My internship was a part of Virtual Student Summer Opportunities to Advance Research (V-SOAR) run by National Institute of Health. I worked in Gisela Storz's lab. The goal of my internship was to find novel small RNAs in Treponema pallidum , learn how to code in the statistical programming language R, and learn more about life after undergraduate school.
Everyday was a little bit different. But the overall gist of the internship was log on to a zoom meeting in the morning. Some activities we did during the zoom meeting were: learn more about bacteria, how to analyze a transcriptome, discuss journal articles, present on our bacteria, do a coding project with our cohort, and get career advice from people in different professions. After the zoom meetings, we decided when and how we wanted to break up our time. Some of the tasks we did in a day were: analyze genes using the UCSC Genome browser, learn more about our genes using PubMed and EcoCyc, watch the coding lecture, practice coding metabolomic data in R, and read scientific journals about different bacteria. Since this was a virtual internship, I was on my computer for the majority of the day.
I used critical thinking skills when analyzing the T.pallidum transcriptome and when coding in R. We have to use our best judgement using the information we learned to determine a novel sRNA and if that sRNA important in DNA regulation. SGC taught me to always be critical of science because pseudoscience is so prominent these days. I use the same critical and double checking when determining whether the novel sRNas were important. This helped me narrow down the sRNAs to only the important ones. In coding, there are a multiple ways to write a code. Finding the most efficient code was a goal of mine when learning R. I wanted to write code without it being too bulky, but does its job. Analyzing the code, finding the bugs, and thinking about the best way to do it was crucial in making an efficient code. Classes like organic chemistry are similar when it comes to finding the shortest synthesis method. There are multiple ways to make the same compound, but it's hard to find the most efficient way. I applied the same thinking as in organic chemistry to coding.
I learned that I definitely want to go to graduate school. I aspire to become a researcher after meeting my mentors. I developed scientific skills like analyzing a transcriptome, finding information on specific scientific topics, and learning how to code in R. Taking genetics before this internship was beneficial for me because I knew the jargon. I want to learn more about DNA regulation and bacteria. I might take a microbiology course in the future. For my next internship, I hope to be involved in the creation of the project and be there till the end of the project. Just so I can see the whole research process. This internship helped with my professional development because it opens up more opportunities for future research projects.
We collaborated with our cohort to determine whether a sRNA is important and in completing coding assignments. Our team was very helpful to each other, we offered what we knew to help everyone. I offered my options on whether a sRNA was important, I asked questions from others, and I helped others with completing their coding project. This was a familiar role; this role was similar to working with classmates in discussion.
I would a hundred percent recommend this opportunity to future scholars if the NIH opens it's Summer Internship Program again. This internship taught me a lot about what it means to do research, it offered me career advice, and I met a lot of great mentors and peers.