In my second semester of college, I was offered a job in a lab on campus by one of my professors. The lab studies plant genes in poplars. Through my work, I was able to foster a greater understanding of genetic research and how a lab is run. While working at this site I did maintenance work, organized our lab and greenhouse space, helped set up experiments and collect data, and created a transgenic poplar population. Additionally, last semester, a fellow undergraduate researcher and I were able to start a pilot study for nutrient and root relationships.
The lab I work at maintains our genetic lines in a process called micropropagation. Micropropagation is when plants are grown in vitro, on a gel that contains all the necessary nutrients for a plant to grow. The gel is also the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, so when old plants are being transplanted into new containers, it must be done in a sterile environment. As someone who loves a strict routine, working in a sterile environment helped me keep a routine whenever I came into the lab.
One of the first questions people ask me (after asking if I grow weed) is: what do I think about GMOs? First of all, I believe that the conversation is complicated because GMOs are many different things. It would be like asking me what I think of fruits in general. G.M.O. stands for genetically modified organism and is usually referred to as a modified food crop. There are several ways a crop can be genetically modified. The classic one is direct editing of a plant genome, where a desired gene is inserted into a plant's genome (this is what I did over the summer), another is embryo rescue, and a third is chromosome doubling, a process that can speed plant breeding along by several generations without changing the genome of the plant itself.
The first plant was a GMO. Chloroplasts are plastids that were primitive cyanobacteria that were absorbed/engulfed by cells that could not do photosynthesis. This symbiotic relationship eventually evolved into plants as we know them today. Because the original cells were modified by another organism, it falls under the category of GMO. Humans are also GMOs because we absorbed the mitochondria billions of years ago. The first crop was a GMO. By selectively breeding plants in the wild, humans were able to genetically modify plants to create the crops we now know today. Corn was so different from its ancestors that it took until the 21st century to identify its modern ancestor. However, the modern GMO is now debated for its ethical and health impacts. While I agree that there are several ethical impacts of using GMOs for crops, especially cross-pollination between native species, the dangers of monocropping, and a reliance on pesticides and herbicides, a lot of work is being done to try to mitigate those impacts. GMOs just speed up the process of breeding and natural selection, which is necessary due to humans unnaturally speeding up the change in global climate.
Working for my lab has only strengthened my love for research and helped me hone in on the exact field I want to study. However, I do not want to work in a small lab or only inside. I want to be outside doing research and hopefully, I can find somewhere that fits my exact goals. I will be going to grad school to earn my PhD and then become a professor at a university. I want to share my love of learning and show students that there are real-world applications for plants!