My practicum site was at the Cheema Lab in Georgetown University Medical School at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC). At the Cheema Lab, I worked on a project titled “Influence of Head and Neck Cancer-derived Extracellular vesicles on Macrophage Polarization”. My project is about looking at Cancer-derived EVs and their influence in Macrophage polarization which could provide insight into possible focuses on treatment options for cancer.
A typical day in the lab involved growing and maintaining your cells, as well as conducting experiments. The beginning portion of my time there involved shadowing and watching how my mentor grew the cells, as it was my first time. Once I was comfortable, I would help my mentor whenever needed in maintaining cells. I also spent time working on my project, which included growing cells, isolating extracellular vesicles, and performing characterization and treatment experiments. The program also had talks for students to learn more about cancer research. I attended many of those and it was very interesting to learn about the various aspects of cancer that are being researched.
By doing hands-on work, a lot of scientific concepts from my biology classes were involved, like proteins, RNA, and macrophage polarization. It was interesting to see the concepts that we were first introduced to in the classroom be used in the lab toward research. Learning these things in the classroom versus experiencing it in the lab was very different. Experiencing it in the lab definitely made me appreciate the concepts a lot more, as I can see what is happening through a variety of experiments. At the same time, there was a lot that I still needed to learn. One of the things that I realized during my time here and often was awestruck by was the fact that all the techniques that we were using in the lab required extensive research beforehand. For example, when growing the cells, there are specific media to be used and specific conditions the cells must be grown in. This is not something that can be quickly identified. Of course, now it is as there are many research papers explaining their results and there is a known method to work, but in the past, this was not the case. I found it amazing how far research has been taking us and made me appreciate research even more.
Coming into this opportunity, I wanted to gain more knowledge and skills in wet-lab techniques, and it is definitely something that I gained from the lab. In the future, I definitely want to do more research and wet-lab research and take more courses related to molecular biology. I think the main thing I gained from this was by pushing my passion and stepping out of my comfort zone, as it often requires you to talk with people in the lab to discuss ways to troubleshoot. As a shy person, I found this a little difficult at first, but everyone was very friendly and kind and ready to help.
I would definitely recommend this opportunity to future SGC students interested in cancer research as you learn a lot of valuable lessons, skills, and gain a lot of valuable experience. I think it was a great way to introduce one into research and help some see if research is something they want to pursue in the future.