to see how all different fields within medicine and research combine with the single goal of learning so that we may improve the lives of others.
I also think one of the most beneficial parts of this job was being able to actually contribute to something I care about. In the pre-med world, it may sound funny, but there really is not a lot of hands on experience that you get. There’s countless hours of shadowing and volunteering (both of which bring great satisfaction and experience), but not very often do you have the chance to fully contribute and make a real difference. For me, this is why I found my research experience to be so wonderful. This was my own tangible work that I have done to help in some way, whatever that may be. However, the most impactful thing I learned from my time in the lab was about the humanity involved in medicine and research.
The lab is a special place. It is full of super motivated people, excited to come to work every day and put their mark on the history of research and medicine. However, as I noticed working day in and day out, you can lose touch with the greater impact of the research. This is why, ironically, that I learned the most about research when I chose to venture outside of the lab entirely. After working for the whole of the summer, I had the opportunity over a span of two days to shadow physicians working in the CF clinic at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital. I had known that CF was a horrible and life changing disease, but I never truly understood the impact that it has on the patients and all those around them.
The first patient I saw will forever change me. He was a young boy who loved playing football. However, when affected by CF, a lot of people do not know the other difficulties associated with the disease other than the mucus buildup in the lungs. Gastrointestinal, weight, and allergy issues are sometimes just as bad as results of CF infecting the lungs, though they are not the immediate effects of the disease. Because of this, many of the treatments consist of managing the disease, while also mitigating the side effects that come with taking so many medicines. I was absolutely shocked and saddened to see the seemingly mile-long list of medications that this child had to take just to feel decently every single day. CF is a brutal disease that changes lives. However, this was only my first patient interaction. What followed was 2 full days of similar patients, each with their own unique struggles and sufferings. Yet, I saw that each patient, despite their struggles, left the office with a plan, renewed strength, and above all they had hope. Trikafta, a new CF drug that aims to fix the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) protein (the protein inactivated by a mutation which causes CF) is having overwhelmingly positive results in patients, and is truly giving them a new outlook on life. This is a perfect example of the benefits of research being put into practice in medicine.
It was experiences like those that I had while shadowing that changed my idea of research in general, and me as a person. I got to see first-hand the humanity in medicine, and it helped to bridge that gap between research and innovation and why that research and innovation is being done: the patients. I left the office those days with a new fire in my chest, more motivated and sure than ever that I was on the right path in my life. It helped me to remember why I wanted to work in the lab in the first place, and that what I was doing in the lab that may sometimes seem redundant and meaningless actually has the potential to have real, tangible impacts on the lives of people with CF.
In the lab, I also got to meet some of the best people I’ve had the chance to meet here at OSU. It truly is special to find a group of like-minded individuals all deeply devoted to their work, as I want to be. I was actually the youngest person in the lab which gave me an extra special view of the situation. My P.I. (private investigator) Dr. Long and Mithu, a wonderful woman working in my lab, were both deep into their careers with Ph.D. degrees. Greg was a postdoctoral worker, working on getting an even deeper understanding of CF and more experience. Lastly, there is Eryn, a current Ph.D. student in her first year. On top of this, we also shared a lab space with the Gowdy lab right next door, and I had the pleasure of getting to know them as well. Though none of these people chose to go into medicine, I was able to find four passionate mentors who actively cared about me and my beginnings of my career in medicine. It was people like these who I met through my lab, and everyone that I met through an extension of the lab, that made my time working such a powerful and transformative experience.
Above all, this experience was so valuable to me because it gave me the foundation to advance further in my career in science and medicine. As a pre-med student, it is my dream to attend medical school and to become a physician. This has been something that I have been working for throughout my entire college career, and it finally feels as though it’s within reach. Though research and being a physician do not necessarily require the same skill set and passion, I believe that understanding the one will make you even better at the other. I know that personally I am interested in medicine because of the patient care aspect and the face-to-face, hands on contact with those who need it most. Yet, in my time at this lab, I learned how important research is to even allow for those interactions to take place. Without constant research and drive to be better, there simply may not be new medicines to treat new diseases, and we will stick in rut. Instead, I really grew to love the teamwork aspect that is involved with medicine and research as a whole. Each member plays an integral role in a system made for the benefit of others. As I am approaching the end of my time here as an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University, I feel more prepared and driven than ever before as a result of this life-changing experience.
As I continue through my senior year, I will remain working in this lab as strive to contribute to the necessary work that is CF research. This experience has taught me so much, from basic laboratory skills, to advanced mouse-handling techniques. I was given a lot of freedom within the lab to pursue my interests, but with this came a great deal of responsibility. I gained further practice and understanding about the value of being accountable, and took the initiative to help wherever and whenever I could. But at a deeper level, I feel this position really prepared me for my next step in life into the post-graduate world. I am planning to apply to medical school in the spring, and am currently applying to graduate school in my year in-between undergraduate and medical school. All along the way, I know that I will have the help and support from everyone in my lab. Working in the Long Lab has given me all the tools I need to succeed in the future, and I would specifically like to thank The Ohio State University and the STEP program for helping to make this possible on the next step into my future.
